The World That We Knew: A Novel

by Alice Hoffman

Hardcover, 2019

Status

Available

Call number

F HOF

Collection

Publication

Simon & Schuster (2019), 384 pages

Description

In Berlin, at the time when the world changed, Hanni Kohn knows she must send her twelve-year-old daughter away to save her from the Nazi regime. She finds her way to a renowned rabbi, but it's his daughter, Ettie, who offers hope of salvation when she creates a mystical Jewish creature, a rare and unusual golem, who is sworn to protect Lea. Once Ava is brought to life, she and Lea and Ettie become eternally entwined, their paths fated to cross, their fortunes linked. Lea and Ava travel from Paris, where Lea meets her soulmate, to a convent in western France known for its silver roses; from a school in a mountaintop village where three thousand Jews were saved. Meanwhile, Ettie is in hiding, waiting to become the fighter she's destined to be.… (more)

Barcode

6236

Language

User reviews

LibraryThing member lauralkeet
I’ve read more than half of this novel, and I’m throwing in the towel. Many, many novels have been written about World War II, Nazi Germany, and the French Resistance. The World That We Knew makes children/teens the central characters, and adds a bit of magical realism in the form of a golem
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charged with keeping one child safe (and, from a literary viewpoint, enabling the characters to accomplish things they could not have done on their own). I was almost okay with that, but the characters had little substance and I couldn't connect with them emotionally. There were also far too many coincidental encounters and convenient escapes. And finally, a magical heron who conveyed messages, carrier pigeon style.

Oh for Pete’s sake. Just stop.
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LibraryThing member basilsbooks
Alice Hoffman has done it again, a book both hauntingly heartbreakingly beautiful. A book that I will admit to devouring as quickly as I could and that it left me emotionally exhausted and many cries to come I think. It was a book I truly didn't think I would love despite being by my favourite
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author. To be taken on this journey and to be able to visualize the sights, smells and feelings described is more proof of the author's own magic. I think it will be the most heartbreaking book I will read this year without a doubt but one I will read again because the heartbreak was the kind that leaves you feeling like you have read a loved one's letters after they are gone. A good hurt. Another amazing book by a so talented autho
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LibraryThing member PeggyDean
Even in the crowded genre of World War II historical fiction, The World that We Knew burns with an unmatched intensity. Out of desperation, a mother enlists the help of a young girl in creating a golem to protect her daughter. From this act of love, Alice Hoffman's luminous prose weaves together a
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story of quiet resistance and heroic sacrifice set during the years of the German occupation of France. Afterwards, the questions linger: what is it that defines our humanity and how do we move forward after unspeakable suffering?
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LibraryThing member lilibrarian
As life becomes difficult for Jews in Germany, Lea's mother needs a way to keep her 12-year-old daughter safe. She asks a rabbi's daughter to create a creature to protect her. The rabbi's daughter, her younger sister, Lea, and the golem set off to France looking for a safe haven. They and those
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they meet, all have their own fates.
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LibraryThing member Beth.Clarke
WW2 novels are usually a favorite. The golem, with magical realism, was fascinating and beautifully written. The love between mother and daughter was special and emotionally. However, the book wasn't always working. The teens and their interactions felt off. A bit too YA romance. I plot is well
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paced and if you like creative WW2 and don't mind romance, you will enjoy The World That We Knew. There's a lot to enjoy in the novel. For much of the book, I was listening to the audio. It is very well done.
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LibraryThing member Mnpose
It took me a long time to read this book. The language is rich and many times I had to stop and reread a passage. The story is tough and more times than not I had to stop to catch my breath. These are still good reasons to read this book.
LibraryThing member ML923
Berlin 1941. The Nazis are in control. Jews are starving, and families disappear each day. Even a minor offense can get a Jew killed.

