October 22, 2007

BOOKS: THE TRUE STORY OF HANSEL AND GRETEL

Our women's book club picked out this historical novel and I was thinking: There are so many true WWII stories, why make one up? I didn't really want to read the book. I was wrong. The author researched an area of Poland embroiled in WWII and brought it to life.
 
"The True Story of Hansel and Gretel," is an incredible could-be-true-story of one family and a small village in WWII Poland. A little girl and her small brother get separated from their parents and wind up at the "witch's" cottage in the woods. War-crazed Nazi's take over the town and begin to squeeze it dry of everything: food, goods and dignity. What haunts me is the character of the "witch." When she is taken to the gas chambers we hear her inner dialogue, her plans for the future, her trying to make the best of the situation, planning a way out, and then suddenly her voice that we've heard all through the book and grown to love, goes suddenly silent, snuffed out. It made me think that every life is like that at accident, stroke, death. 
 

No comments:

Post a Comment