The Cage

The Cage is a story written in the point of view of a woman named Riva. She tells the story of how she lived through World War II. The story starts with Riva talking to her daughter she had after the war in her new life. She then begins her story of what happened to her during WWII. Riva's family and other neighbors had heard about the Germans taking away the Jews. First they thought "they would never take children and mothers." but soon the Germans came to their town. They took the men to labor camps and women and children to other camps along with some men. Riva's family was close friends with another family but they had German blood and were given a choice join the labor camps or join the Germans. They chose the Germans and as show more instructed took all of Riva family's belongings. Soon after Riva, her mother and her two brothers were sent to a camp. One of her brothers became very sick with tuberculous. Her mother became sick too and was sent to a different camp. Riva has to take care of her two brothers. The Germans want to take the kids and put them for adoption but Riva and her brothers don't want to be split up, so Riva eventually gets them to allow her to adopt her brothers as a guardian. Soon later her brother with tuberculous passed away. After that they are moved to a smaller house. After living in the smaller house they decide to move to a new camp everyone is going to.

They are moved with some new friends they made and try to stick together. Riva ends up with two girls they were friends with but is split up from her brothers. Riva is very weak and too small to work the machine she is assigned to so she is sent to a digging job. During this time she finds paper bags and a pencil and starts writing poetry. While she is her digging job she gets a cut in her hand and it begins to infect her whole hand and up her arm. She becomes very infected and the girls beg for the camp warden to take her to a hospital. The warden finally lets a guard take her. Most of the hospitals wont see Riva because she is a jew. Finally they find a hospital willing to take a look. The infection is slightly treated but a possibility of amputation of her arm is brought up. Riva knows without her arm she kill be killed because she cannot work. The infection dies down and she is able to work again. She spends a long time in the camp "hospital" for recovery but is let into a job cleaning the Guards facilities. Soon later Riva and other girls from the camp are moved to another camp. They work digging trenches for the soldiers until the Russians take the camp and the girls are "freed." Riva tries to find her brothers but she only finds one of them and her brother and sister who hid in another country. In the end Riva finishes her story she was telling her daughter.

I liked this book because it was very honest about what happened during WWII, it was very emotional i caught myself crying at times, and the characters are very attachable. Around the time of the end of the war most things published were moderated or something to make the Germans look less bad, but this story is honest and really tells the reader about the terrible things that happened. This book will probably make the worlds toughest man cry, the story is horrifying that people could possibly be that terrible and so depressing to read how much people suffered. The characters are really easy to get attached to, like Riva when you're reading this you will find yourself cheering her on or even crying for her. In conclusion this book is a worthy award winner and i think is a must read for all young adults. show less

Although this book states that it is for 12 year olds, I, a 29 year old, highly enjoyed it. It is a holocaust memoir about Riva and her life in the ghetto and concentration camps. Riva is only 16 years old, however when her mother is sent to a concentration camp, she becomes mother to her younger brothers. Joined by love, Riva is able to keep the family together for only a short time before she is separated and sent to a labor camp. Riva injures her hand and becomes seriously ill. Miraculously, the camp commandant allows her to leave the camp and meet with an outside doctor.

This book is well-written and engaging. The reader comes to care for the family and pulls for their survival. Overall this is a good holocaust memoir, which I would show more recommend for anyone. show less

A girl describes living in Poland before, during and after the Holocaust. When the Nazi's invade Poland, Riva's mother sends her 3 older children to what she hopes is safety in Russia believing women and young children would be safe in Poland. Soon she is rounded up by the Nazi's and taken from her family. It is up to Riva to care for her younger brothers one of whom has tb.

Living in the Warsaw ghetto is dangerous. It is overcrowded; there are few jobs, little food and medicine, and no heat. The Nazi's conduct routine round-ups. Riva finds work but soon cannot walk because of malnutrition. Her brothers give up their bread to get Riva medicine so she can walk and work again. She works from home so she can care for Laibele. During show more round-ups they scurry to hide in a recessed area of the basement.

Friends and neighbors help each other with moral support and news. Riva and her brothers decide to hide the forbidden Jewish library in their home, knowing they could be killed if it is found.

But after Laibele's death, freezing and starving, Riva and her brothers along with the few remaining Jews actually decide to allow the Nazi's to "relocate" them thinking it might improve their lives. Though warned not to go, they do. They are stuffed into a cattle cars and transported for days without sufficient resources and end up at a concentration camp where Riva is separated from her brothers. This young girl who was part of a large, loving close-knit family is now on her own.

Her life there is hellish - very little food, sleep, or hygiene and back-breaking labor but at least she is with some girls from home. When her hand is dangerously injured it is the determination of the Jewish camp doctor demanding that she be taken to a doctor in town. Only one doctor in town will help her with surgery and medicine, and she survives. The Nazi in charge is impressed with Riva and finds easier work for her.