Hanni Kohn exists in the midst of all this. Her husband has been killed by the Nazis, and as much as she wants to flee, she cannot because she is unable to leave her
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bedridden mother alone. She can, however, try to save her 12-year-old daughter Lea. To do so, she entreats help from a rabbi but instead gets it from his daughter Ettie, who creates a “golem” in the shape of a woman from clay and water — to watch over Lea and to keep her safe until the end of the war. This golem, named Ava, will intertwine with Lea as she escapes Berlin for France, along with Ettie and Ettie’s sister. Thus begins the story of Lea’s and Ettie’s journeys to and in France as they go on the run to get away from the horrors of their homeland.

I have enjoyed other of Hoffman’s novels, but this one left me flat. I struggled to get into it and struggled through most of it as I read along. Although Hoffman’s writing was as lyrically gorgeous as ever, the plot seemed to move along much too slowly, and I thought that the characters were not well developed. It was difficult for me to finish this, and I almost gave up a few times. But because of the author, I plodded on. Maybe it was that Hoffman’s usually wonderful mystical realism just didn’t work for me in a World War II setting. May it was that the idea of a “golem” coming to life to protect Lea seemed a but far-fetched. For whatever reason, this novel just did not work for me.

Thanks to the publisher and to NetGalley for providing me with an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.
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LibraryThing member raizel
Well-written book, with some fantasy elements---one of the main characters is a female golem---about young people trying to survive in France during the Holocaust. Real places, events and people are interwoven with a story that connects two French brothers with two girls from Berlin perhaps too
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neatly. The ending, while satisfying, also feels a bit too tidy. Nonetheless, I was moved by the story and cared about the characters and learned more about France during World War II. The roundup of Parisian Jews, the small villages, convents, and schools that hid Jewish children are described. I also liked the relationship between the golem and the heron. I hadn't known that Huguenots were some of the French who saved Jews during the war, but it makes sense that their persecution would make them wary of authority and willing to help others in a similar situation.
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LibraryThing member over.the.edge
The World That We Knew
by Alice Hoffman
due 9-24-2019
Simon and Schuster
5.0 / 5.0

#netgalley. #TheWorldThatWeKnow

Alice Hoffman has shared a very essential and harrowing story of the Nazi invasion in Berlin, in the 1940s, and of The Resistance that helped Jewish people to hide and escape. Not since
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reading 'Night' by Wiesel, have I been so taken and consumed with emotion by a story about the humiliation and torture of Jewish people, forced upon them by the heartless Germans. The detail is richly developed, the emotion so deep, the story flows at a perfect pace for so much emotion.
I was drawn into the lives of Julien, Hanni, Lea, Ettie and Victor...I wanted to know their story. I wanted them to be successful, I wanted them to stay alive.
The abuse and deprivation and lack of common decency.
The glory and happiness when a loved one or friend received word by post, then, when it became to dangerous, by heron, that they were safe and alive.
The Resistance helped forged vistas, drivers license, ration cards, to help Jews survive and move to safe havens in Spain and Switzerland, many hiding them at great risk to their own safety.
This book made me: cry... Laugh..Get pissed off.. Get happy..get angry...get excited. This book made me feel. I was completely taken by the emotional story of humanity, decency, self-respect and escape. And also the lack of humanity, decency and self-respect.
This should be on everyones must read list...its fantastic...its important...especially in this time of out history when personal ambivalence and deceit are more important than people.
Thanks to netgalley, the publisher and author for sending this e-book ARC for review.
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LibraryThing member mojomomma
Wonderful book and hard to put down. Hanni is a widow in Berlin taking care of her disabled mother and her pre-teen daughter. She decides to send her daughter Lea away and with the help of a rabbi's daughter creates a golem to protect her daughter. They escape to Paris and then leave before the
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Jews are rounded up there and hide out in rural France. Ava, the golem, grows stronger and becomes more human. Lea grows up, too. The story twists and turns and is utterly fascinating.
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LibraryThing member shazjhb
Too much fantasy in the tragic issues that happened during WWII in France. The French were not helpful to Jews during the war. Fantasy was not needed.
LibraryThing member shelleyraec
“It was protection, it was love, it was a secret, it was the beginning, it was the end.”

