Reviews

This book is for everyone.

I LOVED this book and could not put it down. While impossibly sad and tragic at times, the authors humor and descriptive prowess teaches us that so much of who we are comes from our families history. It is really a coming of age memoir of the author, her sisters and her parents, who had to learn to live a life of freedom after the atrocities that they suffered. The book reads like a novel and also reveals a very human side of history that should not be forgotten. READ THIS! - Marshall G.

REREADING RIGHT NOW

This book is so enjoyable, I needed to start reading it again. Linda, has the ability to talk directly to your "minds eye". I could invision, the description of people, places & things from a young girl, growing up in the Mid 60's, in a little corner of the North Shore Suburbs. It's an enjoyable & interesting memoir. - Susan

Heartwrenching, Heartwarming and Heartily Funny!

I am neither Jewish nor from the midwest, but I found Linda Pressman's book to be a "can't put down" read. She has a way with words, taking me to the cold, snowy, Nazi-infested forest during the war and then into her estrogen-infused childhood home in Skokie, always painting a picture persuading me to believe I am there.

The survival stories of her parents are tragic, horrifying and necessary to be repeated again and again so our younger generations never forget the atrocities of which men are capable. After the war, her parents find themselves in America trying to move on with their lives and hold on to their pasts while simultaneously running from them. Linda outlines her childhood as one of seven American- born sisters, growing up in a primarily Jewish neighborhood in Skokie to immigrant parents, who are torn between embracing their culture and putting it aside and forgetting about it so that they can never be harmed again. Linda and her sisters just want to be normal, American kids whose biggest concerns are puberty, bras and receiving their first kiss, while their parents somehow are always there reminding them of their past, and how their future almost didn't come to pass.

Read this book if: you are from Skokie, you are the child of a Holocaust survivor, you are interested in the stories of Holocaust survivors, or even if you just survived adolescence. You will be glad you did. - Jennifer C. 

This is our next book club choice

This is the kind of storytelling that makes you put life on hold so that you can finish the book. I am not Jewish but I related to the memoir because of the humorous and honest style of writing as she remembers her life in a family of 7 girls. The author has the same charm and wit as Garrison Keillor as she makes her ordinary life sound extraordinary in the poignant stories of coming of age in Skokie, Illinois. I literally was laughing out loud page after page because she has such a keen sense of the ridiculous.
This is a very insightful memoir written with details that made me laugh and cry. I didn't want it to end!
Yes, the Holocaust is ever present in her recollections but the book is first and foremost a book about what it was like to exist and thrive and find meaning in life in spite of the tragic events in the lives of both her mother and father. She demonstrates a genuine fondness for her sisters, parents and extended family of other Holocaust survivors. This is a happy book that I will read again because it is so much fun! - Kate O.

Captivating Read

Linda Pressman does an amazing job of telling her story in a way that draws the reader in as if we are at her house in Skokie beside her. I have to admit that I grew up in the same area around the same time and reading Linda's book invoked so many precious memory of growing up in that era. I particulary love how she balances the painful memories of her parent's Holocaust experiences with the charming and laugh out loud humor of growing up with so many sisters. I have read many books about the Holocaust and not one has treated this serious subject with so much dignity while still allowing the reader to endulge in honest, personal humor. Naturally, growing up Jewish in the same geographic area made the book so much more personal but this is written in a way that will appeal to a much wider audience. I found myself not wanting to finish the last chapter as I knew that I would be left anxiously awaiting the next book by Linda Pressman. I thank Linda for taking her readers through her family's personal journey. - Lori F.