In Spring a reader’s fancy turns to thoughts of … books
Sandee Brawarsky
March 15, 2007
In Spring a reader\’s fancy turns to thoughts of … books.
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sandee brawarsky
Six self-help books seek to help you get sealed in the Book of Life
Sandee Brawarsky
September 21, 2006
Self-help books are essential tools.
Search for Similarity in Aliyah Tales
Sandee Brawarsky
May 11, 2006
\”Aliya: Three Generations of American-Jewish Immigration to Israel\” by Liel Leibovitz.
The Hit Man Who Came to Dinner
Sandee Brawarsky
November 17, 2005
>\”Blood Relation\” is Eric Konigsberg\’s account of his uncle\’s life, gleaned from 10 visits to the Auburn facility over three years, interviews with family members as well as the families of Harold\’s victims. It also includes the author\’s examination of extensive court testimony and FBI records. More than a biography in crime, this powerful book is a nuanced view of Harold in the context of his family, and the author\’s own reflections on coming to know and attempting to understand his uncle.
Spectator – Hard Truths of ‘Hamburg’
Sandee Brawarsky
September 1, 2005
Polish journalist Hanna Krall\’s \”The Woman From Hamburg: And Other True Stories\” (Other Press, $19) is based on interviews she did that in some way involved the Holocaust. But when one of the 12 stories was recently featured in The New Yorker\’s fiction issue, an accompanying note explained that her writing is indeed factual.
The 60-something Krall was a reporter for Polityka from 1957 to 1981 when martial law was imposed and her publications were banned. Her award-winning books have been translated into 15 languages, (the English version is by Madeline G. Levine). Yet the boundary between fact and fiction can seem blurred in her work, for Krall writes in an unadorned but intimate style, moving in fractured time, creating a rhythm that might resemble contemporary fiction.
The Many Lives of Lev Nussimbaum
Sandee Brawarsky
April 7, 2005
Lev Nussimbaum lived as though life were theater, inventing an identity, dressing the part, shifting scenes, seeking audiences everywhere. He thought he could keep rewriting the ending, believed he could talk his way out of anything including his Jewish past, but ultimately he could not.
Eating Ham for Uncle Sam
Sandee Brawarsky
February 17, 2005
Walking near my parents\’ home in Florida — where I\’m writing this column — I noticed a hat with World War II insignias, much like the one my father sometimes wears, in the back window of a parked car. I\’d just finished reading \”GI JEWS: How World War II Changed a Generation\” by Deborah Dash Moore, so the image of the hat really struck me, and I imagined that most men on this street must own similar versions.
Passing on a Legacy of Love
Sandee Brawarsky
November 4, 2004
Walk into Zabar\’s and it\’s easy to spot 76-year old Gittel \”Gabby\” Zuckerman. She\’s feisty and funny, and her shrinking height and failing health don\’t diminish her power. Nor do the memories of the family she lost in the Holocaust ever leave her.
‘First’ an Atypical New York Story
Sandee Brawarsky
October 21, 2004
A brother announces to his sister that another sister has vanished, as \”The First Desire\” (Pantheon) opens. Nancy Reisman\’s highly-praised novel is unusual in many ways, from its premise to the quality of writing to its setting. She follows the lives of the Cohen family, from the Depression to the years following World War II, not on the Lower East Side or in Brooklyn, but in a stately neighborhood in Buffalo, N.Y.
Sentence by sentence, this is an exquisite story of family. Reisman writes with assuredness and tenderness, as the story unfolds serially from five perspectives: three of the four Cohen sisters, the brother and their father\’s mistress.
The Grand Design of Daniel Libeskind
Sandee Brawarsky
October 19, 2004
It was in Poland\’s primeval forests, where bison roamed amidst labyrinths of poplar and maple trees that Daniel Libeskind first began to understand concepts of land, space, shelter and natural resources, themes that would be the underpinnings of his career as an architect.
In his new book, \”Breaking Ground: Adventures in Life and Architecture\” (Riverhead), the world-renowned architect who designed the master plan for the World Trade Center site, describes his early life in Poland, Israel and the Bronx, and he speaks with eloquence and passion about the ideas behind his \”overtly expressive\” work.
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