The World That We Knew is a lyrical, evocative and poignant tale set during World War II from Alice Hoffman.

“I beg you for one thing. Love her as if she were your own.”

As the Nazi’s purge Germany of
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its Jewish population, a mother desperately seeks a way to save her twelve year old daughter, Lea. Turning to her faith for a miracle she finds help from a Rabbi’s daughter, Ettiene, who, in exchange for train tickets to make her own escape with her sister, creates a Golem, a creature made from magic and clay, compelled to deliver Lea safe from the war.

“Hers was a wish that could never be granted. It was too late, it was over; there was no home to go back to.”

While Lea grieves for all she has left behind, Ava, learning to walk within the world, ensures they safely reach Paris. There they find refuge with the Levi family, distant cousins, and Lea a friendship with Julien Levi that eases her heartache, but once again the darkness closes in, and Ava and Lea must flee.

“It was a dark dream,... it was nothing like the world we knew.”

A story of family, love, grief, faith, sacrifice, survival, duty, good and evil, The World That We Knew is a spellbinding fairytale, grounded in the horrific reality of the Holocaust. It contrasts the very worst of humanity with its best during one of history’s darkest periods, and celebrates the astonishing ability of love to thrive even in the bleakest of circumstances.

“People said love was the antidote to hate, that it could mend what was most broken, and give hope in the most hopeless of times.”

Lea and Ava’s path is fraught with danger, yet illuminated with love, as it also is for those with whom they connect on their journey. Ettie seeks out the resistance after her sister is gunned down during their escape from Berlin; Marianne returns home to her father’s farm in the Ardèche Mountains, and discovers all that she left to find; Julien Levi narrowly escapes being shipped off to Auschwitz during ‘Operation Spring Breeze’, doing all he can to keep his one promise to Lea - to stay alive.

“If you survive, I survive inside of you.”

Powerful and poetic, The World That We Knew is a stunning novel and a compelling read.

