The Wall

This is John Hersey's stunning novel about the Jews in the Warsaw ghetto during WW II. It's a huge, sprawling book, and revolves around upwards of fifty different characters in their struggle to survive Nazi atrocities within the ghetto. Hersey based much of the novel on thousands of pages of original source material written in Polish and Yiddish by Jews in Warsaw. A handful of the characters begin to take center stage and relate what's going on and their feelings and impressions through first-person narratives: Dolek Berson, Pavel Menkes, Henryck Rapaport, Rachel Apt, and especially Noach Levinson become leaders of the "Jewish family" that first confront the Germans and then finally escape as the last buildings are being razed. With so many characters we witness the vast array of human qualities, from the strong to the weak, the resourceful and resilient to the helpless and feeble. Not only is the book an indictment of the horrors that people are able and willing to inflict on others, it's a rousing hurrah for those who fight against and somehow survive the torture and humiliation. The book is an amazing achievement, certainly Hersey's greatest novel.

You can read the other reviews to get an idea as to what the story covers, but I want to share with you my experience as to the impact of its delivery and tale. I read a lot. And it's rare for a book to make me laugh out loud or cry tears. At first, I neither liked nor cared for any of the characters. At the end, I cried; hard. I've never had a story affect me this way.

This is a very deep and powerful historical novel involving Poland, Jews and the Germans. I think it was published even before the Schindler's list became widely known. This is the story of the condammed Jews in the Polish ghetto trying to fight back without any help from the outside and not for the survival (it was impossible and they knew it) but for the remains of dignity and for the right to die standing tall. Mila 18 by Leon Uris comes to mind when you read "The Wall".

Hersey is probably America's greatest unrecognized writer. Hersey probably didn't care. The Wall drove me to my local library where I soon found the names of many of his fictional characters. The Jewish historian who hid his writings in milk cans has a name. He died in 1944. Milk cans were still being found in the 1950's according to my research. How did the son of Protestant missionaries to China write this Jewish story? It was easy---Hersey loved them very much. His characters are largely doomed to the fate the Nazi's inflicted upon them. But you cry for them--we lost those wonderful people because they were Jewish. Hersey writes with a pen in one hand and a lightning bolt in the other. This is a great read, filled with compassion and a skill with words that is nearly gone from today's garish bestsellers.

One of the only true accounts, which will leave you wondering 'could this ever happen again.' I began the book, thinking it was a mistake, but after reading the first page, my mind was drawn to the wondrous text. I read page after page, loving each milisecond in which I could enjoy the classic. It tells of a Jewish 'family' living in the Warsaw ghetto during the second world war. Many exciting, and interesting charcters sweep you off your feet as you read. People who otherwise would never have been remembered, during one of the most tragic times, in all of the world's history will at last get the credit they deserve. The 'family' consisting of several families, with ages varying between a few months to nearly sixty years of age. Every charcter has a story in which they wish their close friend, Noach Levinson, to record in his archive. His archive was retrieved by a Jewish girl, Rachel Apt, and her older Jewish lover, Dolek Berson, after the war. Levinson's archive was filled with documents containing information concerning his friends, and enemies, the Nazis. Also contained in his archive were plays, stories, and journals written by people in the ghetto. The book explains in detail the thoughts, conversations, and contributions to the war, of the forty+ Jewish who escaped the tragedies of the ghetto, through the underground sewer system. You'll feel as you end the book, that you are one of these Jewish struggling to survive in the climate of a war-torn Europe. You'll know the 'family' personally, even though you have never met them, and probably never will. I personally loved the book, and hope people of many future generations will be able to experience the sadness, hope, and frustrations felt while reading this classic novel