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Surviving Remnant: Memories of the Jewish Greenhorns in 1950s America
Set in the deteriorating north end of Springfield, Massachusetts in the 1950s and early 60s, Surviving Remnant is Hanna Perlstein Marcus' sequel to her award-winning memoir, Sidonia's Thread. In Surviving Remnant, she recreates her childhood community of ambitious, humorous, and resilient immigrant refugees who occupy an apartment building, eager to adapt to their new homeland and build new lives for themselves and their children in the aftermath of the Holocaust.
Within the backdrop of the acculturation of these new Americans, we meet the group of individuals and families who live, play, and work in their neighborhood. While deeply enmeshed in the everyday occurrences of her community, Marcus, as a child, is determined to find a suitable husband for her mother and a benevolent father for herself among the available bachelors. Along the way, she becomes a fanatical Brooklyn Dodgers fan, a misguided violinist, a somnambulist, a neurotic, a matchmaker, and noted fashion model for her mother's stunning clothing designs.
Marcus' experiences growing up with her mother in an enclave of Holocaust survivors portray a story no one knows...until now. Surviving Remnant is an authentic look at a poignant immigrant sage from deep inside.
Within the backdrop of the acculturation of these new Americans, we meet the group of individuals and families who live, play, and work in their neighborhood. While deeply enmeshed in the everyday occurrences of her community, Marcus, as a child, is determined to find a suitable husband for her mother and a benevolent father for herself among the available bachelors. Along the way, she becomes a fanatical Brooklyn Dodgers fan, a misguided violinist, a somnambulist, a neurotic, a matchmaker, and noted fashion model for her mother's stunning clothing designs.
Marcus' experiences growing up with her mother in an enclave of Holocaust survivors portray a story no one knows...until now. Surviving Remnant is an authentic look at a poignant immigrant sage from deep inside.
- GenresNonfiction
296 pages, Paperback
Published March 14, 2017
1 person is currently reading
471 people want to read
About the author
Hanna Perlstein Marcus
4 books11 followersHanna Perlstein Marcus was born at the Bergen Belsen displaced pesons camp after World War II and the Holocaust, and later immigrated to Springfield, Massachusetts. She is a licensed clinical social worker in Connecticut.
Hanna has recently released the last installment of the SIdonia's Thread trilogy, Sidonia's Seam Binding, which describes how she developed her own ambition and behavioral style apart from her single mother, explores her extraordinary Hungarian ancestry back to the eighteenth century, and conjures an alternate reality for her mother as though Hanna had never been born.
Join Hanna as she explores her experiences, emotions, aspirations, imagination, and heritage, the elements all mixed to produce the distinctive human qualities of her nature. It is a fitting ending to the Sidonia's Thread trilogy.
Hanna has recently released the last installment of the SIdonia's Thread trilogy, Sidonia's Seam Binding, which describes how she developed her own ambition and behavioral style apart from her single mother, explores her extraordinary Hungarian ancestry back to the eighteenth century, and conjures an alternate reality for her mother as though Hanna had never been born.
Join Hanna as she explores her experiences, emotions, aspirations, imagination, and heritage, the elements all mixed to produce the distinctive human qualities of her nature. It is a fitting ending to the Sidonia's Thread trilogy.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
December 7, 2016
I won this book on Goodreads (Advanced Reader Copy).
We're all familiar with Anne Frank but most of us (unless we have relatives who shared there experiences) do not know what happened to Jews who survived the Holocaust, were sent to displaced persons and became immigrant refugees. Surviving Remnant tells one of those stories in a sometimes humorous, uplifting manner, but more importantly from the human perspective. This book is a sequel to Sidonia's Thread which I have not read.
I recommend this book.
We're all familiar with Anne Frank but most of us (unless we have relatives who shared there experiences) do not know what happened to Jews who survived the Holocaust, were sent to displaced persons and became immigrant refugees. Surviving Remnant tells one of those stories in a sometimes humorous, uplifting manner, but more importantly from the human perspective. This book is a sequel to Sidonia's Thread which I have not read.
I recommend this book.
July 27, 2017
Not a lover of memoirs typically but this is very well done and an important story to tell. Strongly recommend.
June 24, 2018
A piece of local history for me, which is why I checked it out from the library. I found it very interesting to have a glimpse into the life of Jewish Greenhorns and the author's perspectives as both a child and an adult were astute. I think it has relevance to immigration today as well. This is a sequel and I have not read the first of her books, but having read this I will seek it out.
September 14, 2024
Life Beyond
We read books about the Holocaust, but this is a fascinating experience first-hand, as we follow a large group of survivors, trying to resettle and build new lives. In a large apartment block of Massachusetts a very diverse group struggle with language, health, religion and employment, slowly adapting to American life. But the very tie that binds them, (concentration camps) has also scarred their lives and will govern their responses to fresh adversities, filtered of course through their vastly different ethnic cultures and upbringings.
The story is told mainly through the eyes of a girl born in Bergin-Belsen just short of the end pf the war, Her Hungarian mother readily tells her stories of life pre incarceration, but remains very tight- lipped about camp life and will not reveal details of her father.
The unfolding dramas of apartment living among a very strange group of survivors makes for gripping reading. Dont miss this!
We read books about the Holocaust, but this is a fascinating experience first-hand, as we follow a large group of survivors, trying to resettle and build new lives. In a large apartment block of Massachusetts a very diverse group struggle with language, health, religion and employment, slowly adapting to American life. But the very tie that binds them, (concentration camps) has also scarred their lives and will govern their responses to fresh adversities, filtered of course through their vastly different ethnic cultures and upbringings.
The story is told mainly through the eyes of a girl born in Bergin-Belsen just short of the end pf the war, Her Hungarian mother readily tells her stories of life pre incarceration, but remains very tight- lipped about camp life and will not reveal details of her father.
The unfolding dramas of apartment living among a very strange group of survivors makes for gripping reading. Dont miss this!
August 1, 2017
Interesting perspective of Sidonia's daughters observations of her mother, a coming of age story, and amazing metaphor using sewing as a life force.
November 10, 2017
Received in a goodread book giveaway and just really had a hard time getting into the book.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews