Aden Polydoros

I started reading Wrath Becomes Her by Aden Polydoros the day after Hamas led that surprise attack on Israel. That attack and the subsequent counterattacks impacted my approach to Ms. Polydoros' novel. Suddenly, Vera's ideas about humanity and what it means to be human carry more weight.

While Wrath Becomes Her occurs during World War II and Latvia's fight to oust Nazi Germany from its borders, Vera's story could occur during today's ongoing tragedy. While she is a golem and the story is from show more a Jewish perspective, what she sees and experiences applies to any people facing genocide.

Since Vera is not human, she is uniquely qualified to observe human behavior. Her criticisms of those who choose hate rather than love and destruction rather than creation are powerful and, sadly, timely. It is a powerful statement against the insanity that is the destruction of any life for any reason.

There are people who will read Wrath Becomes Her and form certain opinions about what it means to be Jewish and what the Jewish people deserve after all the atrocities done to them over the centuries. However, to do so, I feel, is to miss Ms. Polydoros's point. Vera speaks out about all human behavior, not limiting her observations to the Nazis and Soviets. All life is beautiful, and no one deserves to have their life cut short by someone else. show less

After Nazis killed his daughter, Ezra uses the ancient magic kishuf to create a golem to avenge her death.

WRATH BECOMES HER was an unputdownable historical fantasy with just the right amounts of thriller and horror mixed in. Right from the start, I was quickly engrossed in the captivating story of Vera, the golem created by Ezra to avenge his daughter Chaya’s death. Vera’s development as she learns about humanity, herself, and questions her purpose was excellent. The pacing moved at a show more good rate and kept me feeling engaged throughout. Most of the time, I forgot that I was reading a book targeted at a young adult audience, though there were some areas where it was fairly prominent. Even so, I can see this being enjoyed by a wider range of readers, especially those with interest in Jewish folklore. I appreciated that this book provided a perspective of WWII that is not typically seen in historical fiction. I’m undecided on whether I liked the ending or not.

WRATH BECOMES HER was a great historical fantasy/thriller/horror book that I’d highly recommend. I look forward to reading other works by Aden Polydoros.

Thank you to Inkyard Press for the gifted copy. show less

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.

My Review: I think there's nothing more delightful to me than queer representation in historical fiction. We were there, too, and deserve to be written into the zeitgeist.

This is Young Adult queer representation in the 19th century, and in my ongoing quest not to die above the neck before I do below it, I got the DRC. I'm really very glad that I did...this read was a great pleasure to me. The use of Jewish folk cultural show more touchstones...matchmakers, dybbuks being the most horrifying...the sprinkings of Yiddish, the focus...fierce focus...on family and loyalty, were all tastes of delight for this reader. The author doesn't spend inordinate time explaining things but he does provide context and some factual stuff for the more, um, ethnocentric stuff.

It is a sheer joy to see the story being set away from a) World War II, b) New York's Lower East Side, or c) the shtetl somewhere in Eastern Europe. The Jewish population of Chicago has never been teensy...the Great Lakes ports were as much a destination as New York, but they get less play. I'm also, since I read The Devil in the White City and read The Man Who Made Parks: The Story of Parkbuilder Frederick Law Olmsted by Frieda Wishinsky to my oldest grandson, a big aficionado of the 1893 World's Columbian Exhibition (aka "the White City") in Chicago. That venue plays quite a role in this murder mystery, though exactly how and why shall remain a secret lest I be set upon by spoilerphobes next time I go grocery shopping.

What I will say is that the squeamish should not pick the book up. There are graphic moments of bloodyness, there are awful physical violences, and of course the element of supernatural possession can't be left out. There are more 21st-century concerns like homophobia and anti-semitism (this last pervades the end of the book to a sometimes uncomfortable degree), but this is Spooktober! A few scares, some terrible spooky goins-on, that is what this month is for! Be prepared, also, for the politics of the book. It's solidly anti-capitalist, despite MC Alter's determination to earn earn earn so he can bring his mother and sisters to the Promised Land...Chicago! imagine...because that's really situational not aspirational capitalism. And Alter's failed match-cum-bestie, young Raizel from downstairs in his apartment building, is there to keep him from falling *too* deep into capitalism's cess pit. (She is, in fact, one of the book's most delightful characters, propensity to splash tea onto laps notwithstanding.)

Putting on my YA-unlover's hat, the usual prolixity...why say in ten words what can make an entire chapter?...is fully present, the stakes are APOCALYPTIC ZOMG THE UNIVERSE WILL END!! and that gets really tiring to an old fart like me who knows that, after I and you and the author are all dead the planet will keep spinning on. Probably all the better for our absence.

But that is an elderly person speaking, the audience that's here for YA is going to *eat*this*up* because every one of the elements are handled with aplomb and without the edge of tweeness I've reacted to in other YA books like they're coated in cat dander. I don't at all recommend giving this to a fourteen- or fifteen-year-old. The realities of sexual abuse aren't in any way soft-pedaled. The realities of sexual desire, that it doesn't obey rules or orders, are best left to the older end of the YA spectrum, which I think of as sixteen and up. I know y'all know y'all's kids better than I do, so understand I'm speaking in generalities and not prescribing anything.

The mystery aspect of the story, the resolution to the murders and disappearances of Jewish boys, is very well-handled and was solidly made in serious mystery form. If you're up for it, match wits with the author; if you're not, read the spooky book or the coming-out (sort of!) book or the immigrant-makes-it book. They're all here.

I think my point should be clear: Read The City Beautiful. It will please at least 80% of the folks who read my reviews. show less

Eerie timing of this book, coming at the moment of horrific violence in Israel and Gaza. The darkness of war and terror permeates this book, pulling one into a world difficult to envision unless you've been there. Vera had no say in her creation, nor in the use of body parts from her creator's murdered daughter.
Where the story goes once she's completed, mirrors the path many Jews had to take during World War Two, but she's able to do things her compatriots cannot. When you get very deep into show more the story, you truly get a sense for the horror of war and how those who are persecuted sometimes must do things that would otherwise be unthinkable. Despite the ongoing grimness, I found this a most satisfying and addictive tale. show less