Galerie

by Steven Greenberg

Every family has secrets, but some are far darker, reach deeper, and touch a rawer nerve than others.

For Vanesa Neuman, the past is a closed book. The daughter of Holocaust survivors, her childhood in the cramped intimacy of south Tel Aviv is shadowed by her parents’ unspoken wartime experiences. But when her fat

her passes away, the closed book falls literally open. Vanesa decides to unravel the mystery of the diary she has received, and strange symbol in it, at all costs.

Set against the backdrop of the Jewish Museum of Prague during the Nazi occupation - Adolf Eichmann's "Museum of an Extinct Race" - Galerie is fast-paced historical fiction in the tradition of Tatiana De Rosnay’s Sarah’s Key. From Jerusalem’s Yad V’Shem Holocaust research center, to the backstreets of Prague, and into the former “paradise ghetto” of Theresienstadt – Vanesa’s journey of understanding will reveal a darker family past than she ever imagined and a secret kept alive for over half a century.

Genres: Holocaust, World War II, Historical Fiction

356 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 7, 2015

About the author

Briefly….

I am a professional writer, as well as a full-time cook, cleaner, chauffeur, and work-at-home single Dad for three amazing teenagers. Born in Texas and raised in Fort Wayne, Indiana, I emigrated to Israel only months before the first Gulf War, following graduation from Indiana University in 1990. In 1996, I was drafted into the Israel Defense Forces, where I served for 12 years as a Reserves Combat Medic. Since 2002, I’ve worked as an independent marketing writer, copywriter and consultant.

More than You Asked for….

I am a writer by nature. It’s always been how I express myself best. I’ve been writing stories, letters, journals, songs, and poems since I could pick up a pencil, but it took me 20-odd years to figure out that I could get paid for it. Call me slow.

After completing my BA at Indiana University – during the course of which I also studied at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Haifa University – I emigrated to Israel only months before the first Gulf War, in August 1990. In 1998, I was married to the wonderful woman who changed my life for the better in so many ways, and in 2001, only a month after the 9/11 attacks, my son was born, followed by my twin daughters in 2004. In late 2017, two weeks before my 50th birthday, my wife passed away after giving cancer one hell of a fight.

Since 2002, I’ve run SDG Communications, a successful marketing consultancy serving clients in Israel and abroad.

Reviews

[Lane Diamond · Rating 5 out of 5]

Galerie I found this book to be a bit of a refreshing change from the usual fare these days. Why? Because the author took the time not only to research his subject matter to a great degree, but also to write for me, a reader who enjoys great prose.

I'm a fan of the classics, and I despise much of what passes for literature these days. I think every book should have two boxes to be checked (or unchecked): Story, Literature. Most books qualify for the first classification, but fail to qualify for the second. This one is both.

If you love literary fiction, compelling characters, interesting what-if history, and a suspenseful tale that ties to real-world horrors, you're going to love this book. If you love 3-hour reads, this will not be for you.

As I said in a response to another review:

This book is definitely written in a classical literary style, and because of that, there are moments where fans of great prose will be able to say, "Wow, I wish I'd written that." I'm happy to say that it happened to me on several occasions. There are also times where it may feel a bit heavy -- this is largely a matter of stylistic preference, and opinions will vary greatly.

This approach is indeed a double-edged sword, especially these days when short, choppy, who-gives-a-crap-about-prose Young Adult and Romance novels dominate the market. If your interest is rapidly moving stories that just zip you through to the end, and the more classical approach to storytelling does not appeal to you, then this book will not be your cup of tea.

If, on the other hand, you're like me and wish writers these days could still... well... write, then I believe you will enjoy this book.

DISCLAIMER: I am the editor of this book, and I had these discussions with the author throughout the process. We worked to find a happy middle ground at times, but always with the understanding that we could not possibly please everyone. This is true of any artform, of course, but particularly so for literary fiction.

[Greg D · Rating 1 out of 5]

I tried. I tried so hard. I really did. But, I couldn't stay with it. I felt the story was all over the place. Bouncing from one decade to another and back, and introducing too many new characters. While I appreciate the authors writing style (great writer), the story did seem a bit discombobulated. There didn't seem to be any flow to it. I kept telling myself it will all come together at the end. But, I wasn't sure I could tread through the mishmash of story-hopping to see it through to it's end... assuming it does come together at the end. There was no good character development, and being told in third person narrative didn't help much either. I feel like I never got to know Vanesa or her family members. So, it was hard to connect with the story being told.

