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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Amazing book! Gripped me from start to finish. On the one hand a fascinating and harrowing account of the atrocities that went on eastern Europe in the early 1940s. On another level, a highly intelligent psychological insight into a man who has lived a whole lifetime fighting the demons of his childhood, and the pain of the struggle to come to terms with these memories. This tells the story of one of the less obvious, yet most tragic victims of the war. Well worth a read. The personal expressions of emotion by the author enhance the power of the narrative.
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I have read many books about the WW2 period and found this book informative and captivating. The struggle of Alex seeing his family murdered and then being picked up by an SS extermination squad is a story of survival and human cruelty at its worst. As a young Jewish boy mixed up in the world of Nazism and ethnic cleansing this story is both shocking and impossible not to put down. Alex's memory is all that he has to go by and it shows just how much children remember in the most horrendous conditions.
An amazing read.
An amazing read.
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Many times I'm asked why I study history, specifically that of the Second World War. This book is what they should read if they want to understand my answer. Even today, over half a century later, the Second World War affects lives and more so helps make up national character for a multitude of countries throughout the world. This story first attracted me when I read an article about it online, a Jewish child used as a Mascot by those fighting on the side of Nazi Germany? Was I surprised? No, reading "Europa Europa" was more than enough to convince me that history is more powerful than any human imagination. Thus, while I wasn't surprised I was intrigued, how did the child survive?
This book, while starting out slowly (I kept yelling at it to pick up the pace and get to the point within the first hundred or so pages) picks up pretty quickly after that, 2-3 days reading is more than enough to tackle all of its 400 pages. The beginning of the book is mainly a rendition of memories, by bits and pieces, of a man who is trying to recall who he was in an almost past life. By the time one gets to the end, much of what seemed like it couldn't possibly mean anything takes on a whole new meaning. I would hate to ruin any of it for future readers so I'll only say a few words.
A boy escapes into the forest and witnesses the death of his mother, brother, and sister. He survives to be found by Latvian soldiers in the service of the Germans and is raised partly by them and partly by a rich Latvian and his family who owns a chocolate factory. It took him over half a century to finally tell his story to his family and with the help of a few people the mysteries that he could never understand, words he could never put into context, were all solved for him. Easily one of the better books I've read in a long time about the Holocaust, even though the concentration is less the Holocaust as a whole and more a struggle of one 6 year old boy to survive and over 60 years later to find out his true past and identity. Highly recommended.
This book, while starting out slowly (I kept yelling at it to pick up the pace and get to the point within the first hundred or so pages) picks up pretty quickly after that, 2-3 days reading is more than enough to tackle all of its 400 pages. The beginning of the book is mainly a rendition of memories, by bits and pieces, of a man who is trying to recall who he was in an almost past life. By the time one gets to the end, much of what seemed like it couldn't possibly mean anything takes on a whole new meaning. I would hate to ruin any of it for future readers so I'll only say a few words.
A boy escapes into the forest and witnesses the death of his mother, brother, and sister. He survives to be found by Latvian soldiers in the service of the Germans and is raised partly by them and partly by a rich Latvian and his family who owns a chocolate factory. It took him over half a century to finally tell his story to his family and with the help of a few people the mysteries that he could never understand, words he could never put into context, were all solved for him. Easily one of the better books I've read in a long time about the Holocaust, even though the concentration is less the Holocaust as a whole and more a struggle of one 6 year old boy to survive and over 60 years later to find out his true past and identity. Highly recommended.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
The Mascot
This is a most interesting story not only for the narrative of what is said, but for the way 'The Mascot' eventually told his son the story, over a period of time. Read more
Published 3 months ago by DAVID ISHERWOOD
FASCINATING STORY ....but is it true ?
I've been reading Holocaust memoirs for over thirty years giving me a good ear for authenticity , but this book doesn't quite have the ring of truth to it in certain parts... Read more
Published 10 months ago by Colin Powis
Trully enlightening
I read this book some time ago,as i have read extensively on the holocaust,like all the above recommendations i totally agree,a must read. Read more
Published 21 months ago by S. I. Sleep
Gripping
As this story unfolds, the reader is taken on a journey as gripping as any 'whodunit'. Mark Kurzem's battered suitcase leaks and dripfeeds his son with the jigsaw parts of life as... Read more
Published on 29 May 2010 by N. M. Allen
A stolen childhood
This book had me gripped from the first to the last page and it read more like a novel than a biographical account of a father and son working together to unlock the father's early... Read more
Published on 20 Jan 2010 by J. Cooper
Heart Rending
A wonderful book, arrived quickly. I actually cried at one point while I read it, what that little boy went through was horrifying.
Published on 2 Nov 2009 by Ms. R. Robertson
The Mascot
If you are interested in a personal account of the effects of WWII on 2nd and 3rd generation people, then this book is compelling reading. Read more
Published on 11 July 2009 by L. A. OConnor
WHAT PRICE SURVIVAL?
There are many stories to come out of World War II, both told and untold, this is surely one of the most remarkable. It is a tale of survival but not without cost. Read more
Published on 27 Aug 2008 by Gail Cooke
captivating book
very very good book found it to be a slow starter but soon found it hard to put down, as it described the amazing struggle a 6 year old boy had to go through, from surving in... Read more
Published on 6 Aug 2008 by gareth
A Fascinating Story
This excellent hard backed volume, tells the fascinating story of Alex Kuzem, a young Latvian boy, who at the tender age of five in the winter of 1941, saw both his Mother and his... Read more
Published on 20 July 2008 by Michael David Booker
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