Status
Available
Call number
Collection
Publication
Puffin (1994), Edition: 1ST, Mass Market Paperback, 224 pages
Description
Liberated from a German concentration camp at the end of World War II but haunted by the memory of her ordeal, fifteen-year-old Piri starts a strange new life as a Jew in Sweden. Sequel to "Upon the Head of the Goat."
Media reviews
KLIATT Review
Joni Schockett (KLIATT Review, May 1999 (Vol. 33, No. 3))
This book is different from the others in that it takes place from the end of the war through those first years of liberation. The sequel to Upon the Head of A Goat, it follows the stories of Piri and Iboya, sisters who survived the
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Holocaust, as they try to find meaning in their shattered lives. Most of their family is dead, but the two sisters try valiantly to locate other surviving relatives. Having relied on each other for survival in the camps, the two young sisters, now 16 and 18, must learn to live their lives independently from each other if they are to truly heal from their emotional wounds. A wonderful Swedish couple adopts Piri and helps her cope with the potentially destructive aftermath of the war. The establishment of Israel gives Iboya her strength and two young healthy women emerge from the Holocaust, defying the Nazi promise to rid the world of "Jewish vermin." This is truly a story of courage and hope. 1985, Farrar Strauss & Giroux, $15.00 and $2.50. Ages 14 up. Show Less
Children's Literature
Donna Freedman (Children's Literature)
This sequel to Upon the Head of the Goat shows how the Hungarian author and one of her sisters survived the Holocaust. The details of the camp are depicted sparingly and mostly in flashback, since the girls' focus is on getting well, looking for surviving
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family members, and trying to figure out where they belong in the world. This search for identity, and the emotionally fraught male-female relationships encountered by the author and her friends, may be off-putting to younger readers who enjoyed the first book. In truth, the boy-girl parts of the story do slow the narrative down considerably at times. Still, the book is a worthy successor to Siegal's powerful first book. However, young readers who are accustomed to happy endings may not like the weltschmertz the author shows on the last page, as she meets a young German who defends his father's support of Hitler. "Coming to terms with the past was not yet over, and never would be," the author writes. "I would have to live with the Fritzes of the world--even try to understand their guilt, understand them, in hopes of making a better world." Unfortunately, history has proved Siegal correct. 2003 (orig. 1985), Sunburst/Farrar Straus and Giroux, $5.95. Ages 12 up. Show Less
Subjects
Language
User reviews
LibraryThing member kthomp25
This book is interesting in that it gives readers a view into what life was like for surviovors after the War. However, it does little to answer questions about Piri's family, (I suppose that many never got answers), and it is not nearly as compelling as the first book, UPON the HEAD of GOAT. It is
This is listed as a children's book, but I am more comfortable classifying it as a Young Adult book, due to the extensive coverage of Piri's romantic entanglements.
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difficult to sort out the characters and how Piri knows many of them. This is listed as a children's book, but I am more comfortable classifying it as a Young Adult book, due to the extensive coverage of Piri's romantic entanglements.
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LibraryThing member juniperSun
A great portrayal of life of a teen girl in the immediate years after being freed from Bergen-Belsen Nazi concentration camp. Piri, a Hungarian Jew, was transported to Sweden as she needed medical care for her health problems caused by the prison years. She is also very behind in school & has
At one point in this book I felt that too much of what Piri was talking with friends about was typical teenage focus on boy-girl relations, and was struck by the sentence later in the book where she criticizes some new Swedish friends "They played kissing games and acted...well, childlike. I know they are older than I, but the biggest problem in their lives is school and the most important thing is dating." Well, I guess for a Young Adult novel, this focus is important to keep reader's interest, and, to be fair, we do get good insight into the other struggles, worries, and concerns she has.
I would recommend this for any Young Adult. I have not read the prequel.
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problems focusing on learning when she is expected to attend Swedish schools. The language barrier must have been tremendous, but we don't really read how she picked up Swedish. Luckily her older sister is still with her to help her. We feel their sorrow each time they hear what happened to other family or community members. They need to plan what they want for their future: go with friends to start a new Israel, find other relatives in America to live with, or develop relationships with Swedes--which would mean very little contact with their Jewish heritage.At one point in this book I felt that too much of what Piri was talking with friends about was typical teenage focus on boy-girl relations, and was struck by the sentence later in the book where she criticizes some new Swedish friends "They played kissing games and acted...well, childlike. I know they are older than I, but the biggest problem in their lives is school and the most important thing is dating." Well, I guess for a Young Adult novel, this focus is important to keep reader's interest, and, to be fair, we do get good insight into the other struggles, worries, and concerns she has.
I would recommend this for any Young Adult. I have not read the prequel.
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LibraryThing member mutantpudding
same as the previous one in regards to reading this way too young as a kid, though I think a lot of it went over my head then. I got so emotional hearing Piri call her foster parents mother and father. What she went thru is unimaginable to me and her finding that love again was very touching.
ISBN
0140369678 / 9780140369670