L'esclusa

by Nava Semel, Claudia Lorenzini (Translator)

Ghershona si è sempre sentita esclusa da quanto la circonda: un'estranea che i compagni chiamano "Ghershonna la prima donna" e che ha un unico amico, Nimrod, solitario e schivo quanto lei. E a un tratto nella vita di Ghershona appare uno straordinario nonno tornata dagli Stati Uniti per trascorrere a casa gli ultimi nii; sarà attraverso di lui che la ragazzina potrà ricostruire poco a poco la storia di famiglia, cercando di capire perché suo padre insegue assurdi miraggi e se è vero che basta diventare adulti per conoscere tutte le risposte...
Un bellissimo romanzo di formazione ambientato nella Tel Aviv del 1958.

148 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 1990

Reviews

[Cheryl]

Messy. Laika, the Russian dog in space, is spelled wrong. The blurb on the back says that Israel was founded fourteen years ago, but actually it's only been ten years, which means it's younger than Gershona, not older, which is important because WWII history. The story is told all out of order, very confusing for a MG book that is not meant to be a mystery.

Well, except that it is kinda mysterious. Our girl doesn't figure out hardly any loose ends. Families keep too many secrets. So do friends. Unless she does figure things out, but the author doesn't let the reader in on the secret?

It's kinda [L]iterary. so I guess there's something going on that I don't get? Or maybe I don't get it because I'm not Jewish?

I imagine some people love it. Some teachers, especially. I won't rate it because I just don't know what to think.

[Sylvie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had a feeling that the timeline didn‘t always add up.
It is interesting to read from the perspective of a young girl who doesn‘t understand what the adults in her family are doing because they keep so many secrets and never give her any explanations. Many descendants of Holocaust survivors say that their relatives never spoke of the past because it was too painful.