“Once upon a time something happened that you never could have imagined, a spell was broken, a girl was saved, a rose grew out of a tooth buried deep in the ground, love was everywhere, and people who had been taken away continued to walk with you, in dreams and in the waking world.”
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LibraryThing member thewanderingjew
The World That We Knew, Alice Hoffman, author; Judith Light, narrator
Although one might think that because the book concerns itself largely with magical realism, that it is a book that is light and airy, one would be very wrong. In this beautifully crafted and creative allegory, using the stuff of
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myths and legends, Hoffman has crafted a very creative piece of historic fiction about a time that will live in infamy, the time of the Holocaust.
It is 1941 and World War II is raging in Europe. Jews have lost their rights as citizens and are being rounded up to be tortured in inhumane conditions and/or murdered systematically. Although they believed the war would end and the people would come to their senses, that had not happened and things had gotten far worse than anyone would have imagined. Those who had no means to save themselves, struggled with ideas of how to save their children. Parents who witnessed the abuse of their children thought of nothing else when they realized how hopeless things had gotten. Some were sent to convents, some were sent out of the country to strangers, and some were simply abandoned when their parents were rounded up and sent away to die. After Hanni Kohn’s daughter was attacked by a Nazi soldier, resulting in his murder, she knew that she had to do something to protect her in the future. Hanni could not escape because her mother was bedridden, and she would not leave her behind. She sought the help of a friend. Ruth believed in magic. She told Hanni of a creature that her own father had told her about, a creature that had saved Jews since the beginning of time. The creature was a golem. A golem is a mythical creature that could speak the language of fish and birds, and had great strength and powers that humans did not possess. It could see into the future, foretell the time of death, see and speak to angels. It also had limitations. If it was more than a certain distance from the ground, it lost its power. It was made from clay using spiritual, secret incantations to give it life. It should only live for a short period of time or it would begin to think for itself making it dangerous and less inclined to obey its master. It was considered an abomination since it had no soul and was not human. It could not feel.
Ruth gave Hanni the address of a Rabbi who could create such a creature for her. This creature would protect her daughter and take her to relatives in France who lived in a part of France which was supposed to remain a free zone, a place called Vichy. Hanni believed that Lea would be safer there. Ruth told her to implore the Rabbi’s wife to help her, since the Rabbi probably would refuse to see her. Hanni decided to take a chanhce and made the dangerous trip to the Rabbi’s home. There, his daughter let her in, to the chagrin of her mother. When she told the Rabbi’s wife what she wished, she berated Hanni for asking for such a thing and refused to help her. As she was leaving, the Rabbi’s daughter pulled her aside and whispered that she would help her. She said she had perfect recall and had seen her father’s failed attempt to raise a golem and knew the mistake he had made. She would not make the same mistake. She wanted to escape from Germany into France also. She needed the money to purchase papers and tickets for herself and her sister Marta. An agreement was struck between them.
All three females were present when the procedure began and the pure clay to make the creature was collected. As they worked together, Hanni revealed some of her requirements. She wanted the golem to protect her daughter at all costs, like a mother, and she wanted it to be female with the power of speech. Since she was already breaking G-d’s laws, Ettie said she would try to fulfill her wishes. Hanni hoped that this creature would serve as Lea’s companion and guardian and love her like she did. When the creature breathed, she was beautiful and named Ava. She put on the dress that Hanni had made for her, and except for her very large feet, requiring the rabbi’s boots, she looked fine.
Lea and Ava, Ettie and her sister Marta, all attempted to escape to France at the same time, on the same train. Just before they reached the border, guards came aboard their train. Ava told Etti to stay there and she would protect her too, but she refused. The golem was created to protect Lea, only. She leapt from the train with her sister. From this point, the lives of Ettie and Lea took different directions, but they were destined to reunite in the future. Ava bedazzled the German guard so he left them alone, and they were safe. They made it to the home of the Levi’s, Lea’s relatives. They stayed there with them and their two sons, Victor and Julien for some time, until Hitler reneged on the agreement of the free zone and began rounding up Jews. The Levi’s thought they would be safe, but they were just Jews, like any other. The leadership supported Hitler and they were rounded up. How they and other victims fared is fraught with tension and bravery. How they fared is fraught with the helplessness of the day. How they fared is fraught with the prejudice and hate supported by those who followed the Nazis or who feared them and didn’t resist in order to save themselves, although they knew what was going on behind the scenes and were aware of the deportations and cold-blooded murders.
As the story is told, there are many revelations about the war and its heinous history. There are tales of the resistance and those who took part in it. The hate and the brutality leap off the page in an emotional and spiritual nature, making it real and unforgettable for the reader. It forces the reader to experience the hopelessness, helplessness, fear and confusion of the victims. It opens their eyes to the courage and valor, perseverance and self sacrifice of those who tried to save the innocent victims and who fought back when they knew they would be tortured and murdered if caught.
The reader is eased into and out of the horror because of the use of magical realism which makes it seem like a fable, even though the pertinent parts of the story are based on facts. The angel of death, however, was always hovering nearby. It was not easily defeated, but sometimes could be tricked. There are some miraculous moments in the tale which will cheer the reader and give the reader hope for a brighter future, but not before the future goes dark. As each hero and heroine is portrayed, the reader will suffer with them and feel their conflicts and final moments and decisions. They will feel their losses and their victories.
These are some questions that the book raises. Is a Jew always a Jew no matter what? Does evil exist? Do the differences between people matter? When people are separated from their loved ones, will they recover? Is it like the immigration crisis of today? Lea’s grandmother tells her to be a wolf, wolves survive, would Jews? Is there hope for a peaceful future today? Are we more separate and different or more united and the same? Will love make it possible to always find a way to hope?
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LibraryThing member Beamis12
Question I asked myself. All Holocaust books are heartbreaking, Would this book become just another sad story without the magical realism? I think that element made this book memorable, one that stands out, unforgettable. Ava represents a mother's love, someone who is not human, but more human than
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many others during this inhuman time. I loved when the doctor thought, if one can love, one has a soul. So much evil, so many deaths and yet so many good people that went above and beyond. So many elements combined, a heron I adored, showing there are many other species able to love. So I decided the magical realism allowed Hoffman to interject a great deal of love and wonder into a story of a time that represented, hatred, horror, death and loss. It provided an emotional element that went above and beyond. I loved the ending, it was just right.

