Resistance

I’ve recently fallen into a pit of disappointing books by fantastic authors. J. Nielsen has joined the group. I didn’t think this was possible. Her writing is usually flawless. If you’re a Nielsen fan like me, you’re probably ready to skip my review. Hear me out. This is a Nielsen book about the Holocaust. Hands down it should be a fantastic book. And it is. After page 107.

Main character Chaya is a 16-year-old Jewish girl who has joined the resistance group Akiva. She willingly puts her life in danger to sneak into Polish ghettos where the Nazis have confined the Jews. She brings whatever food and medicine she can hide in a backpack. She is one of their best couriers because she looks and speaks Polish.

The problem with the book show more is that for the entire first 100 pages Chaya’s emotions are flat. It reads like a nonfiction narrative. There’s too much of Chaya explaining events rather than the events unfolding through dialogue. With no emotion whatsoever she says, “The Nazi’s were preparing for the complete annihilation of the Jews.” Not even a follow-up comment. This is on page 61. Even when she smuggles a baby out of the ghetto in her backpack, I didn’t feel an emotional connection. Normally, books about the Holocaust bring me to my knees, so the fact that Nielsen was failing me with this horrific event was frustrating to say the least.

When the new recruit, Esther, fails the group in a dangerous mission requiring Chaya to shoot a German officer all she says is, “Don’t ever ask me to trust you again.” That’s it. So little dialogue and hence so little emotion. Then, on page 107, Nielsen changes tactic, Chaya finds her voice, and the story takes off.

“You’re not the only one that anything has happened to. If we’re still alive, then it’s because we all lie, we all steal, we hide the Star of David on our arms when we can and show it when we must. And we’ve all lost people we love. We’ve all lost everything to the point where we have nothing left, so our only choice is to curl up and die, or else to fight back.” Fist bump to Chaya. Now tell me why I had to read 107 pages before the story started. Normally, I abandon books long before this. It annoys me that I almost didn’t read this fantastic book because Nielsen did not do the Nielsen thing for 100 pages. Enough said.

I’m still a huge fan and I’ll be there for her next book. show less

For all the histories and fiction I've read about World War II, it's somewhat surprising I didn't encounter more about the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising (or even the Warsaw Uprising that followed in 1944). With so many stories focused on the horrors of the concentration camps and others about escaping Europe, this story of a young Jewish woman who joins the resistance feels unique in an otherwise familiar landscape. Chaya Lindner begins as a courier, helping people to escape the Polish ghettos. But she and her resistance cell grow more daring, starting Chaya on a journey that leads her to the Warsaw ghetto, where an uprising is underway and fighters determined to resist the Nazis with violent force. While this book had plenty of the horrors show more one might expect from a novel set during World War II, it was also hopeful and filled with action as the character actively fought for the world they wanted. show less

Chaya Lindner is a teenager living in Nazi-occupied Poland. Simply being Jewish places her in danger of being killed or sent to the camps. After her little sister is taken away, her younger brother disappears, and her parents all but give up hope, Chaya is determined to make a difference. Using forged papers and her fair features, Chaya becomes a courier and travels between the Jewish ghettos of Poland, smuggling food, papers, and even people.

Soon Chaya joins a resistance cell that runs raids on the Nazis' supplies. But after a mission goes terribly wrong, Chaya's network shatters. She is alone and unsure of where to go, until Esther, a member of her cell, finds her and delivers a message that chills Chaya to her core, and sends her on show more a journey toward an even larger uprising in the works -- in the Warsaw Ghetto.

Though the Jewish resistance never had much of a chance against the Nazis, they were determined to save as many lives as possible, and to live -- or die -- with honor. show less

Although written for young adults, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Chaya, a young teen, is a Jewish girl living in Nazi-occupied Poland. Using forged papers, she is able to become a courier that travels to the Jewish ghettos to delivers food and documents to her people. Chaya then takes on an even more dangerous task and joins a resistance cell that raids Nazi supplies. An extraordinary story about courage and bravery.

