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Summary: An amazing story of one woman's survival against the odds
Review: I simply could not put down Mrs. Seren Tuvel's book. This is truely one of the best books that I have ever read. This is a truely fine book, written by a remarkable woman who lived to tell of the horrors of the Holocaust and her strong will and determination to survive. This book I would highly reccomend to anyone. It is sad that Mrs. Tuvel-Bernstein passed away some years ago, but her spirit lives on through her amazing story. This is one of the best Holocaust memoirs ever published.
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Summary: Captivating Memoir
Review: In the early 1030s, as Hitler grasped his power tightly; the Jews began to be treated very unfairly. For years they had been considered "dirty", but their lives were about to become miserable. During the 1930s many Jews and others who would have hurt the Nazi beliefs, like homosexuals, Jehovah's Witness believers, and other "criminals", were put into concentration camps and basically not allowed to live.
The story of Seren Tuvel, a young, Jewish woman, is a story of courage and will to survive. Seren was always different from her family, for she had no intention of staying in the home her whole life. She left her family behind in a village in Romania and moved to Budapest to study while she was still a young teenager. In school, Seren was teased for being a Jew, though she did not look like a Jew. Seren had long, blonde hair and blue eyes, just like anyone native to the land she was living. When she was in Budapest, she quit school and became a seamstress. Soon, as Germany gained power, the Nazis slowly crept into her life, taking away her rights and some of her dignity, just because she was Jewish. It was not difficult for her to find jobs, like it was for other Jews, because Seren looked like a Gentile. As the war in Europe went on, her family dispersed to different places, like Israel or to different cities in Romania and Hungary, but the Jews soon would not be able to travel. Before long, Jewish men were taken into the labor force to support Hungary. Only weeks after that, the women were also forced to help support their enemy. Seren, her sister, and two friends met up at this point and would stay together to survive. They went through the work camps, leaning on each other for survival.
Seren Tuvel must have known how important her story of courage was, because just years after moving to America, she began to write her story. Seren (Sara) Tuvel-Bernstein wrote her memoir magnificently. Her leadership, love, and devotion to her loved ones, were revealed in such a precious manner that the reader cannot help but love her. Seren wrote, "I felt completely responsible for these three young girls[Seren's sister and two friends]; to me we were all sisters. I had to do everything in my power to enable us to remain alive." She revealed the truth in her own perspective and still showed some of the perspectives of the others around her, for example what her family and friends though of the events that had been happening.
A great strength shone through the book as Seren told the readers exactly what she had been through, although all of what she said was her interpretation of the event. She confessed her feelings about people, even a man named Samuel, with whom she did not have the feelings that he had for her. After he had told her his feelings and she told him something that made him very happy she wrote, "What in the world have I let myself in for now?" Seren let Samuel think that she had the same feelings for him, while, really, she had no intention of settling down with anyone. There were other instances where Seren told the reader her thoughts during all the horrible events in her life that she had not told many other people. Writing those confessions gave her memoir a strong truth and power.
Although Seren expressed how she felt easily, the people around her, especially the family members, were not well depicted. Two very important family members, her sisters Esther and Zipporah were some of the members that were somewhat confusing. Those two people were not easily recognizable in the beginning. Once the sisters got their share of being alone with Seren, they got their own distinct voice. They each should have gotten that closer to the beginning of the story.
The memoir of such a great survivor during the Holocaust is a fantastic book to read. A reader will see what Seren Tuvel and the other Jews went through and get close to really getting to know the author. Seren does not get gory and give too many horrifying details of anything that happened, but the readers see enough to really feel what the prisoners of the Nazis went through. The story is absolutely amazing! It is not fast-paced, but Seren keeps the reader hooked and shows what her life was like.
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Summary: A great, emotion evoking book with a happy ending.
Review: It has been a long time since I have read a book that both made me laugh and cry at the same time. The most amazing aspect of The Seamstress is its historical importance, the character development of the individuals, and the overall quality of the writing. It is concise, clear, well thought out but flows naturally. Should you pick it up at bedtime you will find yourself still reading at 2:00 a.m. I loved it and find myself missing the characters, thinking about them, and wishing I could have met them.
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Summary: The best book I read in all of 1997! (And I read a lot ...)
Review: It was pure chance that I started reading this book... I then could not stop reading it. The author's words brought both laughter and tears to me. This book was more powerful for me than reading Anne Frank. The scene where the author, weighing 44 pounds, was picked up by an Allied soldier when the concentration camp survivors were freed was a powerful scene. Sara had thought it was raining as her cheeks felt wet. The wetness was from the soldier's tears as he carried her. I hope this incredible book receives the recognition that it deserves.
Rating:
Summary: Captivating
Review: Like others, I could not put this book down. Seren's story was captivating--she was incredibly strong in the face of horror. The fact that she was not German and explains what happened to the Jews in Eastern Europe gave me a perspective I have not had. And, like other reviewers, I found her lack of bitterness amazing. This was the first Holocaust book I've read which made me understand that people had no idea what happened to members of their families. I knew it before; this time I felt it.