I still want a knight for Christmas and now I've added three angels to my list.

ARC from Edelweiss
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LibraryThing member tamidale
Magical realism meets World War II in this captivating new novel by Alice Hoffman.

In Berlin, Hanni, the mother of a young Jewish girl, seeks drastic measures in order to protect her young daughter Lea. With the help of Ettie, the daughter of a Rabbi, a golem called Ava is created to protect Lea
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and to care for her as if she were her own.

Fleeing Berlin together, Lea and Ava make it into France where they live in relative safety for most of the next few years. Each one discovers love while in France. Lea falls in love with Julien and Ava falls in love with a heron.

The appearance of the heron throughout the story was very symbolic. The heron stands for peace and tranquility and a path to self-determination, which is what happens for each of the characters in the story. In the story, the heron helps Lea and Julien keep in touch with each other when they are separated. Their mantra to each other was to “stay alive.”

Hoffman focuses more on the Resistance and the regular people who helped the Jews stay in hiding. There are no chapters involving life in a concentration camp, although the characters are aware of what happens in the camps.

Throughout the story both Ava and Lea question if they can fulfill her mother’s wishes. At times they doubt each other. Learning to trust, learning what love truly is, the characters grow into who they are to become and all this leads to a very inspiring ending.

I think this is one of Hoffman’s best novels and highly recommend it to readers.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for allowing me to read an advance copy and offer my honest review.
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LibraryThing member HandelmanLibraryTINR
In Berlin in 1941 during humanity’s darkest hour, three unforgettable young women must act with courage and love to survive
LibraryThing member GirlWellRead
A special thank you to Edelweiss and Simon & Schuster for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Hoffman's latest work transports us to Berlin in 1941. It is during this time, one of the darkest in humanity, that three women must rely on their courage in order to survive.

In order to keep her
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twelve-year-old daughter away from the Nazi regime, Hanni Kohn sends her away to stay with some distant cousins. She visits an illustrious rabbi to seek his help. While pleading her case to the Rabbi's wife, their daughter, Ettie, overhears and secretly offers help. Ettie creates a golem—a mystical Jewish creature—to protect Lea at all costs. When Ava, the golem, is brought to life, she is forever connected to Ettie her maker, and Lea, the girl she is created to keep safe.

With evil lurking everywhere, the girls face unsurmountable loss, and sacrifice so much for love.

We meet some extraordinary characters that take us on an astonishing journey of love and loss, while demonstrating incredible courage and resilience. Paramount is a mother's love for her daughter and the lengths a mother will go to protect her child. All of this is sprinkled with Hoffman's signature magical realism.

This is a fresh take on the Holocaust and there are elements that Hoffman shines a light on, like the border crossings of many children, that many are not aware of. She educates and elevates her readers. Hoffman's writing transcends. It is elegant and haunting, and quite simply, stunning.

