About book The Old Brown Suitcase: A Teenager's Story Of War And Peace (2008)
The author of this book personally lived through the atrocities of World War II as a child in Poland. Her family was Jewish and spent time in the Warsaw ghetto. These experiences are retold through her fictional character, who comes of age after escaping to Canada with the ghosts of Holocaust horrors following her.Most of this book is a basic, if sometimes moving, look at the war that is acceptable for middle grade readers. There are only a few topics as Elizabeth moves into her teenage years that make this more of a YA read. Older teenagers will probably feel, like I did, that it is somewhat too simplistic.The story flips back and forth between the main character attempting to create a new life in Canada after the war and her memories of the German occupation of Poland. With all the WWII novels out there, this one doesn't really have anything that makes it stand out, but it could be an introduction to the topic for younger readers.I listened to this on audio, and the narrator did not particularly add to my enjoyment of the book with her stiff reading of the text.
A Jewish girl named Slava and her parents wanted to escape Poland and the wrath of Hitler, but there was a huge wall that was surrounding them in the little area. They were forced as slaves, so they had no choice, but to bribe them to let Slava escape and go to her grandmother's house. Slava was heartbroken, and her sister was lost somewhere in Poland. Then, one day, she saw 2 figures walking up to her grandmother's house. It was her parents. Later on in the month, she saw Germans, and was frightened, but her parents were celebrating. Her parents told her that the Germans were surrendering. Then, they went back to Poland, and lived their life normally again.
Do You like book The Old Brown Suitcase: A Teenager's Story Of War And Peace (2008)?
The story I would probably rate slightly higher but the audiobook slightly lower. Sofia Bunting-Newman did a great job with the Polish names and accents but she had a trick of audibly swallowing that I found increasingly disgusting as I progressed with this audiobook.As for the story, I found the sections of the story set in Canada more interesting until (view spoiler)[it turned into a typical YA romance: does he like me? what if he likes her more? etc. etc. (hide spoiler)]
—Leslie
