The World That We Knew: A Novel

Alice Hoffman is one of those authors that never disappoints. Yes, she is a talented storyteller who is able to make even magic and mysticism believable. But her real gift is creating characters with souls. In this novel, Hoffman explores how war impacts and changes a small group of fictional people. And by doing so, she makes so much of the complexity of World War II more digestible and understandable. As soon as I started reading, I was immediately absorbed by the lives of the people I met. In one Berlin family of successful and cultured Jews, I worried at their failure to recognize the danger of the mounting government restrictions. In another, I identified with the intense fear of one mother who flaunts deep religious tradition in order to save her child. In a third, I met a rabbi's teenage daughter who believes she is the only one who can protect her younger sister and sees the war will give her the opportunity to finally do what she was born to do -- fight. There is also young Lea, hiding out with distant relatives or in remote schools, and her unfolding love-hate relationship with her fierce protectress, Ava. The two spoiled sons of a prominent mathematician, lazy Victor and star-student Julian, who find their paths diverge sharply when the war comes. And a quiet country doctor, hiding his own private sadness, while trying to keep villagers alive. Even a heron that acts as a homing pigeon. As the book progressed, each of these characters came to represent so much more than that one person's story. Instead, Hoffman skillfully used each one to illuminate many of the deepest themes of wartime. Like the universal sacrifices parents willingly make to save their children. Or the blasé arrogance and brutality of the Nazi regime. The risks so many non-Jews took to protect strangers. The randomness of loss and death. How survival can depend on having someone to live for. And how some individuals seize the opportunity of war to become stronger and braver people, while others simply give up. And even, what it ultimately means to be human. This is a powerful, suspenseful, disturbing, and unpredictable read. And it's going to stay with me for a long time.

"Think forward, not Back" So many people are telling stories about the Holocaust, but no one can do it like Hoffman can. In a mixture of historical fiction and magical realism, she tells the story of Lea and Ava, Victor and Julien, Jews and (free) French, and the scourge that was the Third Reich. It's a powerful story of the past but resonates with the truth of today. You can be more than you are created to be, expected to be. The monsters we are inside, that some only see us as, can be transformed into a completely different soul. This is both a love story and a not-so-love story. In the end, it is a heartfelt tribute to those who are gone by those who survive. A powerful book. Highly Recommended 5/5

for me it's slow at first. Time I got to the medal of the book I has enjoy it. Hard to put down.