Defiance

Utterly inspiring account of three heroic Jewish brothers in WW2 Belarus; hiding from the Nazis in the vast, inhospitable forests, their initial small band of acquaintances rapidly becomes a small town, as more Jews flee the ghettos. Led by the charismatic Tuvia Bielski, his group stands out as one that turned no one away; while other detachments refused the frail, useless and unarmed...and were often guilty of anti-semitism...the Bielskis actively sought out all who wanted to come, their focus on saving lives than attacking the enemy (although there was, pleasingly, some of that too.)
"Bielski was for us what Israel is for the Jews now...an insurance."Through interviews with all the major players in the 1980s, Tec writes a seemingly show more balanced account; the Bielskis had their detractors, moments when maybe things could have been done better. There were confrontations with bands of Nazis, cold and privation, dissent in the ranks, and a need to rub along with the groups of Russian patriots in the area...

Sometimes (not often!) you finish a book so inspired by the character that you think "if I had a son right now, I'd name him after this person." show less

There are two books about the Bielski partisan group that I know of; the other is Peter Duffy's The Bielski Brothers. Both books were good but I found Tec's to be the better of the two. Her writing gave a better sense of what daily life was like in the Bielski camp, possibly because she herself was a "hidden child" Holocaust survivor. Tec was also able to interview Zus and Tuvia Bielski before their deaths, whereas Duffy didn't start writing his book until the brothers (excepting Aron, the youngest, who was only a child during World War II) were all dead.

The story is a fascinating one which deserves to be better known. The Bielski brothers are the closest thing to real-life Robin Hoods that I know of, and there ought to be a movie about show more them. Both books are worth reading but if you can only get one, get Defiance. show less

Very good for those who want to know more about what happened to Jews during WWII, but don't like the stereotypes that have been showered on them for decades. This is the true story of a group of Jews who managed to save themselves from the Nazi killings, and then dedicated themselves to saving other Jews. You won't find perfect heros or perfect villains, just real people facing extreme circumstances.

I was drawn to the book by the Daniel Craig film, but the book, of course rewarded me with a more rich, nuanced, complex tale of an ad-hoc community largely surviving a visitation of hell on earth due to a charismatic and resourceful leader.

This is an epic and amazing story and that's why i gave it 4 stars. It mad me think a lot about the difference between justice and revenge and about those times when there really is no difference. I like it also because it is so counter to the classic image of Jews in WW2 simply going along with the extermination. The bad thing is that i didn't think it was very well written and at times it was just plain boring.

P.S. The movie sucks ass.

It’s not perfectly written by a long shot, but this is an extraordinary story about an extraordinary leader who rose to meet his times. Many lessons here for the past, present, and the ever more dystopian appearing future.

This is not a novelization of the movie, but an actual true story of the Bielsky brothers. The language is a bit heavy, but worth getting through. The book does not idealize the brothers, but shows them as real human beings, warts and all. I was fortunate enough to attend a lecture by Zus Bielsky's son, and he described his father and uncle as "tough guys and sometimes a-holes." Of course they would have to be such to pull off the amazing rescue of Jews right under the Nazi's noses, then protect them and maintain the tough discipline that was needed to survive. This is not a light read by any measure, but a worthy one.