Gravity

by Lola Fraknoi

A fearless new work from the acclaimed author of the prize-winning novels THE SPEED OF LIGHT and BLUE NUDE. Composed over a period of some twenty years, GRAVITY is Elizabeth Rosner's profoundly searching account of her experience as the daughter of Holocaust survivors. In an extraordinarily powerful mix of poetry and prose, Rosner traces the earliest remembered resonances of her parents' past and her dawning awareness of the war history that colored her family home during her youth. She recounts her false starts in raising the subject with her father (a survivor of Buchenwald concentration camp), his piecemeal revelations and their eventual travels together to the sites of the nightmare in Germany. And she evokes, courageously and heart-wrenchingly, her search for identity against the gravitational pull of her parents' experience and the traditional upbringing they've given her. Like Rosner's celebrated novels, GRAVITY plumbs the deep complexities of inherited grief, but here the author discloses, with breathtaking candor and sensitivity, "what it felt like to grow up inside my family." Also featuring spellbinding artwork by Lola Fraknoi, these astonishing pages remind us that history happens at home and that the past is something we all embody, knowingly or not.

Genres: Poetry

Unknown Binding

First published February 2, 2003

Reviews

[Altan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I need to go back to this. Don't have the patience for it now.

[Josh Karaczewski · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's rare to find a work that explores the effect of the holocaust on the survivors' children - Art Spiegelman's Maus is the only other piece I have read that does this. Told in a hybrid of poetry and short prose, Gravity moves through the author's life showing glimpses of herself trying to form an identity while under the weight of her parents' traumatic history. A beautiful and heart-wrenching book.

[Marlena · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have no words to describe this exquisite book of poetry and prose circling and re-circling around the author's personal history (which also make the poems especially accessible). Best run and buy it or borrow at the library. It's a small book (in size only, 109 pages) beautifully produced with artwork by Lola Fraknoi. I feel more human inside my own humanity after reading Gravity. (see why I said I have no words...?) (smile)

[Devi Laskar · Rating 5 out of 5]

one of my favorite books of poetry!

[Libertad · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved it. It is a wonderful book, full of feelings around the idea of grief inheritance and finding your own path.

[Ronja · Rating 5 out of 5]

Intense, intimate and beautifully written account of a second generation holocaust survivor

[Anne (Not of Green Gables) · Rating 5 out of 5]

It saddens me how little ratings this collection has given the gut punch it offers in less than 50 pages.