This is the story of 14 year-old Jutka’s life before, during, and after World War II, with the three sections of the book dealing with those periods being titled Limbo, Hell, and Paradiso.
The story is heart-wrenching. We see how her friends and neighbors turn from loving her family to despising them. We see the horrors of the ghetto, Auschwitz, and the DP camps. Then we see Jutka and her friends struggle to find a new home for themselves when nothing is left of their old ones. While most want to relocate to Israel, Jutka dreams of being with her relatives in Canada.
The story is compelling, but I did find the writing to be a bit simplistic and choppy, thus the lower rating.
Kanada’s author, Eva Wiseman, was born in Hungary and has based this book on her parents’ and other friends’ experiences during the war. She now lives in Winnipeg.
2006, 241 pp.
Rating: 3.5/5
This book seems to have become one of the breakout stars of The Canadian Book Challenge. I hadn’t even heard of it before.
I hate it when a good story is hurt by weak writing.
Haven’t heard of this one, but I really like WWII novels. Bummer that the writing was a little choppy but it sounds like an interesting read. I’ll have to check it out.
This book is really touching.
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