Not Me: A Novel (Paperback)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: michael lavigne, Heshel Rosenheim, Cheez Whiz, Yad Mordechai (more...)

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks (February 13, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812973321
• ISBN-13: 978-0812973327
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #73,115 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Living & Forgiving, February 14, 2006

By	Jane C. Wrenn "Jane-fnp" (athens) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Not Me: A Novel (Hardcover)

I have always been compelled to read about the Holocaust. There are so many stories, all important, all unforgettable, and most horrific. And I am completely amazed at the simplest lesson gleaned from these stories. . . life goes on. The human desire to live despite the atrocities of mankind constantly enlightens and inspires me. The human act of forgiveness in the face of these demeaning acts seems to be almost inhuman or perhaps otherworldly. And love; when our humanness is completely and utterly exposed to our world of those who love us most, there remains to ability to empathize, sympathize and forgive, and yes to go on. Les we forget. This book is a lovely story of love and forgiveness, fathers and sons, and guilt and redemption. I was immediately pulled into the story and I enjoyed my time among the pages and the sense of wonder that remained when the last page was read. Read the book and enjoy the ride.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Comic and the Nazi, April 29, 2007

By	Morrow (Baltimore) - See all my reviews

This is a first novel. It suffers from cliche at times, and in the end gets terribly sentimental about being an American Jew in one's fifties without having understood what being Jewish means - having 'missed out' on the Holocaust and Zionism. But it reads fast. The first person narrator - a middle-aged son struggling to cope with his dying father - is a quirky, funny, sometimes maudlin soul trying to sort out his life. Separated from his wife and son in California, this middle-aged comic is alone in Florida and having a hard time. Failing at being a father himself, the narrator quickly learns that his ailing octogenarian Dad is not exactly who he says he is. But the ambiguity of Dad's identity is (too) quickly extinguished through the translation of the old man's German diaries. While not exactly a war criminal of high order, Dad, aka, SS officer Heinrich Muller, explains how he transformed himself from accountant to victim in a few short weeks before the Camps were overrun by Allied armies. Muller starves himself, adds the blue ink number tatoo to his arm, adopts the name of a corpse, and then gets swept up in the displaced persons program. Soon he is on his way to a kibbutz in Palestine. He ends up in the Palmach, fighting in Israel's war for independence. Romance and self-hatred take hold in equal measure. Perhaps he should simply run down to Gaza and tell the Egyptians who he really is and leave these Jews behind him?! These parts, set south of Jerusalem and along the northern end of the Negev (and his continuing dialogue regarding his self-hatred) are the best part of the book. In the end, however, the tension over Dad's identity doesn't bring resonance to the American son's personal issues so much as give us a look at the way in which people can get caught up in the crushing events of the 1940s, especially if they were European Jews, and German. The character of the 'Nazi' father is better imagined, I think, than that of the comic son, and the possiblity of "lying narrator" (the father's diaries and conversations with the son) might've been better exploited in order to leave the reader with greater puzzle and wonderment. It gets a bit sappy and repetitive - how many times will his mother's hat float across the pool as an expression of grief and deracination? The opportunity for a cross-generational discourse is sidelined for nebulous emotional effect. We do see, however, that one can make up a life; the fear of being tainted by our original sins can lead us to utterly transform the self. The searing experience of the camps and the death of a daughter reveals for the author an old testament God whose knowledge of our fundamental character is not forgiving.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Page turner, February 26, 2006

By	Jody Grant-Gray "Author, 'The Sleep Book, A B... (Santa Monica, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Not Me: A Novel (Hardcover)

I got this book for my husband, because I thought he would like the historcial journals, as well as the father/son angle. However, I, myself, couldn't put the book down. The author has a unique voice that is easy to read, insightful, and thoughtful. The twist in the beginning provides momentum, and the historical details that follow are both informative and entertaining. I have already recommended this book to others. Well done.