Do I recommend this book? Yes and no. Yes to those who have no problem reading classical, hard-to-read, narratives; unfazed by a lot of clutter. No to those who like flow, decent character development, and easy-to-read first person narratives.

[Angie Cory · Rating 4 out of 5]

Travesty

Betrayal so one could feed his family, so one could escape death. Survivor guilt. PTSD. Living a lie. Generations to come, living the lie. Difficult to process, yet important to read.

[Sybil Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not very good

I finished this book, I wanted to quit reading it several times but did not give up on it. It was just boring.

[Prctaxman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Steven Greenberg's second novel, Galerie, is a work of Holocaust historical fiction. It is a very well researched, action-packed page turner!

Greenberg is the son-in-law of a third cousin of mine. I met him once, in Tel Aviv, in 2010. While I do not view this as çonflict of interest'in writing a review (I've panned books by writers with whom I have a much closer relationship), I do feel it ethical to let anyone reading my review to know about this.

The story, told by the protagonist's camp counselor/eventual lover/future husband/subsequently divorced ex-husband, starts at a summer camp in Wisconsinin the early 1980s and goes through the early 1990s, moving to Tel Aviv with flashbacks to Prague and the Camps during the Second World War.

Vanesa Neuman, the protagonist with a PhD in history, is the daughter of Holocaust survivor Michael Neuman, whose father, Jakob Neuman and uncle Tomas raised her. Upon Michael's death, Vanesa obtains her father's diary which was filled with stories and symbols so 'startling'that Vanesa was determined to do the necessary research at both Yad Vashem in Israel and the Jewish Museum of Prague to discover, if possible, what her parents, grand father and uncle did to survive as they never revealed these horrors to Vanesa.

The untold story that Vanesa starts to discover is sufficient to cause unsuccessful murder attempts on her life as well as the murders of others involved with her attempt to find out the true story of her parents, grandfather and uncle's survival during the War.

To what extent did those who survived but were not 'on the run' or in hiding collaborate with the Nazis? Were their acts despicable? How does one view those acts of survival? How does the survivor live the post-war future?

These are the fundamental questions that Greenberg poses in a well written, easy to read, appealing manner. I don't want to go into any more detail, here, because it would diminish that intruiging, page-turning aspect away from this book. This is a piece of fiction that will definitely hold your interest and I recommend it without any qualifications!

[Regina · Rating 5 out of 5]

** Review of Audio Format **

Nazi Horrors

Vanesa grows up in a house with three holocaust survivors, her mother, father, and grandfather. She also has an uncle who, though despised by the rest of her family, seems to be the only one capable of allowing Vanesa to express her feelings. She feels close to him. Her mother is a silent, solitary woman who is clearly not very stable after the horrors of the war. Her father is an angry, bitter man who despises his father for some unfathomable reason. Her grandfather is a broken, sad man who tolerates the abuse of his son.

Vanesa grows up not understanding her family dynamic but silently wondering what the unspoken and unfelt emotions are all about. She finally gets a chance at understanding when her father passes and she inherits a diary, of sorts, from him. This diary sends her headlong onto a quest to finally know why her family was so tormented by surviving the holocaust. Clearly, though, someone does not want her to know the secrets of her father’s diary. She is urinated on in Prague, then attacked at Theresienstadt, and finally kidnapped in a basement of horrors beyond her imagining. The horror comes home when she discovers just how her family is connected to the keeper of this dark secret.

Told mostly through the eyes of Vanesa’s estranged husband, there is a melancholy, forlorn quality to it as her husband describes seeing Vanesa for the first time and then falling in love with her and then, ultimately, being rejected by her as she is consumed with the need to understand what happened to her family all those years ago.

This is a wonderfully crafted listen with an outstanding narration. The accents are superb and the voices are varied and distinct. Mark Deakins really does this material justice. And it’s all the more haunting because knowing what we know now about the nazi’s, this could have really happened.

I received this audiobook for free through Audiobook Boom! in exchange for an honest review.

