Not Me

A very game essay at some very big topics--selfhood, the holocaust, guilt, filial loyalty, justice, joking about all these serious things. Not a masterpiece, but a fine novel that deals well and sometimes hilariously with big issues without any attempt to solve them. I could see it being called Big Issues, Little Me. This book both refuses to give us a hero and refuses to be bleak because there aren't heroes.

Interesting story of a Jewish man (Michael) who travels to Florida to care for his dying father. Upon one visit he's given a box of journals written out by his father. He picks up the first and begins to read a story where his father was not Hershel Rosenheim, a Holocaust survivor, but began life as Heinrich Mueller, an SS officer working as an accountant at Majdanek concentration camp who steals a Jewish victim's identity to avoid being charged with war crimes. Michael wonders if this is really his father's story, and who left him the journals? He begins to try to piece together his family's history.

This was an interesting, well told story with just a few minor problems. For one thing, there were a few areas in the story where the show more author seems to get intentionally crude. These parts took me out of the story because there didn't seem to be a good reason for their inclusion. For another, the mystery of his family's history is only partially resolved at the end. After all the investigating and angst, there is no big "AHA!" moment. But this book does do something that many others fail at -- offering a different take on the suffering of the Jewish people during the Holocaust. Three and a half stars. show less

Not Me is compelling on so many levels. For me it was a metaphor for self identity, sin and change, and the superficial roles that one plays in order to move on with their life and flee from the consequences of their actions. Heshel learned that fleeing only negates the truth, which followed him everywhere he went. Within the context of the self identity are the themes of love, loss, forgiveness and redemption. The blur between forgiveness and redemption is obvious in the way Lavigne writes. Michael is torn between his new found knowledge and his love for his father. He is a man who is floundering. He is torn between the truth and the superficiality of his childhood. He is torn between who he truly is and what he is.

It is also a study show more in the father-son relationship, and is a unique Holocaust story. It is a book that is fascinating, compelling, insightful, poignant and comical, and one that I highly recommend. show less

This was an excellent debut novel! I was not previously familiar with this author, and I only came across this novel by chance, but I would surelike to read more of his work.

The story is of Heschel Rosenhem, a survivor of the Majdenek concentration camp during WWII, who is elderly and now in a nursing home in Florida where he is mentally declining due to Alzheimer's disease. His son Michael comes into possession of a journal of his dad's which was written during the war years. Michael is divorced, far away from his ex-wife Ella in San Francisco, and conflicted about his relationship with his own son Josh who lives with Ella. Michael slowly reads his dad's journal while visiting him in Florida and is horrified by what he learns.

The pace show more of this novel is great. It is written with Michael as the narrator. Michael tells his own story. Then he switches from time to time to parts of his dad's journal and reacts to what he learns. The story sort of turns into a morbid mystery, but one that is easy to read and well written. I found it very touching. I hope others do, too. show less

Heshel Rosenheim survived the concentration camps during the Holocaust and made a good life in America with his wife and two children. He spent most of his life helping other Jews and working for every Jewish cause he could find. Heshel is a hero to many Jewish people in many countries. Now Heshel is dying in a nursing home in Florida, and his son Michael is with him in his final days. Heshel gives Michael 24 journals to read, and as Michael reads them, he is in shock and horrified by what is in the journals and becomes obsessed with finding out the truth about his father. To quote from the back cover, this book could be described as a "philosophical thriller." Very good book; hard to put down.

I have taken this book off my TBR shelves a number of times since purchasing it, but always put it back for some reason. But I couldn't let it go... And I am so glad I did read it. The premise is so interesting and the layers of memory, judgment and history leave a reality of moral ambiguity. And, truly, isn't that the way life really is? Well-written, engrossing, recommended.

While I liked the main story about the do-good Jewish father suffering from Alzheimers disease (with a dark history based on some mysterious journals), I could not find much empathy with the son, who was battling his own demons.