The war draws to an end and again Riva miraculously survives being killed off by the Nazis as the liberators approach. Riva learns her younger brothers were all killed. But she does meet up again with her 3 older siblings and they all relocate to the US.

I would only allow an older, more mature child (teens) to read this and only if (s)he is already familiar with the horrors of the Holocaust.

Alternatively, The Cage could potentially provide adults with little knowledge of the Holocaust an introduction and wake-up call. show less

A really amazing Holocaust narrative that I can't believe I haven't read before. It did a wonderful job of showing the emotion behind Riva's life in the ghetto and in the camps. A great example of Holocaust Lit aimed at young adults.

This book is about a teenage girl named Riva. Riva is a Polish Jew during the Holocaust . Her mother has died so she has to take care of the family as best as she can on her own. Riva has a few brother but sadly all of them die of sickness or hunger until only two of them are left. Eventually they all agree to go to a camp because they are starving and the camps promise food (along with the extremely hard slave labor). Riva ends up getting separated from her brothers and they go to different camps. Eventually the remaining prisoners from Riva's camp are saved by Russian Jews just before the Nazi guards were about to execute them.

I thought this was a great book. It showed the true details of how terrible the Holocaust was. Nothing was show more left out to lessen the impact of what truly happened during World War 2. This book was extremely sad...and it should be! I liked how the story was completely true. Nothing was fake or made up. The author did a great job depicting the events of the Holocaust. I would recommend this book, but be warned- it's a hard read emotionally. show less

The Cage is a book which takes place in WW2 in Germany. It all starts on a sunny day everyone is happy and all are enjoying their lives, one day the Nazis said that Jews were not allowed to own any businesses, homes or any belongings like chairs and beds. Riva, the main character in the story had a lot of brothers in which one died of lack of vitamins. Rivas mom was taken away by the Nazis to a Concentration Camp. Rive and her brothers were spared, Riva and her brothers would hide in the cellar when the Nazis came in looking for Jews. Riva later on also had a problem with lack of Vitamins, but she was saved when her brothers exchanged their bread for a lime so Riva could get the Vitamins she needed. But the day did come when all Jews show more were forced onto the train to the Concentration Camps, Rriva and her brothers were sent to "Auschwitz', a concentration camp.

In "Auschwitz' everyone had to take all there belongings and put them in a pile, they had to take all their Close off and their heads were shaven. They were pushed into showers with cold water and had to eat boiled grass. A long time later Riva and a lot of Girls were sent to a different Camp, Riva was separated from her brothers. At the new camp they were relived that they're were no Gas Cambers but the Commandant who was in charge of the camp wasn't very nice. Now every day they had to go and work in the factory, Riva has been writing poems for the camp prisoners to get their hope up. One day though Riva got a blood disease in her right arm, after the Camp commandant was talked into letting Riva to a Hospital Rivas arm got better. After that Riva was suppose to work in a Solder Hospital where Riva meets a nice Russian Lady, who was feeding and bathing Riva. After the Camp entertained the Soldiers and Riva got a new poem book they were shipped off to another camp, at this camp no one was happy they had to dig dirt ditches and work all day. The next day were the Soldiers took them all on a "Death March", suddenly all the Soldiers flee and they're all saved by a Russian Jew who takes them to a safe place.

I give this book three stars because it never got me into reading it. When Riva's Mom was separated from them I was sad. The book was rather hard to read, because of how the story is told they never say what happens to the Russian Lady. This book is very sad so I recommend it for people who like sad books. I did enjoy how this book is a true story and how it teaches me how they have lived in 1945. show less

I thought it was a good book. I'm assuming it's a memoir of the author's life (once I read her biography on Wikipedia). This book sounds vaguely familiar and I believe I have read it before a long time ago but nevertheless I thought I might as well read it again. It's a small book with less than 200 pages and I was so interested and engrossed in it that it took me several hours to finish it. I wanted to keep reading to see what would happen next, I wanted to know how she managed to survive through the entire ordeal and still manage to keep hoping and to keep living. Riva is one of the most strongest characters I have ever read so far.

I admired Riva for having to take care of her brothers through the hardships of living in the ghetto. show more Then having to be forcefully separated, she had to survive on her own and she never lost hope. It's as if she drew strength from losing her mother to give her the will to stay alive. Although the situation was always bleak and survival is never guaranteed, it was amazing to see how Riva managed to continue to hope even in the face of this kind of adversity.

There were a few things with this novel that I did not quite agree with. First I noticed it's somewhat catered to children and I sort of have to wonder about that. I realized children should be taught about this moment in history but I think this book really should be catered towards teens as this story surrounded Riva in her teenage years. It just seems to make more sense. Also, I found the flow of the narration to be a little jumpy throughout the first half of the book. It was first one major event then it just skips directly to another there wasn't real flow to put the two together into one smooth transition, it felt almost as if it was the writing was rather haphazard.

Overall though, a touching Holocaust story and not one to be missed. The story tells you that without hope, there really is nothing to live for and it's a lesson to learn for everyone in future generations to come. show less