Play Book Tag discussion

The World That We Knew by Alice Hoffman - 4* - My Review

Set in WWII, this is the story of three women: Lea, Ettie, and Ava. The story opens in 1941 Berlin, where a Jewish mother must make a difficult choice to send Lea, her twelve-year-old daughter, into hiding from the Nazis. The rabbi’s daughter, Ettie, helps them by creating a golem out of clay and water. The golem, Ava, is charged with protecting Lea.

A golem is a creature out of Jewish folklore. Its function is to carry out instructions from its creator. Ava is asked to do everything she can to help Lea survive. The three women’s storylines are interwoven.

Magical realism does not always work for me, but it seems a good choice here. The magical elements help offset the many brutal, tragic, and horrific events that occurred during WWII. It is a beautifully written story of a survival, sacrifice, resistance, resilience, and many kinds of love. I do not care as much for Hoffman’s contemporary stories or those about magic and witches, but I very much enjoy her historical fiction.

So funny, because seconds ago I wrote on Hannah's review of the same book and I was thinking to myself, I wonder what Joy D will think of this book? I have to go back to my review, but to me it read a lot like yours. I suspected you would "get" it too.