In this book, all roads lead past the Angel of Death and love is forever.
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LibraryThing member kglattstein
Five stars. This book will stick with me for a long time. It contains mysticism, heartache, love, hope, history, woven into an adventure of the spirit and a thoughtful examination of human behavior. The story takes you through a different dimension of the holocaust where Alice Hoffman creates
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heroes out of unexpected natural elements and Jewish mysticism, as well as, in people whose histories give them the courage and knowledge to sacrifice everything they own to help a fellow human. She weaves a story 4 adolescent girls and two young men who as they experience the real human emotions of love and loss are navigating (and becoming adults) in a world where the definition being human is turned upside down with evil in the actions and beliefs of the Nazis. You will often forget these are children who still carry some of the innocence and trust that comes with being young. There is hope in human kind as you read the story, but we are also asked to question the essence of humanity - especially what makes us human and what we do with that gift. I will read this again and also recommend it for book clubs.
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LibraryThing member marquis784
The World That We Knew: A Novel by Alice Hoffman

Sept 14, 2019
Simon and Schuster
Fiction, historical
Rating: 5/5
384 pages

I received a digital ARC copy of this book from NetGalley and Simon and Schuster in exchange for unbiased review.

I found it interesting how the author had no intentions of writing
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this story when approached by a fan. Apparently, the woman begged her to write “her story”. Somehow, she must have been touched and intrigued as a beautiful novel was born.

In Berlin, Hanni Kohn’s husband was murdered during a riot outside a Jewish hospital in which he worked as a doctor. Hanni realizes that she must stay to protect her dying mother while finding a way to save her her 12 year old daughter, Lea. She makes a heart breaking decision to seek assistance from a respected rabbi who is known to have created mystical golems. Although she is turned away by her parents, Etti offers to perform this rare creation.

It was so interesting learning about golems and their historical presence. I was fascinated by the spiritual beliefs and fears with being a creator of such a powerful being which has potential to become a monster. It can eventually destroy that which it was built to protect if not properly managed. There was a lot of Hebrew references in the novel which added to the mystical aspect.

The story weaves together the lives of brave people who were willing to sacrifice to save and protect others from a horrible fate. I feel overwhelmed to describe a book which can only be experienced. This is unlike any other historical novel written about WWII. The characters and experiences and connections are rich and substantial. As with any story during this time period, there is pain and loss and redemption.

My synopsis would not do the story justice.
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LibraryThing member ZeljanaMaricFerli
In a world where human demons roam the streets of WW2 Berlin, a teenage daughter of a rabbi answers a mother's plea to protect her daughter. She does that by invoking a golem, a legendary creature from Jewish folklore, which would keep her safe. The story follows both of these two young women and a
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few more characters throughout the war years in nazi-occupied Europe.
The story, like other stories I read by Alice Hoffman, has touches of magical realism, but it is very subdued. The language is fairytale-like, poetic and the atmosphere feels very real. It was very easy to get into the story and accept all the "unnatural" elements of it.

This is between 4 and 5 stars for me because I really enjoyed it, but I feel it could easily be even better. If Ettie has the knowledge and magical power to invoke a golem, I would expect to see more of that in the rest of the novel, but it's as if that side of her just disappeared towards the end, which was disappointing for me and seemed like a wasted opportunity. Still, a good read.
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LibraryThing member BookConcierge
Book on CD performed by Judith Light

A slightly different take on the usual WW2 stories. Hanni Kohn recognizes the imminent danger the Nazi’s pose, so she goes to a rabbi for help. But it is the rabbi’s daughter, Ettie, who offers to make the mystical golem who will protect Hanni’s daughter,
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Lea. Once Ava is brought to life, she will join with Lea and Ettie to escape to France. Although separated their paths are fated to intersect.

I was skeptical about reading another WW2 story, but Hoffman’s writing captured my attention and kept me interested and engaged throughout. I grew to love Ava in particular. What an interesting character! Not truly human, and not intended to “feel,” nevertheless, she has been charged by her creators to act as a mother to Lea, and so she begins to feel for this child/teen/young woman. Her devotion is no less that that of a mother, and she suffers many of the same heartaches a mother would feel as her daughter grows up and away from her.