[Heather C · Rating 4 out of 5]

After reading the final pages of Galerie by Steven Greenberg I felt like I had not stopped to take a breath for the last 30 pages at least! And the majority of the book was that way as well. Greenberg keeps the reader on their toes, never knowing which way the plot is going to turn next. Despite a page count that is less than 250 pages, you never once get the feeling that it is that short as the story is so full of twists and shockers. The plot of this novel definitely had a feel similar to The Da Vinci Code, where one discovery just spirals into the next and sucks the reader along in the intrigue. This is not only a story of events that transpired during World War II, but also the lingering effects on those who survived the Holocaust and the next generation. This was a new angle to the WWII story for me.

I didn’t necessarily love the format of the story – I struggled with it initially, but after the first half of the novel I started to get used to it. I struggled with 2 things: that the narrator did not really experience any of the events himself, it is mostly all second hand knowledge so I found him to be an unreliable narrator. There is even a scene where he imagines what might have happened and then tells the reader that he has no knowledge that this happened at all. The second thing was that the storytelling jumps all over the place in the timeline. You will go from the 1990s back to the 1940s and then the next chapter is the 1980s and there are different family members whose stories are being told. It all comes together and ultimately works, but I had a hard time keeping the storylines straight throughout.

Despite the stylistic quirks that troubled me early on, the story being told rocked!

This review was previously posted at The Maiden's Court blog and the book was received in exchange for an honest review.

[Brienne Dubh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Greenberg brings the psychological and cultural legacy of the holocaust up to date with this tale of a young woman’s search for her family history. In the book Vanessa travels from her home in Israel to the city of her mother’s birth, Prague. She is met there with violence as it is clear that someone does not want her to get to the crux of her family history. The novel is told through the narration of Vanessa’s estranged husband and verges into omniscience as we are shown Vanessa’s thoughts and feelings.

The story is not only a personal one for Vanessa, slipping as it does between her own life story and that of her Mother, but is also a snapshot of Czech Jews under the Nazis, and there experiences in the purpose-built ghetto of Terezin. Greenberg is concerned with history and memory, both personal and physical. Vanessa physically goes to these places, she shines a light on their forgotten history and excavates it from wilful amnesia. Greenberg asks the questions of how people can live in a place so steeped in blood and misery and yet still be able to go about their daily lives. He does this not just for the modern inhabitants of Terezin – and by extension the whole of Europe begins to look like a graveyard – but also for the modern-day inhabitants of Israel and the crimes committed on their ‘path to nationhood’.

This book had enough in it to keep my interest, it was thoughtful, and at times heart-breaking, the ‘thriller’ element of Vanessa’s search worked really well, and brought something new to the genre of literary fiction that deals with the holocaust. However, it was not a ‘page-turner’ and I felt as if I wasn’t really its target audience.

Rating: 6/10 : Enjoyable, but I didn’t mind when the water got cold and it was time to get out of the tub.



Reviewed by Vikki Heaven @ Escapology Reviews.com

[Diana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Copy from Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours for an honest review
"Galerie" by Steven Greenberg was a very impactful book. Often books about the Holocaust are very difficult to read because of the terrible atrocities committed. When I liked about this book that Greenberg did, was that we learned about Vanesa Neuman's family with her. I thought that this helped me develop a type of kinsmanship with her. Vanesa's family were Holocaust survivors but she does not learn this until she reads her father's diary. The book goes back and forth from present to the past. I found it interesting that Vanessa had a PH in history and yet knew so little about her own families history. I also found it interesting that the story is narrated by her husband and its his voice we hear in this story describing what is happening. I really liked how the author pushed some limits. He brings up many thought probing questions... One was the relationship between Vanessa's father and uncle. Instead of an intense bond, they are reminders of the past they share and the hardships that they encountered. A little off topic but their bond reminds me " Even Silence Has an End: My Six Years of Captivity in the Colombian Jungle" by Ingrid Betancourt. None of the people that went through this ordeal came out of it with a bond. Another interesting aspect of this story is that the more Vanesa discovers the more her life is in danger. Slowly the symbols that are present in her father's diary become a matter of survival. Overall, this was an intriguing story. The mixture of history and mystery kept me intrigued. The story moved from Wisconsin to Prague were very enlightening and helped shift the plot. Very intriguing.

