Isabella

I first read this book when I was fifteen, and never for a moment has it left my subconscious. Even had I never reread it, I would still remember a lot of things about it in vivid detail, and when I do reread it, I am still taken on am emotionally haunting journey. It has left an eternal imprint on my heart and soul, an eternal echo in my mind. I'm even seriously considering possibly naming one of my future daughters, when I have kids, Isabella, after this amazing woman.What makes this book different from many other Holocaust books is that most of the chapters are merely fragmented memories and incidents, not full-blown detailed accounts of every little thing that happened, in the death train, in their first day in Auschwitz, what their Barracks were like, their friends in the camp, when they got to eat, what kind of work they were doing, any physical abuse they may have received, nothing but a powerful tale of fragmented memories and incidents. What makes it so unforgettable is the love between the four remaining sisters, how they stayed together and alive despite incredible odds, buoyed one another's spirits, and stayed alive for one another, because of one another. Recently I found out on the US Holocaust Memorial Museum's website that the oldest of the sisters, Cipi, was 28 and 29 years old during the eight months she is together with her three younger sisters who later escaped...never once when reading this book would I ever have guessed that the oldest of the sisters was a grown adult woman, nearly thirty years old, old enough to be a mother to Regina, the youngest, since the relationship described is so close-knit and emotional, not at all like I would have pictured a woman that old relating to and caring for a teenage sister and two in their early twenties. I was so emotionally involved with this book that I felt as though I had lost my own sister when only the three of them manage to run away during the death march, and hoping they had eventually found her, even decades later. It's that gut-wrenchingly emotional.There are some things about the book that leave me wanting more, like how Isabella doesn't give the ages of all of her siblings (particularly her two older sisters; I was shocked to discover just how old the oldest really was), and how there aren't more chapters dealing with everything that happened in Auschwitz. But we already have more than enough books dealing with how the newly-arrived prisoners were processed, what kinds of work they were forced to do, and life in the Barracks. This story is special because of the emotions, love, loyalty, devotion, and delight in life involved, not more concrete details about everything that happened before their liberation. I also would have liked, in the pictures section, to see what Isabella's brother and two remaining sisters looked like when they got older, a picture of her brother-in-law Jack, a picture of their father, and a mention of the names of her other siblings' spouse