By Georgia Hunter
⭐⭐⭐⭐(Goodreads: 4.42)
GENRE: Historical Fiction
PART OF A SERIES? No
WORTH READING? Yes
SUMMARY:
In the spring of 1939, three generations of the Kurc family are attempting to carry on with their ordinary lives. But soon there are increasing hardships in their hometown of Radom, Poland, and the horrors facing Jewish people become inescapable.
The Kurc family are split up across the world, each group trying its best to survive in the terrible circumstances in which they find themselves.
Opening line: 'It wasn’t his plan to stay up all night.'
We Were the Lucky Ones is based on a true story. The seed was planted for the author, Georgia Hunter, when she attended a family reunion and discovered the true history of her grandfather, his parents and his siblings.
We Were the Lucky Ones is written in third person, with different chapters following different characters. There are a LOT of characters to keep track of. In retrospect, I wish I’d taken notes as I was reading (so if you haven’t started reading yet, this may help you). I think because there were so many characters, it was hard to feel a strong attachment to any particular character/s. I would say this is one of the reasons this was ‘only’ a 4-star read for me.
I appreciated that – apart from reflecting what was going on in the world at that terrible time – Georgia Hunter also explored everyday realities, and enduring challenges of Life, such as having a newborn, husbands working away, and so on.
I liked how Hunter interspersed dry facts (such as dates that a certain town was taken over) with the beautifully rendered story of this family’s experience and resilience during the WWII Holocaust. Hunter’s discussion of the limitations placed on Jewish people’s religious practice at this time was particularly insightful.
I have read a lot of books set in WWII. And yet, somehow, I still forget how abhorrent the statistics are… like the fact that 90% - yes, NINETY PERCENT – of Poland’s Jewish population was annihilated during the Second World War.
As with any story surrounding the Holocaust, I went into this book knowing I was going to feel anxious. That was indeed the case… especially because there were so many family members whose story we were following, all for whom you want the best outcome. It was incredible that this family were scattered all over the world AND that at any given time, most of them didn’t know where the others were, or whether they were dead or alive. Can you imagine how heartbreaking and stressful that would be?
One criticism I have of this story (from the point of view of a teacher and parent) is that I don’t feel the author captured the voice of the little girl very well. Georgia Hunter chose to write some chapters from the point of view of Felicia, but I don’t think she portrays the thoughts of a 3 (then later 4-year-old) very accurately at all. The thoughts sound to me more like the musings of a 7-year-old than a 4-year-old. I’ll be interested to see if anyone else thinks that.
Another thing is that I felt perhaps the book is a bit disjointed. Again, possibly because of flitting from one character to the next.
I gather from the Goodreads score that I am in the minority when I say this book wouldn’t be even in my top 20 books about the Holocaust, but it was still a valuable and enjoyable read.
Hunter has a way with words. For example, instead of simply saying someone cried, Hunter writes: “… tears gather in her lashes”. Instead of saying someone is sad, she writes: “… her grief is larger than words.”
This was an important story put in the hands of a skilled writer, who was 15 years old when she discovered she was descended from a family of Holocaust survivors. Read through Georgia Hunter’s notes at the end of this book; they’re worth it!
Click here if you’d like to buy the paperback
Kommentare