The Train to Warsaw
By Gwen Edelman
Still on the Warsaw ghetto theme, this delicate novel traces the journey of a Jewish Polish couple who survive the Warsaw ghetto and subsequently live for many years, post-WWII, in London.
The novel is short, and is written in short paragraphs, rather than chapters. The narrative alternates between the two voices of the couple, Jascha and Lilka, describing their train trip to visit Warsaw 40 years after the war, and flashbacks to their memories of living in the ghetto, losing their families, and their escape.
During the few days they spend in current-day Warsaw, deep memories and fears start to surface once again, and they relive the good and the bad of their lives before leaving. They reveal some untold stories to each other, which make them each question their relationship.
Jascha is now a famous novelist, and he wrote a novel about the ghetto. In present day Warsaw he is invited to speak about his writing, as a returning Polish author. Little does the audience know that he will read from his novel about the horrors that the Jews faced behind the wall, while the Poles live a relatively normal life before the city was destroyed by the Germans. At the end of his lecture, only 4 people remain in the audience. The rest have left in shock and disgust.
It is a portrait of a once beautiful city, of people displaced from their homeland by atrocious acts of war, and of an attempt to return to a place that no longer exists.
Rating: 3.5/5
Recommendation: If you're into reading about the Warsaw ghetto.
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