Ettie is a marvelous young woman. Strong, independent, determined to make a difference. She will not accept the role that has been prescribed for her by her strictly orthodox parents. She will fight against tyranny with every fiber of her being.

Lea is a bit of an enigma. A child at the outset she grows into a sullen teenager and then a strong-willed young woman. There were several times I wanted to just throttle her! But by the end of the book I was cheering her on.

While the focus of the story is really on Ava, Ettie and Lea, there are a number of supporting characters who help them throughout, from the Mother Superior at the convent where Ava and Lea hide for a time, to the French resistance group Ettie works with, to a kind doctor and the farmer and his daughter who keep bees and a the charming goat, Bluebell.

Judith Light is an accomplished actress and voice artist. She does a marvelous job of performing the audiobook. She really brings these characters to life.
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LibraryThing member Whisper1
I've read most of this author's books, all are special and wonderful. This particular book deals in depth with the Holocaust and the fear, the cruelty, the never ending risks and the supreme hope for a tomorrow without Nazi's and hatred.

The setting begins in Berlin in the year 1941. It is a time
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when Jewish people are aware that something very ominous is about to happen. Loving her daughter Lea so very much, Hanni Kohn needs to save her daughter. Knowing of tales in Jewish folklore of a creature that is not human, but can be made from clay in a human like rendition. The creature will help oversee her daughter throughout her travails that await.

Finding Ettie, a daughter of a Rabbi who who knows the secret language and actions needed to create a Golem brings hope to Hanni. Golems are very rare creatures and highly unusual. They have no soul, but their task is taken seriously and the female Golem, named Ava goes beyond measure to save Lea as together they escape through mountains, farms, schools, and a convent containing 3,000 Jews were saved.

This is a tale of never ending love amid the horror of brutality and fear. As the book description notes, this is a story where evil is found at every turn, the story introduces us to remarkable characters that must travel a stunning journey for the sake of life, knowing that loss and resistance is a large part of survival.

Highly recommended.
Four and 1/2 Stars
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LibraryThing member nbmars
This story begins in Berlin in 1941 during the Holocaust. A bit of magical realism overlying the plot doesn’t change the the historical events that occurred, but adds a metaphorical dimension to several themes: the inevitability of evil in the world; the transformational power of love and hope;
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and all the blessings that can occur in spite of the first and with the help of the second, even in the worst of circumstances.

Hanni Kohn knew that evil was all around her, and closing in.

“Demons were on the streets. They wore brown uniforms, they took whatever they wanted, they were cold-blooded, even though they looked like young men.”

Hanni also understood how evil worked - the same way, in fact it has always worked, even in the 21st Century:

“It made its own corrupt sense; it swore that the good were evil, and that evil had come to save mankind. It brought up ancient fears and scattered them on the street like pearls.”

Hanni’s husband Simon, a doctor, had already been murdered by the Nazis. Thus she was all the more desperate that her 12-year-old daughter Lea should live:

“Her husband had saved so many people she refused to believe his life had meant nothing. It would mean, she had decided, that no matter what, their daughter would live. Lea would live and she would save more souls, and so it would go, on and on, until there was more good in the world than there was evil.”

Somehow, she had to help her daughter get to (relative) safety in France. She herself couldn’t leave; her own mother was bedridden and Hanni owed it to her to stay with her and care for her.

Desperate for a miracle, Hanni sought help from an old woman, Tante Ruth, who was the daughter of a rabbi known as “The Magician.” Ruth told Hanni the only possibility she could think of to get Lea out was a golem.

In Jewish folklore, a golem is a human-like figure made out of clay and brought to life by esoteric magic known only to a select few adept at Jewish mysticism, or Kabbalah. Golems – unnaturally strong and unquestionably obedient to their creators - were said to have been created from time to time in olden days to help defend Jews from antisemitic attacks. It would take a golem for Lea to escape from Berlin. Ruth gave Hanni the address of a rabbi who was famous for his knowledge of spirits and magic.

