Customer Reviews

The True Story of Hansel and Gretel: A Novel of War and Survival

5 star:		(29)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This book is quite well-written, with believable characters and a strong, rich plot that flows well. Hansel and Gretel, unwillingly abandoned by their father and stepmother into the Polish forest, find themselves taken in by Magda, the village "witch". They must protect their Jewishness at all costs, but they also must just survive against the horrors of the Nazi SS. This book is not for the faint of heart by any means; Murphy spares no punches with the violence and the realities of Poland at the time. A few of the characters, such as the Oberfuhrer, seem over the top, and motivations aren't always well-defined. While not the first writer to weave a Holocaust story around a fairy tale, Murphy does it well and leaves an impression I'm sure I won't soon forget. But for the minor flaws already mentioned, this one would rate a solid 5 stars. Recommended reading, but don't expect a light tale. Be prepared to have your emotions rubbed raw.

I picked up this one at my local Borders. At first I was quite captured by the cover, and then when I read the back, I had to have it. Anything to do with fairytales captures my eye.

The book starts off with Hansel and Gretel (renamed to hide their 'Jewishness') being left to fend for themselves in a Poland forest. Their father and stepmother took them there to save them from the Nazis, which were close on their tale. Although Hansel and Gretel are only children, they are incredibely smart and strong willed. Gretel leads the way with her younger brother in tote, as they brave the forest in search of someone to take them in. After a few days of this, this find a little cottage at the edge of a small village. The cottage is inhabited by Magda, "the witch." Although a bit frightening at first, Magda is really harmless and in the end, she is willing to risk everything to save Hansel and Gretel from the Germans. This is a new twist on the classic fairytale. It includes many of the original elements of the 'real' story, such as the trail of bread crumbs and the oven. There are also, of course, many new characters who were not in the fairytale. This includes the beautiful Nelka (Magda's neice), and Telek, the outsider. Both characters play a pivotal role in the lives of Hansel and Gretel, and help to shape their characters. Nelka and Telek also bring a bit of romance into the novel, to lighten up things a bit. I would also have to say that Telek is my favorite character.

I really really enjoyed this book. This is not for the light-hearted. It features some truly horrific events that occur. I knew when I picked up the book, it was based on the WWII era, but for some reason I did not expect to read some of the things I read. This includes gas chambers and mutilation of children. But overall, I really thought this was a well written book. I have this book a 4.5 because I don't know if I could read it again. Although I really liked it, I don't know if I'd like to ever make it a reread. But I do recommend this book to everyone, but historical fiction fans in particular, as well as people interested in the WWII era, and anyone who loves fairytales.

Rating: 4.5/5

This is a beautifully written book, and I recommend it highly to all fans of literary fairy tale retellings. My only quibble is with the reviews more than with the book, which fail to mention that Murphy's idea is not an original one. This book follows in the footsteps of Briar Rose by Jane Yolen (1992) which uses the Sleeping Beauty fairy tale to tell a story about War World II Holocaust victims in Poland, and Lisa Goldstein's story "Breadcrumbs and Stones" (in the anthology Snow White, Blood Red, 1993) which uses the Hansel and Gretel fairy tale (as Murphy does here) to tell a story about the Holocaust. Also, there's Peter Rushford's novel Kindergarten, now sadly out of print, which uses a number of Grimms fairy tales to tell a story not only about the Holocaust but also about more recent acts of European terrorism. I welcome Murphy's book into this tradition -- it's a fine addition and it's always good to see what new writers can do with fairy tales. But I do believe the reviewers are lax here not to review this book in its proper context.

Unlike so many other books about the Holocaust, Louise Murphy chose to set her story in the cold, wintery landscape of occupied Poland. Though we did not read of concentration camps and ghettos (except briefly), Murphy brought to the forefront how horrific conditions were in much of Europe, even in the small villages that one might think were untouched.

The interweaving of fairytale motifs with this war story was perplexing. I appreciated the undoing of the usual stereotypes: the stepmother was protective, not evil; the witch was nurturing, not selfish; the oven was a haven, not a weapon; and the forest was a good place to be lost in, not bad. But some of the motifs of the Hansel and Gretel fairytale seemed too contrived and took away from this story. For instance - the oven, and the path of breadcrumbs seemed forced inclusions in THIS story of Hansel and Gretel. A story as haunting as this one would be stronger without taking the reader down the path of a childhood tale.

I doubt I will forget this book anytime soon. I may forget some details, but the harsh, cold horror of the war and the effects on this Polish village will remain vivid in my mind.

I'm not sure what I expected from this book when I purchased it, but was intrigued with the author's idea to take a well-known fairy tale and turn it into a fascinating drama. I was not disappointed.

Needless to say, this book is not for the faint of heart. Sections of this book are incredibly brutal and difficult to read. Not that the writing is bad, for it certainly isn't, just that the story brings to life the horrors of war, which in this case centers around treatment of Polish Jews during WWII by the Nazis. Some of the scene's depicted in this book had my literally squirming while I read them.

