The Seamstress: A Memoir of Survival

by Marlene Bernstein Samuels

"From its opening pages, in which she recounts her own premature birth, triggered by terrifying rumors of an incipient pogrom, Bernstein' s tale is clearly not a typical memoir of the Holocaust. She was born into a large family in rural Romania...and grew up feisty and willing to fight back physically against anti-Semitism from other schoolchildren. She defied her father' s orders to turn down a scholarship that took her to Bucharest, and got herself expelled from that school when she responded to a priest/teacher's vicious diatribe against the Jews by hurling a bottle of ink at him...After a series of incidents that ranged from dramatic escapes to a year in a forced labor detachment, Sara ended up in Ravensbruck, a women' s concentration camp, and managed to survive...she tells this story with style and power." —Kirkus Reviews

Genres: Memoir, History, World War II, Nonfiction

383 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 1, 1999

Reviews

[Kristine · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story of Sara Bernstein is difficult to read, but her experience is one that needs to be told and needs to be read so that we never forget what happened. It is a reminder to all of us that we have a responsibility to speak up when we see prejudice, oppression, and injustice against any individual or group of people. Reading this book reminds us that we must keep our watch and take our stand against maltreatment in any form.

[Mardy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Engrossing first hand account of surviving a WW2 German concentration camp.

[Sue Burton · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an uncomprehending story of man's inhumanity to man, and ultimate survival of body and spirit. It is so important to remember that these events happened, and to fight any inkling of a recurrence. Sadly, I believe that our country is currently in danger of these actions recurring. We must be aware and alert.

[Jeanette · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heartbreaking

This was one of the best holocaust survival books I’ve read. This book allowed my to really feel and take witness to their brutal, horrific experience like no other holocaust book has ever done so for me. Such strength and endurance are found interwoven throughout these pages. So glad I read this one.

[LGVReader · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent read of personal perseverance

This book had a up and down and I could not put it down. The personal experience of one young woman during WWII who survived the unsurviveable.

[Albrother1 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Seren is a Holocaust survivor. She tells her story without bitterness. She tells her story with regret over the waste of human life, the waste of her best years, the waste caused by racial hatred and hysteria. She survived by taking risks, by holding on to and protecting her sisters and friend.

Her daughter's reflection on her mother's story and how it affected her own life is beautifully expressed.

[Neena Corbin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nothing wrong with the plot, the character development, etc...you've just read this story many times before... unless something happens in the last 10% of the book. I gave up, finally, and did not finish.

[Sandy Bakkum · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is another example of the incredible will to live of the people of Jewish faith who survived the atrocities of WWII. It's a heartbreaking read but a story of love of family,devotion to friends, and survival.

[Sharon Teachout · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book everyone should read.

[Kate Geiger · Rating 5 out of 5]

A favorite story of young women surviving the Halocaust. Wonderful characters, sad events.

[Marisa Crouse · Rating 5 out of 5]

An easy and captivating book about a woman's survival.

[Vicki O. · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful story of survival. A must read.

[virginia O'Neill · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very good Holocust read! If you enjoy reading a book about surviving WWII, this is a much better read than All The Things I Cannot See!

[lola Franco · Rating 3 out of 5]

Heartbreaking. I haven't read much about the Romanian Jews in the holocaust.
but the preface, by Louise Toots Thornton is so tone deaf, it's hard to believe it hasn't been updating. equating being lost on the way to Ravensbruck with being on the train heading towards Ravensbruck is just so unbelievable.

interesting story, but not well written.