Neither the rabbi nor his wife would help Hanni, but their daughter, 17-year-old Ettie, agreed to try. Ettie had eavesdropped on her father for years, and knew how to create a golem. She would not only make one for Lea, but she and her 15-year-old sister Marta would go with them to France.

Hanni, Ettie, and Marta collected mud from the banks of the Spree River, adding Hanni’s tears and Marta’s menstrual blood to the mix, and together shaped a female golem they named Ava. Ava was charged with protecting Hanni’s daughter at all costs: “You cannot abandon her or leave her on her own. She is the only one who matters to you.”

Ava understood she was created to love Lea as if she were her own, but love was a mystery to Ava, one that could not be fully understood even by mortals. Nevertheless, Ava was determined to fulfill the sole purpose with which she had been charged.

As the story goes on, and Ava, Lea, Ettie, and Marta proceed on their journey, all of them come to learn more about the mystery of love.

In Paris, Lea and Ava go to stay with the Levi family, distant cousins of Hanni, where they meet Julien, 14, and Victor, 17 - two boys whose fates will become entwined with theirs.

Ettie ends up in Vienne, France, a region outside of Lyon, where she lives a life in disguise as a gentile. She no longer has faith in any event. She felt God had forsaken her, “and in turn she had forsaken His ways and His word.” All she wished for was a way to fight back against the Germans.

The Nazi occupation becomes more entrenched and dangerous over time. The group suffer losses, but they also learn this about love: “If you are loved, you never lose the person who loved you. You carry them with you all your life.”

Lea had been given instructions by her mother for what to do about Ava when Lea was finally safe, but Ava, who also knew about the instructions, wanted to change her fate. Yes, she had fulfilled the original purpose of her creation, but Ava felt her maker was wrong; she was no longer just an automaton made of clay. She believed that if you love someone, you do in fact possess a soul. And if someone loves you, you have been made flesh. You can ache and bleed and feel joy, because of that love.

As for Lea, she wanted to honor her mother’s guidance about Ava, but also came to see that “fate might not be set out before them in a straight, unwavering path, but might instead be a curving line marked by chance and choice, infinite in its possible destinations.”

Discussion: One is reminded of Isaac Asimov’s series of books about robots, which explore the idea of the creation of beings who come to feel alive and who cherish that feeling. This book might also be considered a Holocaust retelling of The Velveteen Rabbit. In that classic story, the Nursery Magic Fairy explains to the much-loved and eventual raggedy plush bunny toy that it has became “Real” because of the love of the boy who owned him. In The World That We Knew, we are asked to ponder how, after all, is one to define “humanity”? Are the murderous and evil demons in brown shirts to be considered “alive” while a being like Ava is not?

While the theme of defining humanity is explored in this story, it never takes the focus away from the horrors of the Holocaust. Hoffman takes great pains to make an accurate presentation of exactly what happened and how many lives were affected by the Nazi reign of terror. The magical ele­ments add a metaphorical aspect to understanding it, but cannot change it.

Through the different characters, readers are also able to examine different reactions to the problem of theodicy, the question of how the idea of an all-knowing, all-powerful and benevolent God is consistent with the existence of evil or suffering in the world. The Holocaust gave a unique dimension to the issue, and put each character's response in sharp relief.

Evaluation: This profoundly affecting book has redemptive aspects to it, but ultimately is informed by the crushing reality of what actually happened during the Holocaust. It raises so many philosophical issues that it would make an excellent choice for book clubs.
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LibraryThing member JSpilman
The story is of the upheaval and desperation of a family amid thousands of Jews in Berlin and in Paris during WW2. There is an element of magical realism, but most of the book is about being human.
LibraryThing member fionaanne
This is one of those multi-character narratives where I sometimes lose track of who's who but its beautiful and made me both sad and filled with hope about humanity.

Highly recommended for everyone but small childeen.

ISBN

1501137573 / 9781501137570
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