Rating: 
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.
Rating:
Summary: Triumph of Spirit
Review: The Seamstress was a compelling story of survival and strength of the human spirit. The speaker of this book has an uncommon tenacious quality. As a Holocaust survivor she gives an angle on her experiences that you don't get from fiction. When you read fictional stories about important events the characters seem to lack a certian depth or belief factor that makes the story seem like that could not have really happened, or that it is very unlikly. In The Seamstress there seems to be a horrible factor about the war and the Holocaust that as a reader you do not understand how people could do this to other people. In the back of your mind you have to believe, though you can't have empathy for what incredible expierences that they have lived through. The sometimes simple and sometimes detailed description adds spice to the reading. Throughout this book you soon realise that Seren Tuvel is one who, because of her older sister roles, is the planer and caretaker of those around her. The strong family bonds that shape her life as an adolescent shape the lives of her family later. The losses she and others like her have suffered display clearly that there has got to be a better answer problems then wars and tyrannical leaderships. Trying to learn history from dry factual books does not give nearly the depth that this book does to the horrors of war, where one person trying to stay alive where all the odds are against them. I don't yet know the fear of being singeled out after my government has given up on me, and may no one ever have to experience what Seren Tuvel and the millions of others have. The Seamstress is a wonderful book, and for all of us who have grown up in a world where we know very little about first hand experiences of war, and understand even less, this book dramatically puts you in touch with the raw emotions of survival. In many cases now we hear of stories of survival from plane crashes and bombings, but that is only physical. What people in Camps went through was a mental, emotional, and physical survival, "We think of survival in tearms of living through life-threatening events, survival of the physical being. There are many chronicles of the dramatic acts undertaken to cling to life; the psychological exercises practiced to maintain hope and optimism. The majority of these tales, however, deal with the short-term, intense crises: surviving an airplane crash for three weeks, being trapped in a cave for five days after the wall have collapsed. Looking at the protracted version- four years of physical and emotional dehumanization- alters any perception we may have had of those who survived daily events in the camps." My personal reaction to this book was one was such a better understanding for life and a better appriciation for what people have done, and what they are doing to make the world a better place. I have gained an insight to an amazing life. Everything in this book had a purpose and added so many dimensions to Seren and the people around her. This book was unlike any book I have ever read before.
Rating:
Summary: The amazing truth....
Review: This book is amazing from beginning to end. Her style of writing allows the reader to 'really see' what she is describing whether it is people, places or actions. The story itself is unbelievable and how Seren survived is beyond belief. The way she looked after the small group of herself, her sister and the other young girls from Budapest is incredible. I have read many holocaust biographies but this one would most certainly be in the Top 10 along with Olga Lengyl, Alicia Appelman Jurman and Sara Przytk. Detail of the book can be read in the above editorial, all I am saying is READ IT!
Rating: 
Summary: My Brothers, My Sisters
Review: This book was almost not written. And it was almost not published. And revealing as it is, it tells only some of the tale. Some things are just too close, too hard, too emotional, too overwhelming to share. Yet share she did, and we are richer for it, even if we don't know the whole story.The story is a familiar one in some ways. Young Sara was a survivor, even before this term became indelibly linked with the Holocaust. Outgoing, ambitious, adventurous, Sara struck out in the world early and learned hard lessons in cruelty and hatred. Yet her spirit remained and helped her survive the unsurvivable. In fact, given her condition at the end of the war it is remarkable she did survive. Perhaps her single-minded dedication to her sister and friends enabled her to forget about her horrible condition. She truly willed herself to survive. Yet the story, as so many others, may never have come to light. After the ward there was so much else to do, so much time to make up. Only in her later years did Sara think of writing her story. And when it was done she could not get it published so she put it away. Her daughter found the manuscript after Sara's death, and published it 15 years later. Sara never saw her book in print. You should.
Rating:
Summary: An amazing story of survival
Review: This is an amazing book. It captures all the horror of the holocaust, and her story is told with heartbreaking honesty and and feeling. She survived through all her hardship through just courage and hope; hope that was so easy to lose under those circumstances. I would recommend it to anyone who is wants to read a story that makes you laugh, cry and touches your heart and soul. It is definitely a book you cannot set down.
Rating:
Summary: WOW!!!
Review: This is an exceptionally well told personal narritive of the holocaust because not only does seren write about her experience in Ravensbrok, but she also writes of her family struggles and of her prewar and postwar adventures. Do not leave this book sitting in the bookstore, I mean, they didn't kill innocent trees for nothing!!!
Rating:
Summary: A story of survival
Review: This is one of the most powerful Holocaust memoirs I have ever read. Seren Tuvel lived with her large family in Romania and as a young girl was such an exceptionally bright student that she was chosen to attend a gymnasium of higher education in Bucharest. However, this was a time when prejudice and harrassment of Jewish people was gathering momentum thoughout Europe. One of Seren's teachers at her new school frequently also made disparaging remarks about Jews and Seren decided to leave the school. She did not return to her family in their small village but stayed in Bucharest and became an apprentice seamstress, learning a trade that would come to be an invaluable tool for her survival as World War II broke out and the Germans began their persecution of the Jewish people.
This memoir starts out in a very mild manner, but as Seren and her family are forced by degrees to give up the life they knew it becomes one of increasing horror. Her father is imprisoned and is later shot, her brothers are forced into labor camps as are she and her sisters. Her youngest sister is shot to death in one such camp by a sadistic guard when he finds out that she is pregnant and unwed. But the real horrors begin when Seren is transferred along with another sister, Esther, to a women's concentration camp known as Ravensbruck.
Seren's story is chilling yet truly inspirational. A Holocaust memoir that should take its place beside The Diary of Anne Frank and Elie Wiesel's Night as one of the definitive works of Holocaust literature.
Rating:
Summary: best halocaust book written
Review: This is the best book I have read about the halocaust. I could not put this book down. The hardships that the main character endured is more than I could ever imagine. The author told the story so vividly and there was never a dull moment in which the reader was bored or uninterested. I would highly recommend this book to everyone! I rate it as one of the best books I have had the pleasure to read.
Rating:
Summary: An incredible story that brought an eye-opening experience!
Review: This story made me understand more of how ignorant I was about what really happened to those who suffered in the camps during WWII. Sara Tuvel Bernstein is someone that displayed the most incredible courage and strength at a time when many people could not hang onto their own. Not only is this book incredible, but I have had the greatest of fortunes--Louise Loots Thornton is my English teacher, and I just wanted those who read this book to recognize her patience and hard work along with Ms. Bernstein's to make this story come to life. I honor Ms. Loots for her own strength that it took to bring us Sara's story. The power of the written word . . .!
Rating:
Summary: The Seamstress You Can't Forget
Review: This was one of the most frightening and interesting books I have ever read. I stayed awake many nights after reading this book and contemplated what life must have been like for Seren. I think people of all ages should read her story and discuss it with family (especially children) and friends. We must all remember Seren's bravery and the tremendous tragedy of the Holocaust to prevent it from happening again in the future. I wish Seren were still alive. She would be on my list of top ten people to meet.
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