Publishers Weekly
09/04/2023
Grodstein (Our Short History) draws on archival records for an eloquent story of the Warsaw Ghetto during WWII. Adam Paskow, a childless widower, teaches English to a group of children in the ghetto, where he lives in a cramped apartment with two other families, having been forced there from the spacious flat he once shared with his wife in the city’s Mokotow district. Because of his language skills, he’s tasked by Emanuel Ringelblum, a historical figure who organized relief agencies for Jews during the war, with interviewing their fellow residents and compiling an archive of their experiences. The novel is formed mainly from these interviews along with Paskow’s observations about how life has changed after the German occupation. His interview subjects include 11-year-old Fillip Lescovec, who dreams of becoming a construction worker, and 48-year-old Emil Wiskoff, who can trace his family back to its Vilna roots in 1648. There’s not much of a plot, though Grodstein makes her persecuted characters achingly human, such as when Paskow has a secret, life-affirming affair with one of the married women who shares his apartment. The story doesn’t shy away from the period’s horror, however; there are wrenching scenes of Nazis beating and killing men, women, and children on the streets. This will stay with readers. (Nov.)
From the Publisher
"This book is a masterpiece: profound, gripping, urgent, and beautiful. In its clear-eyed and devastating portrait of the past, Grodstein invites us into the present; to bear witness to the lives that have come before us, while finding meaning and courage for our own." —Madeline Miller, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Circe and The Song of Achilles
“In We Must Not Think of Ourselves, Lauren Grodstein writes with such a blazing commitment to the truth of the Warsaw Ghetto that sometimes I had to stop reading and catch my breath. But in the midst of the brutality, she clears a path for the parallel stories of love and decency. Make no mistake: this is a heartbreaking portrait of a dark moment. But this novel shimmers with light.”
—Lauren Fox, New York Times bestselling author of Send for Me
We Must Not Think of Ourselves is one of those rare books—beautifully written, seamlessly constructed, quietly devastating—that manages to tell an old story in a new way with no pyrotechnics beyond perfect storytelling, including an ending that will stay with me always. It is far and away my favorite novel of the year, of many years, and I know I will be recommending it to readers forevermore.—Laurie Frankel, New York Times bestselling author of One Two Three
Shelf Awareness
[R]ealistic, heartrending… with intimate, detailed portraits… Thought-provoking, tender, and horrifying, this memorable novel of Jewish lives in the Warsaw Ghetto offers timeless lessons.
Booklist
[A] moving chronicle, a worthy tribute to those who fought to survive the unthinkable.
#1 New York Times bestselling author of Circe and Madeline Miller
This book is a masterpiece: profound, gripping, urgent, and beautiful. In its clear-eyed and devastating portrait of the past, Grodstein invites us into the present; to bear witness to the lives that have come before us, while finding meaning and courage for our own.
Beyond The Bookends
This heart-wrenching tale explores love, defiance, and sacrifice in the face of unimaginable circumstances, making it a compelling addition to the literary World War II fiction genre.
Washington Post
[A] gripping historical novel.
Library Journal
08/01/2023
The latest novel from Grodstein (Our Short History) tells the story of Adam Paskow and the efforts of the historical Oneg Shabbat group to keep a record of those living in occupied Warsaw's Jewish ghetto. Adam is a Jewish educator with relentless optimism in spite of the Nazi invasion. Having been swindled by his father-in-law, he finds himself living in a small apartment with nine other people, all of whom have been relocated to Poland's old Jewish district and locked in. Emanuel Ringelblum, the real-life archivist behind Oneg Shabbat, finds Adam teaching children English in secret and recruits him to start documenting his life and the lives of those around him. Grodstein brings to life a critical piece of history with her strong sense of place and complex characters who are determined to live their lives despite daily threats of violence and dehumanization. The Oneg Shabbat archive contains vital first-hand accounts of Jewish subjugation, and it is represented beautifully in Grodstein's first historical novel, supported by her intensive research and the book's dynamic relationships that show the value of everyday intimacies. VERDICT Recommended for readers who enjoy stories from all time periods about the extraordinary actions of ordinary people.—Cate Triola
JANUARY 2024 - AudioFile
Five remarkable narrators create an unforgettable portrait of the Warsaw Ghetto during WWII. Brad Griffith provides the main narration as Adam Paskow, a language and literature teacher who lost his beloved wife, Kasia. After being relocated to the Warsaw Ghetto, he is recruited by the real-life Oneg Shabbat to document the histories of the Jews there. Jesse Vilinsky, Sharon Freedman, Amir Levi, and Rich Keeble create memorable portraits of the students, housemates, and acquaintances Adam interviews. The narrators evoke an unimaginable world wherein Jews must sell their few possessions for food to supplement their meager rations. At any moment, Nazi officers can kill them for the slightest offense. Listeners will feel as though they are witnessing history. A must-listen. M.J. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2024, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
★ 2023-08-30
An English teacher documents life in the Warsaw ghetto.
Before the Nazis invaded, 42-year-old Adam Paskow was a secular Jew. He lived in Warsaw with his cat, taught at a Polish school, and mourned his late wife, a wealthy Pole who died too young. After the Nazis invade, he is forced out of his home and into the Jewish ghetto where he shares a small apartment with two families (though the kids often sleep on the roof or in the sewers or hallways). He works in a soup kitchen and gives English lessons to children in the basement of a bombed-out movie theater, teaching them poems he has memorized, due to the lack of books. Early on, Adam is given a notebook from a real, historical organization called Oneg Shabbat to write everything he can about life under the Nazis for posterity. His account—this book—is moving and tender. “The truth is,” Adam writes, “it was hard to know what to think or how to behave, and I spent an awful lot of time either staring into space or digging myself into the deep hole of memory.” But Adam’s memories of his fairly average life before the war provide a contrast to the intentional, increasing meagerness of the life allowed in the ghetto. His interviews with his students and housemates offer a wealth of distinct histories, subtle but potent rebukes to the cruel and useless labeling perpetuated by the Nazi regime. Adam has the poetic optimism of a person for whom the worst has already happened, who is content for a while to count small blessings, but he is neither foolish nor passive. When risking death by missing curfew in order to walk a wayward student home, he notes, “there were corpses on the street, covered with newspapers that fluttered in the wind. We pretended not to see them.”
Delicate, warm account of a brutal, cold time, grounded in humanity, small details, and unwavering clarity.