I found it laughable that another reviewer's chief complaint was about "crude language." They must be joking. The so-called "crude language" is nothing compared to most books I've read. I guess I find it funny that of all the things that someone could be offended by - the brutality, horror, annihilation of people by evil, war itself - they are offended by language.

I would love to read more from this author in the future.

What a compelling read. In many ways, I found The True Story of Hansel and Gretel to be like encountering a train wreck. So many of the things that happened to the characters were horrific -- yet I couldn't look away.

Louise Murphy gives us the Witch as a good woman with Romani heritage and gypsy knowledge -- shadowed by the evil context in which people have always tried to place those whose knowledge and ways are different, therefore, threatening. The innocence of the children -- and how it is peeled away like the rind of Gretel's imaginary oranges -- feels real. I found myself moved by the way in which so many of the characters attempted to protect each other by keeping things from them, then suffered the disasterous results when it became clear that those efforts hardly mattered. I was particularly struk by Telek, whose love for a woman enables him to overcome his dark past and become the hero he could never have been before. The way we see how easily violence could come to him contrasted with his amazing gentleness to those he loves is simply gorgeous. The monstrousness of the Nazi and his "Brown Sister" are both believable and grotesque.

Through it all, the shadow of the original fairy tale alternately gives us foreshadowing and double meanings, right down to an ending that feels right without seeming too contrived. Highly recommended.

The True Story of Hansel and Gretel is a book to be remembered. It is not for those who cannot look beyond the horrors depicted, however. It is lyrically beautiful, deeply moving, and disturbing. One thought that kept coming into my mind as I read it was that I am deeply thankful I did not live in Poland during the War. I would have been one of the first people shot by the Germans, because I could not have ignored the things that happened. There are good things sprinkled amongst the (very) bad things, and the use of the Hansel and Gretel fairytale as a binder is an excellent literary device. There are a few flaws in the narrative (the "blood transfusion" bit was a bit over the top), but you will find yourself saying..."Oh, noooo..." more offten than not. Read it!! Six Stars!

"The German soldier suddenly sighed. It almost stopped the Mechanik. It was a human thing, this soft, sad exhalation of air. The sound of a tired and homesick man who might be a normal man sighing in his loneliness.
The Mechanik was so close he could smell the soap that the German had bathed with; the smell of oil from stolen Polish sausages and a whiff of the vodka he drank with his lunch to keep of the damp and the cold."

I cannot believe that I had this book for so long waiting to be read.
The year is 1943 and Word War II is threatening. Meet Hansel and Gretel whose Jewish names are changed for their protection, as they are sent into the wintry forest by their parents to hide and get a head start, as the Germans begin to move in on their Polish turf. This is done in the childrens' best interests to avoid any confrontation or abuse, or even death at the hands of the Nazis officers, as World War II rears it's ugly head. I remained spell bounded as Hansel and Gretel, wandered cold and hungry through the forest in a somewhat oblivious and uncertainty state. They soon are able to breath a sigh of relief for a while as the come into a village and encounter kindness in the form of Madga, an old lady who is willing to guard them with her life as far as possible.
There are tremendous shocks throughout this book as the Germans presence and pressure is felt and seen by all the villagers. In the meanwhile Hansel and Gretel's family are worried about their safety as day after day passes, and the days darken into despair, lunacy, turmoil and thoughts of survival is all that is in the hearts and minds of the Jewish people.
This book was indeed a page-turner, and held my interest. Highly recommended!!! I give it five stars.
Heather Marshall Negahdar (SUGAR-CANE) 07/06/06

I have always been a rebel against the fairytales where the men always rescue a helpless princess, the dragon gets slain, the stepmother is evil, and the good wind up rich in the end. So when I walked into the store and saw The True Story of Hansel and Gretel I was compelled to give the well known story of a selfish stepmother and foolish children another try.
Once I turned the first page I was caught up in a story that I knew was not all fairytale. The book takes place in the last months of the Nazi occupation of Poland. The children are abandoned in a forest to find safety, and have to give up their Jewish names for Hansel and Gretel. The children stumble upon Magda, who the villagers refer to as  the witch. She takes them in and is determined to save them from the Germans controlling the village. Meanwhile the story flashes back to the father and the stepmother as they struggle to survive. I wouldnt or couldnt put this book down until I was finished. The book followed the tale of Hansel and Gretel, but is far from the sugar-coated version told to children.
Louise Murphy has a talent of making people come alive to the reader. Although the outcome of the book is not the one of money and happiness, the pages turned quickly as the plot twisted and captured me more by the second. I would recommend this book to people who want to know what the holocaust really was all about, not just the evil of the Nazis, but the people who had the will to live through it.

There are no words for this, one MUST read it. As a WW2 survivor I can only say this is truly as "true story".