Resistance (2018 original; edició 2018)

There are a lot of great WWII books out there, and I have to say this one suffers by comparison. I find the narrator too modern, too aware of the big picture of death in the camps (which seems inaccurate to me), too world-weary and self-righteous. It just assumes a knowledge of history and context that strikes me wrong for the time period. I also don't understand why an underground cell would move _into_ the ghetto -- that's hampering their own movements in a strange way. Can you tell I didn't get very far into the narrative? It just didn't work for me.

Advanced Readers Copy provided by Edelweiss. ( )

YA book following the life of Chaya Lindner, who following the disappearance of her younger siblings and inability to convince her parents to leave their the Tarnow ghetto, Chaya joins the Jewish Resistance. Using her blonde hair and fair complexion, she smuggles food, medical supplies and eventually guns into and babies out of various ghettos in Poland during the Nazi occupation. The highlights of the book are the inner turmoil faced by Jews and non-Jews during traumatic times and events, especially the failed Warsaw rebellion. Nielsen's afterword is also not to be missed. The reason for 3 stars is that I did not really care for Chaya, despite her bravery, or the other main characters, who kept appearing and disappearing. ( )

Taking place during WWII, this book shares the experience of those involved in the Resistance movement. The young woman in this story joins the resistance movement, carrying letters and then working to foil efforts made by the Nazis. Her skin and eye color allow her to go in and out of the ghettos unnoticed and help people in the ghettos escape. Read this book to find out what happens to this young lady as she works against the Nazi officers, getting herself into all sorts of difficult situations.

Although written for young adults, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Chaya, a young teen, is a Jewish girl living in Nazi-occupied Poland. Using forged papers, she is able to become a courier that travels to the Jewish ghettos to delivers food and documents to her people. Chaya then takes on an even more dangerous task and joins a resistance cell that raids Nazi supplies. An extraordinary story about courage and bravery.

For all the histories and fiction I've read about World War II, it's somewhat surprising I didn't encounter more about the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising (or even the Warsaw Uprising that followed in 1944). With so many stories focused on the horrors of the concentration camps and others about escaping Europe, this story of a young Jewish woman who joins the resistance feels unique in an otherwise familiar landscape. Chaya Lindner begins as a courier, helping people to escape the Polish ghettos. But she and her resistance cell grow more daring, starting Chaya on a journey that leads her to the Warsaw ghetto, where an uprising is underway and fighters determined to resist the Nazis with violent force. While this book had plenty of the horrors one might expect from a novel set during World War II, it was also hopeful and filled with action as the character actively fought for the world they wanted. ( )