Book Review #1

Book review of

The True Story of Hansel and Gretel, a novel of war and survival

To be really honest, I am really sick of book plots that are based on the Holocaust. Writing books about the Holocaust can send awareness and messages about racism. But, it makes the Holocaust itself as if it is a famous story plot. It’s like we read about it too often we forget the true value.

Anyways, the book was o.k. In the beginning, it says: “The story has been told over and over by liars and it must be retold.” What a lie! I mean, this book has no similarities to the original except for the facts that two siblings, Hansel and Gretel, were dropped in the woods by their step mother and father, who meets an old witch then meets their father in few years. The story is really gloomy and isn’t much interesting. I am sorry, but all Holocaust books tend to focus on the same details! The children, the train that carried Jews, methods Nazis used to murder, how living conditions were during the war, and on.

I would like to read a book from a normal German’s perspective. Like a book about their daily life, morals and their fear.

My favorite sentence is: “His eyes rolled like a horse hearing the airplanes coming back over the fields. The whites of his eyes showed for a second.”

Oberfuhrer.

One of the ironies of the book is the ending. Okay, let’s get this straight. The two children and their father haven’t met for over a year. But after the war, they coincidently decides to go to the city were they used to live before the war. Children were shocked to see that their house got burnt. They ask an old man where the Jews live. Old man points to the Refugee Camp. The camp is full of refugees and is ‘twenty deep.’ (HOW DEEP IS TWENTY DEEP? What unit is she using?) Gretel crawls around the floor under the tables to get bread crumbs. Then! Someone, who was baking bread, “Let his paddle fall from his hand, and the crash of wood on the floor made Gretel jump. Hansel looked up and saw the man fall to his knees beside the oven. The boy’s face puckered. He frowned and clenched his fists. Then slowly he got up and walked over the crumbs into the arms of the man. “You left us,” Hansel said. “You went away.” The man sobbed and he held the boy out so he could look into his face.

That’s exactly like saying I go into a stripper club and see Mr. Popaduke working as a part time job.  

The probability is extremely low.