After the War

Ruth Mendenberg is trying to get away from the Nazis. She thinks the Nazis have killed her whole family. When Ruth goes to an agentcy to find out if her parents have been found, and man asks her if she wants to help start a Jewish community in Eretz, Isreal They have to overcome many hard tasks, like exaping a German camp and making it back to there ship which is taking them to Israel. British troops try to take over the ship but before they can capture the Jewish people in the ship, they make it to Isreal. Overall i think this was a great book. It also taught me alot of things about the war.

By concentrating on one group of children who have survived the Holocaust, Matas' treatment of a painful subject is narrow enough for a reader to grasp an emotionally harrowing subject. Fourteen year old Ruth has no hope and is frozen in despair, until she is asked to help get orphans to Palestine, via an underground movement. The children are heart-rendering - they know how to be perfectly quiet and to do without food, warmth or shelter, but they do not know how to play or study. They melt Ruth's heart and give her a reason to live. The book is short, taunt, and thrilling.

The book makes you feel the emotions of the main character. The girl in this book is one of the few survivors of the Holocost in her family. She volunteers to help take other young survivors to Palestine. They think they will be free there. However, the Arabs there hate the Jews and much fighting erupts between them. Some one that is dear to her may or may not die. She may die herself! If you want to find out the answer to those mysteries, you will just have to read the book yourself. If you like the book, you can read the sequel- "The Garden".

The main character returns to her home in Poland from surviving a concentration camponly to discover her family all dead. She is recruited to escort orphan Jewish children to Israel and in this task finds the reason for living.

When reading this book, I suddenly realized what being one of these victims felt like. The onslaught of tragedy after tragedy suffered at the hands of the Nazis was enough to make anyone turn numb inside. The main character's pain at her losses was much to great to bear, but for her to have to suffer through collecting other victims' tragedies was even too much for me. This is what brought tears to my eyes.