A remarkable and thought-provoking memoir.
Rosemarie “Rosel” Lengsfeld was an American girl trapped in Nazi Germany during World War II.
In 1934, Rosel and her immigrant parents left New York City to visit German relatives. However, when it was finally time to leave, her family—now including her new baby sister—learned that Hitler had closed the borders to German citizens, forcing them to remain in Breslau. As Lutherans, they were lucky enough not to be fully aware of the atrocities occurring in German-occupied territories. Her parents, however, emphasized that she should not believe antisemitic propaganda. When the war ended, 15-year-old Rosel was able to secure passage back to the States due to her American citizenship, painfully leaving her parents and sister behind. As the horrific truth about Hitler’s Final Solution came to light, Rosel had to deal with anti-German sentiment, grappling with her perception of the Nazis as the enemy and her awareness that her accent would make Americans believe she was one of them. Her situation presents readers with difficult questions about collective responsibility and good versus evil, and they are given the space to come to their own conclusions. Co-authored by Rosemarie and her son, this is a haunting, harrowing memoir. Rosemarie’s time in Nazi Germany is recounted through recurring nightmares during her 10-day shipboard voyage; while this structure feels a bit forced at times, it is a useful tool for conveying her story.
A remarkable and thought-provoking memoir. (postscript, discussion questions, glossary, historical notes, author’s note, maps) (Memoir. 13-adult)Pub Date: Feb. 15, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-58270-852-2
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Beyond Words Publishing
Review Posted Online: Dec. 14, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2022
A powerful reminder of a history that is all too timely today.
A beautifully heart-wrenching graphic-novel adaptation of actor and activist Takei’s (Lions and Tigers and Bears, 2013, etc.) childhood experience of incarceration in a World War II camp for Japanese Americans.
Takei had not yet started school when he, his parents, and his younger siblings were forced to leave their home and report to the Santa Anita Racetrack for “processing and removal” due to President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Executive Order 9066. The creators smoothly and cleverly embed the historical context within which Takei’s family’s story takes place, allowing readers to simultaneously experience the daily humiliations that they suffered in the camps while providing readers with a broader understanding of the federal legislation, lawsuits, and actions which led to and maintained this injustice. The heroes who fought against this and provided support to and within the Japanese American community, such as Fred Korematsu, the 442nd Regiment, Herbert Nicholson, and the ACLU’s Wayne Collins, are also highlighted, but the focus always remains on the many sacrifices that Takei’s parents made to ensure the safety and survival of their family while shielding their children from knowing the depths of the hatred they faced and danger they were in. The creators also highlight the dangerous parallels between the hate speech, stereotyping, and legislation used against Japanese Americans and the trajectory of current events. Delicate grayscale illustrations effectively convey the intense emotions and the stark living conditions.
A powerful reminder of a history that is all too timely today. (Graphic memoir. 14-adult)Pub Date: July 16, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-60309-450-4
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Top Shelf Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 4, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Clearly written, with heart and integrity, but lacking in substance: tasty but not very filling.
Melian, a chef, activist, and former Test Kitchen Manager at Bon Appétit, begins this brief memoir by recounting clearing out the freezer and finding and eating one last helping of her mother’s signature fish dish following her death.
Sharing this precious meal with her brother connected them emotionally and physically with their mother one last time. In other vignettes, she ties her love of food to her happy childhood in Argentina; memories of cooking with her cousins at her abuela’s house and, in particular, her abuela’s ravioles de seso; the revelation of a sidewalk vendor’s hot pretzel that she ate following her arrival in New York City to explore a new path after studying journalism in Buenos Aires; and the physical and mental strength she developed after going into business to sell her empanadas. Melian briefly alludes to her work bringing free food education to inner-city public schools, but the stories she shares here are overall more personal and primal—food as sustenance, not as a vehicle for social justice—which feels like a missed opportunity. She also references in passing the difficulties of being a woman in a male-dominated industry where being Latina and speaking English with an accent affected how she was treated. Each of the individual anecdotes stands alone, without a narrative arc connecting them, but the descriptions of food are rich in sensory detail.
Clearly written, with heart and integrity, but lacking in substance: tasty but not very filling. (Memoir. 12-18)Pub Date: Jan. 4, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-593-22349-9
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2021
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