[ManOfLaBook.com · Rating 4 out of 5]

Galerie by Steven Green­berg is a novel about a woman look­ing for her roots and a fam­ily secret from World War II.

Vanesa Neu­man, an Israeli his­to­rian and daugh­ter of a Holo­caust sur­vivor gets her hands on her father’s jour­nal after his death. In the jour­nal she finds sto­ries of long lost peo­ple and strange symbols.

Vanesa starts dig­ging about the mean­ing of the sym­bols, using the jounal, Yad Vashem and the Jew­ish Museum of Prague as her start­ing points. Along the way Vanesa over­comes many obsta­cles, phys­i­cal and emo­tional to dis­cover a deep buried fam­ily secret.

Galerie by Steven Green­berg is a very well writ­ten and researched book. Some­times the nar­ra­tive was a bit heavy, but I enjoyed it nonethe­less and appre­ci­ated the author’s styl­is­tic choices. Mr. Green­berg also knows how to tell a story, from a prose per­spec­tive as well as slow­ing down and sim­ply telling a good, thought pro­vok­ing, story.

The book moves between time­lines and con­ti­nents. Israel in the 1970s and 1990s (“present day”), and as wartime Europe, the US and other loca­tions. The story and char­ac­ters grow and become more intri­cate as the story unfolds, build­ing up to a sat­is­fy­ing end.

The novel explores the Holo­caust from an orig­i­nal point of view and does not shy from address­ing issues which are easy to gloss over (treat­ment of Holo­caust sur­vivors after the war in Israel, for exam­ple). This is an intrigu­ing book which will cer­tainly holds the reader’s interest.

For more reviews and bookish posts please visit: http://www.ManOfLaBook.com

[Wesley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book covers many countries, many time periods but with a core group of characters. We follow Vanessa Newman from a young visiting camper in Wisconsin to a woman in Israel with a mysterious and fractured family. Her mother dies when she is young, so she is surrounded by the men in her family, her father and her Uncle Tomas. But they have conflicts and when one dies the other seems strangely relieved. Kinda weird, right? Vanessa begins to dig in her past, seeking answers and what she gets is a lot more questions, and danger!

In general I don't think the circumstances of Vanessa's family disconnectedness is unusual. When people see horrible things or are forced to participate in horrible things - things like drinking, drugs, isolation and guilt can be constant companions. And sometimes no matter how much time has passed they might never be ready to talk about their experiences.

One of the things that I thought was most thought provoking about this book was the argument between Vanessa and her husband (our narrator) about the difference between collaboration and survival during war time. (But that will come up in the interview tomorrow, so I will just let that sit.)

I also obviously love the fact that the book is set in Prague. Although not very many things that happen there are nice!

This book has something for nearly everyone: interesting locations, mysterious symbols, people stalked through the old cobbled streets of Prague, a pretty high creepy factor and murder most foul!


3.5 stars out of 5!

[Elysium · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5 stars

When Vanesa Neuman’s father dies, she gets her father’s old diary from the World War II time. Her parents were Holocaust survivors but never spoke about their past and Vanesa feels like she never really knew her parents. She wants to learn more about her family’s history so she travels to Prague with her father’s old diary, which has an odd symbol in it.

The book divides between 1970’s and 1990’s as present day setting place in Israel, Prague and USA. While I liked the book I wasn’t fan of the format. It jumps between different decades with different people telling the story and I was so confused much of the time. I got used to it with time though. The narrator, Vanesa’s husband, isn’t actually present in almost any of the events and seemed like he told what Vanesa had told him. At times he wasn’t sure if things had gone as he thought they had and that was little annoying.

It was interesting to read how Holocaust had such strong effects even to the survivor’s children and we also see how the survivors are treated after the war. I haven’t read much about the survivors in Israel after the war and this gave some light on that.

[Sydney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Steven Greenberg has written a story that will mesmerize readers from page one. This deeply stirring story will suck readers in as they read about the story of Vanesa Neuman and her desire to learn more about her parent’s hidden wartime past. When her father dies, Vanesa sets out on a quest to discover her family’s identity and the meaning behind her father’s diary and the strange symbol within. This novel is filled with raw emotion and events that will make your heart ache. Filled with deep and rich history, this is a novel that readers will not easily forget as they read of horrific events that took place during WWII. I would recommend this novel to readers that thoroughly enjoy rich history and stories of WWII.

