The Polish Girl by Malka Adler
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Web ID: 15058232Leaves a mark
"Even when we quarreled I stayed near her and didn’t leave. It seems I needed Mama’s support." Tough read with life as a constant struggle for Danusha. She is two before WW2 and six when it's over. They lived in Poland, hiding and moving constantly because they were Jews. They found some kindness here and there for short times. She was always expected to be silent, as though she wasn't there. She stayed near her mother, who didn't show her love, yet they needed each other. Her mother did show love for Danusha's brother, as he was the son of the family. The story is told by Danusha and her perspective in pieces of their lives, then from her mother's perspective as she tells stories to her friends about their experiences during the war. It was a tough time for them to live and survive through the war, it was also very hard for Danusha to find her own way, her own meaning, to figure out life and how to live. Based on a true story of a daughter and mother. It's not an uplifting story, rather of constant struggle and sadness, but there are lessons to be learned about how the same thing can look entirely different from different perspectives and expectations. I received this book free from the publisher and NetGalley book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. #ThePolishGirl #NetGalley #BooksYouCanFeelGoodAbout #HistoricalFiction #MalkaAdler #fivestarbooks
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
A Polish girls relationship with her mother!
When the Germans invade Poland in 1939, life for Danusha and her family changes forever. Her father goes into hiding, her mother altered her two children’s first names and their last name to Kwiatkowski. Anna Kwiatkowski manages to find a job as a cook for a German doctor, Dr. Helmutt Sopp is a psychiatrist, and he works at a nearby hospital and at the prison on Montelupich Street. Living with him in Krakow are his wife Toni, and two young sons Peter and Ammon. Danusha is allowed to stay with her mother, who has warned her not talk about the past and they don’t know about her brother Yashu. Anna is a Jewish woman hiding in plain sight, she has forged papers and she’s worries someone will eventually find out. She has no idea if she can trust the Sopp’s, Toni is kind to her, but her husband is a member of the German Army and he entertains members of the Gestapo at the house. Danusha has always thought her mother favored her younger brother, that she's a bother and got in her mother’s way. Anna was in fact extremely brave, to hold her nerve around the Germans, made sure she didn’t make the smallest mistake, to give away her true heritage and information about her extended family. When the war starts to turn, the Russians are approaching Krakow and the Kwiatkowski family face further hardships and challenges. Before they make it to safety, members of their family are executed and Danusha loses track of home many different places she has lived in. An historical saga about the shocking treatment of Jewish people in Poland during WWII, the lengths a mother will go to and keep her children safe. Danusha though her mother was cold, unfeeling, didn’t love her and this is not the case at all. A narrative about survival, during a brutal time in history, one we should never forget, and four stars from me.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com