If I Should Die Before I Wake

Rating:
Summary: A Great Book
Review: I first picked up this book at the young authors fair. I readit and loved it! I lent it to my friend who also loved it. DON'T READTHIS BOOK IF YOU CAN'T STAND DEPRESSING STORIES!

Rating:
Summary: If I Should Die Before I Wake
Review: 16-year-old Hilary Burke is a member of the Aryan Warriors, a Neo-Nazi organization in her town. She and her boyfriend, Brad, hate Jews and do everything in their power to make life hard for them and carry out Hitler's Final Solution. Then disaster strikes. While riding on Brad's motorcycle, the couple crash. Though Brad gets away without a scratch, Hilary is left with fatal injuries. She is put (against her will) into a Jewish hospital in a room with an elderly lady who won't stop staring at her. Hilary soon begins to hallucinate, and she becomes Chana, a 13-year-old girl living during the wake of World War Two. The war develops and soon Hilary realizes that she is caught up in the very same thing she was trying to inflict on others: the Holocaust. Plagued with these memories of hunger, exhaustion, and terror, Hilary begins to resent her past actions and connect more with the woman who keeps staring at her; as if they somehow were one. Hilary wants to live-in both worlds-and apoligize in her own, but it could be too late. Chana's time could be up-and if that happens, so will Hilary's...

Rating:
Summary: Two sides with a twist
Review: i've read about a million books on the holocaust. but this one really hit a nerve. it felt so real and so true that i felt that i was chana. the author did a great job on using irony. here was this girl, hilary who was in a motorcycle accident, shes in the hospital in an unconcious state and shes living the life a jewish girl in a concentration camp. it was a bit confusing going from one character to the other but after a while...you get used to it. i reccomend this to everyone of every age, of every race, of any background. it leaves behind a great sense of knowledge and appretiation.

Rating:
Summary: Very touching story about the Holocaust
Review: Hilary Burke is a 16 year old girl growing up in a neo-Nazi town. With little connection to anything else in her life, she finds a full sense of belonging in being part of a racist group with her boyfriend Brad. This group is her lifeline because it is full of haters, like herself, whose main goal is to destroy Jews. Hilary does not understand the full influence her hatred has over her life until she is fatally injured in a motorcycle accident with Brad, and lies near death in a Jewish hospital. It is there that she begins to comprehend the power hatred can have and she realizes her hatred is the same that took the lives of millions of Jews only fifty years ago. As she falls in and out of consciousness, she dreams about a Jewish girl named Chana Shoyvetishik who endures the cruelty of the Nazis and experiences the horrors of being Jewish during World War II. Hilary becomes Chana as her and her family is forced from their home in Poland to Lodz ghetto. From there, those who do not die from poor health and starvation are shipped to the death camps. This novel frighteningly portrays the lives of those who lived and those who died during this horrible time. "If I Should Die Before I Wake" is a powerful reminder that we can never forget what happened to Chana, because by not forgetting, we can remind ourselves about mistakes of the past that can never happen again. This novel serves as a tool to intensely deliver that message.

Rating:
Summary: A new Expirence
Review: Yes, i have learned about the Holoculst and been to the museums dedicated to the "Final Sollution" but never have I really endured the Whole story at a piont where i could totally understand the situation these people had to face. After reading the book from a "Teenage" perspective i really began to understand how horriable it was for the people of Jewish belief or just ancestory.

Rating:
Summary: History Renewed
Review: If your looking for something in the area of non-fiction meets history this is definatly the most ideal book for your cause. For parents looking for the alternative route to guide your children away for comic books and into the world of classic liturature ,suggest this book to your children and watch as they are drawn into the joined world of Hilary and Chana. Hilary is a neo- Nazi who was involved by her boyfriend ,Brad. While with Brad they are involved in a terrible crash. Brad walks away unhurt, but ironicly Hilary is taken to a Jewish hospital where she lies in limbo between life and death. While she sleeps she becomes Chana a Jewish girl suffering under Hitlers Reign. Her family shattered, and her world cast into confusion Chana struggles to survive the unthinkable suffering she or anyone has ever faced and still keep her faith in God. Can her faith carry Hilary further from death and help her love and understand those different from her? Han Nolan makes the struggle that Hilary and Chana face reality that reach into your heart and and provokes emotions for the characters and for the many, many victims that suffered in the Holocost.

Rating:
Summary: Extremely Thought Provoking
Review: This book brought many things to my attention, things that I have never thought of before. This book is extremely touching and explanitory. Although I am looking forward to read more of Han's, this book left you satisfied and understanding everything. I highly recomending this to EVERYONE, even if this is not a book you would usually read. It is interesting and is a page-turner.

Rating:
Summary: Sad, makes you feel like you are right there
Review: This book was great. it was moving and a page-turner. i always hated to put it down becasue i wanted to know what would happen next.this book made me cry and really gets down to the human heart.

Rating:
Summary: Nolan Has Done It Again!
Review: I think it was wonderful!!

Rating:
Summary: It was good but...
Review: I loved this book. In fact it's one of my favorites. Why 4stars then? Because I'm Jewish and some of the stuff she said aboutJews early in the book offended me, but all in all, it was a terrific book and it's a very good example of what happened in the Holocaust.