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Summary: A Review of The Seamstress
Review: My fathers family from Romanian perished in the Holocaust and I was curious about the history of the Romanian Jews which is why I chose this book. I read it in four days. Seren is the type of person you will never forget. It was her courage and the loyalty she had to her sister Esther and to Ellen and Lily that kept them alive. It is told in a very straight forward manner and Seren never glosses over the facts. I am aamzed that she was able to survive the camps and the trainride near the end of the book and that she continued to use that strength to get her past the war and to her married life and a mother to her children. I highly recommend this book, and not just to those of a Jewish heritage but to anyone because of the inspiration I found in this book. Seren Tuvel is a woman I would have been honored to know.
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Summary: We Must Remember
Review: Seren Tuvel began her life as a carefree child growing up in a beautiful, peaceful part of Romania. Secure in her intelligence and in the love of her eight siblings and parents, the anti-Semitism that raged in Romania seemed nothing more than an annoyance to Seren and her family. After receiving a full scholarship to attend a prestigious gymnasium (high school) in Bucharest, Seren travels to her country's capital to city to quench her thirst for learning. This dream of gaining knowledge is abruptly ended, however, when Seren throws an inkwell in the face of one of her professors after he makes an anti-Jewish remark. She flees the school, begins work as a seamstress, and enjoys city life. Nazis invade Bucharest and the entire Romanian country; Seren feels that she can take care of herself. Yet soon this feeling of security fades and Seren decides that she must go back to her country home to escape the growing Jewish persecution in the city. Disaster meets her there as well when she and her father are rounded up in a horrifying night raid by the Nazis and sent to a federal prison, where they are falsely accused of being government spies. Seren is released from prison, yet as she receives word that her father is losing his mind, and realizes the destruction of Jewish life around her, she knows that her "journey" is far from over. Indeed, the pages of her story take us deep into the horrors of Auschwitz, and show us how somehow, Seren "rebuilt" her tortured life following the war.In many ways, this Holocaust memoir is not extraordinary in its genre. However, in a few key ways, Seren's memoir is supremely effective and unforgettable. First, as I read "The Seamstress", I was amazed by the utter lack of bitterness in the book. Seren simply TELLS about the beatings, questionings, and other forms of torture she and family endured at the hands of the Nazis, and never tries to "play-up" a single horror in her life. After the war, it is apparent that Seren simply tries to recover, find her family memebers, and gain a job. She is happy with the husband that she has found, and tirelessly keeps up hope about her life. Wow! I was so amazed and inspired by the fact that Seren never once complained about the havoc the Nazis wreaked on her her life (although that would have been completely justified), and for that reason alone, I would never forget this book. Seren's intense loyalty to her sister, Esther, and friends, Ellen and Lily, in Auschwitz was also uplifting. I was awed by the way Seren insisted that she would be responsible for her friends at Auschwitz, and swore that she would never leave them, even to get food or clothing (which were virtually non-existent at Auschwitz). It seems that this memoir strove to show the high ideals and strong character that were developed in Seren during the Holocaust, and this characteristic of the book alone is enough to make this book a must-read and an inspiration for anyone.
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Summary: The Seamstress: A Memoir of Survival
Review: Serious, studious Seren (later known as Sara) stands out from the siblings in her large Jewish Romanian family. At thirteen, in spite of her father's stern disapproval, she leaves home to study in Bucharest on a scholarship. Disheartened by the constant anti-Semitic comments of her teachers, she defiantly leaves the school. Rather than return home humbled, she apprentices herself to a dressmaker and soon becomes an accomplished seamstress. Seren's blond hair and blue eyes don't "look Jewish" , so she has little trouble finding employment. But in time, the insidious racism of World War II Europe engulfs Seren and her family. Captured by the Nazis, Seren and her young sister Esther are sent to the labor camp Ravensbruck, where they are brutally treated and are given as little as a single carrot a day to eat. It is only through the quiet, determined strength of Seren that the girls survive. When finally liberated at the end of the War, twenty-seven year old Seren weighs little more than forty pounds. There are many stories of Holocaust survivors, but The Seamstress ranks as one of the best. The memorable power of Seren's story is not in emotionally charged language, but in the simple, gritty details of this girl's overwhelming struggle to survive. Readers will not quickly forget the young heroine of this finely crafted biography.
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Summary: Exceptional
Review: The best memoir about the Holocaust I have ever read--bar none. The angst of being torn from a pleasant, if not privileged, life and the rigours of surviving all the degrading and humiliating tortures and deprivations of the camps is told in such riveting detail. Sarah's amazing strength and cunning is remarkable. That she could make it into such a well told story, is more amazing still. This will always be one of my favorite books. I found it very inspirational.
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Summary: One of the finest books I've read in some time.
Review: The Seamstress is a spellbinding book, and is certainly unlike other books about the Holocaust. A moving posthumous memoir, this book should make everyone's "must-read" list. The author tells her remarkable and unusual story with grace and power. She was a rural Romanian Jewish woman born at the time of the rise of the Nazis and virulent anti-Semitism in early part of the 20th century. This book reminds us of the importance not only of courage itself, but how courage combined with other strengths can permit us to survive (if not always overcome) evil. A fine, fine book.
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