This historical fiction suspense novel is set during WWII and is a 2019 Lone Star selection

Chaya is Jewish, but she doesn’t look Jewish, which allows her to fight in the resistance against Hitler’s Germany. She lives in Nazi-occupied Poland. As their rights are one by one pulled from them, Chaya’s family loses more and more. One day her sister is forcibly removed and sent to a death camp. Her brother disappears. Chaya’s parents have no fight in them; they give up because they lose their two kids. Chaya refuses to give up; she is a fighter. She joins the resistance because she can pass as non-Jew. It’s terribly dangerous, but she has fake papers to enter the Jewish ghetto. She brings food and information for other resistance show more members. After a bombing chaya participates in, everyone seems to have been caught. Chaya feels alone and lucky to still be free.

Chaya discovers a few who have survived, one of whom is Esther. Chaya doesn’t trust her and doesn’t feel safe with Esther, feeling she will do something that will hurt the resistance or get them caught. Esther tells her that they have to get a message to the Warsaw Ghetto. There’s been an uprising there and Hitler will be sending in his men to destroy the resistance there. As they travel, they enter other ghettos and learn about the resistance or lack of resistance in each one. It’s dangerous every step of the way. Esther refuses to reveal the package/message to Chaya, but as they encounter danger after danger, they become close and Chaya loves Esther like a sister. Once they arrive at Warsaw, everyone knows that most won’t survive. There are many surprises, which I won’t reveal here--read the book!

I personally think Ms. Nielsen is a better fantasy writer than a historical fiction writer. I wanted to read this novel after hearing her speak about it. The information is heart-wrenching and you learn so much about life for Jews. It was brutal and the people who resisted were beyond brave. I don’t know that I could fight like this. Her writing style, however, gives me a distance. I never feel like I’m “in” the story. It’s still a good story. Give it a try. show less

This book gets good...but you have to stick with it. The beginning chapters are a bit repetitive, but if you hold on it gets better.

Chaya Linder is a Jewish resistance fighter. She acts as a courier bringing in supplies to Jewish ghettos since she looks more Polish than Jewish. She is only a teenager, but she is determined to help her people and take out as many Nazi's as possible. Each Nazi death to her could save hundreds or thousands of her people. She and a fellow fighter, Ester travel through Poland and various ghettos trying to rally up support and resistance cells. But all of this comes with extreme risk and the endless threat of death. The final ghetto they sneak into is in Warsaw, where the Nazi's have been planning a mass show more deportation. The people here will not go down without a fight as long as Chaya has anything to do with it.

This book is another window into the Holocaust and the struggles of the people who suffered under the Nazi rule. This is about fighting back. Not sitting and hiding. Not waiting to see what happens. It's about fighting in the middle of the fight and preparing for that fight to give them the best chance possible. Great introduction to teens about some of the more difficult material of the horrors of the ghettos. show less

Historical fiction has the power to teach the reader about topic, or areas of topics not covered by history class. In my history classes the Holocaust has been a topic. However, the main subject is the German Jews and Hitler’s atrocities. The Polish stories are always left out, which bothers me since the big name extermination camps were in Poland. According to additional reading there is controversy over even saying “polish concentration camps”. They were German concentration camps in occupied Poland. But the book made me realize that although Poland was occupied, there were people that agreed or sided with the occupiers.

I thought the extermination camps you learn about in school were horrible enough. I never learned of the show more ghettos. The jewish sections of town that were walled off so that people were held like prisoners. It’s a horrible part of history that I wish was taught more in school.

It is one of the reasons I am happy that books like this exist. It brings to light new facets of history you may not have learned of before. In this story we follow Chaya Lindner in her pursuit of a free people and an unoccupied country. She is Jewish, but she looks German enough to “pass” and become a courier for the resistance. Her job was to get messages, food, weapons, and even people across the walled off borders of the ghettos. Sometimes to even be the messenger between ghettos. It’s a dangerous job, but if you are sentenced to die anyway, you might as well die fighting. Fighting for peace, fighting for a free way of life, fighting to allow differences in all people because no person is better than another.

In this book, people will live, people will fight, and people will die. The search for an answer of WHY is a constant, and a hope of a better tomorrow is always lurking on the next page. But this book is about survival, and not everyone makes it out alive. The author does not pull punches, does not sweeten the ending, but leaves you as many are in the midst of a war.

Apparently this is not the first Holocaust story the author has written, I know her more from her fantasy books, but she easily engrosses the reader in a part of history some would like to forget. She makes the reader wonder how so many in today's society can still believe that these events did not take place. And even better, she shines a light on what is happening in our current society, and how similar it was to history, with never movie the story past 1943.

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