Genre: historical, WWII, thriller, literary
Publisher: Evolving Publishing
Publication date: October 26, 12016
Number of pages: 246

Content Rating: PG-13, some adult content in regards to WWI events
Book Rating: 5 stars

A review copy of this book was proviced by Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours.

[Allison · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was all right. On one hand, the author clearly did his research. I really enjoyed the writing style as well. On the other hand, I simply wasn't interested or emotionally-invested in any of the characters; historical or modern. Still not totally sure how I feel about the ending either. I don't know why Vanesa's husband had to be the narrator. He's barely in any of the story! The big plot twist on the other hand, involving taxidermied Jewish corpses was horrifying, and sounds like something the nazis actually would have done. I initially thought Hans Gunther was a fictional character, but I looked him up and found out he was in fact a real person. He died during a fight with partisans in 1945. Greenberg took quite a lot of liberties with his character, but it IS fiction, so I'm willing to give him a pass.

Not terrible, but I also didn't love it.

[Heather Osborne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am a staunch reader of Holocaust historical fiction and non-fiction. I loved reading, no, devouring, Galerie. Despite initially getting off to a slow start, I was soon swept away in Vanesa's determined mission to discover a dark secret in her family's past. The novel takes us between past and present (1992) as Vanesa unfolds the mystery before the reader's eyes. I'm reminding of Those Who Save Us by Jenna Blum in the way Greenberg intertwines the stories into one. The ending was certainly a surprise, but I won't spoil it! Vanesa's determination was certainly inspiring, and I will look for other novels by this author.

[Jay Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a truly imaginative story of the Jewish experience in Prague. The narrative skips about in time between the last part of WWII and Israel in the 90s. The changes in time are documented in each chapter heading, so the reader has no problem keeping track. The narration is first person for Vanesa's husband, and VOG for the rest. The basic horror that is finally unveiled is presaged through most of the book. The contents of the Galerie are unknown to the unveiling, but the identity of the bad guy becomes increasingly obvious. This a well-written book about a dark time in history. I appreciated the opportunity to read the story and wonder about how much truth was in the fiction.

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although I am sure there will be a following for Galerie by Steven Greenberg, the novel wasn't for me. I found the story hard to follow, and the graphic descriptions just did not appeal to me. It took too long to get to the point of the story. It was overly descriptive bordering on distracting.

Disclaimer: I was sent an advanced digital copy of Galerie in return for my honest review.

[Deedra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Actually,this is for the audiobook.This was a hard book to like,but I LOVED it once it all made sense.Vanessa is the granddaughter of Haloucaust survivors.She gets ensnared in decades old evil and learns just what her family did to survive.A horrible yet delightful realization.Mark Deakins was a fine narrator.I was provided this book free by the author,narraror or publisher.

[Judie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Initially Galerie was a confusing, slow read, but I'm glad I stuck with it. This is a compelling and horrifying story dealing with the child of Holocaust survivors - a unique and interesting book with many twists and turns.

[Dianne C. Bumgarner · Rating 3 out of 5]

Needs Help

This book is labeled a suspense thriller. As such it SHOULD have been a page Turner but was not. Very slow moving and at times boring. The last two chapters were good but oh, the time wasted to get there !

[Niyati Em · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow.

I mean! WOW!!!

Detailed review coming soon

[Avi B · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Beverly Stotz · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was disturbing. I'm sure things like this happened, in addition to the atrocities we are aware of, but if that part was purely fiction, I could've done without it.

[Emily-Jane Orford · Rating 4 out of 5]

A powerful story about a troubling time in history with poignant lessons about choices and consequences.

[Sharon Griffin · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting read which at times was confusing due to interwoven time periods.

[Gayle Styles · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very thought provoking. Enjoyed reading it.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

e-Book Picked it up off Book-Bub because of the Prague connection. Intriguing mystery as the past is pursued by the daughter

[Brett · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting book. Good story, if confusing at times.