Rating: 
Summary: A haunting piece of Holocaust-inspired fiction
Review: "The Shawl," the book by Cynthia Ozick, is made up of two linked pieces: a short story (also entitled "The Shawl"), and a novella ("Rosa"). Together, these pieces make up a book that is just about 70 pages long. But despite its brevity, "The Shawl" is a powerful work of fiction.The book tells the story of Rosa Lublin, a Polish Jew and survivor of the Nazi Holocaust. Eventually she settles in Florida. This is a dark, haunting tale with some surreal satiric elements. There are many fascinating touches to "The Shawl." I was intrigued by Ozick's representation of immigrant "English-as-a-second-language" speech patterns. Also noteworthy is Ozick's look at the complexity of linguistic, class, and national identification within the Jewish community. Rosa's problematic relationship-by-mail with a professor of clinical social pathology is also noteworthy, and struck me as comparable to a certain motif in Toni Morrison's novel "Beloved." Rosa, who is bitter, angry, and psychologically broken, is a genuinely haunting and tragic figure. "The Shawl" is not light reading, but it is a memorable and rewarding book. Recommended as a companion text: Art Spiegelman's 2-volume "Maus."
Rating:
Summary: A haunting piece of Holocaust-inspired fiction
Review: "The Shawl," the book by Cynthia Ozick, is made up of two linked pieces: a short story (also entitled "The Shawl"), and a novella ("Rosa"). Together, these pieces make up a book that is just about 70 pages long. But despite its brevity, "The Shawl" is a powerful work of fiction. The book tells the story of Rosa Lublin, a Polish Jew and survivor of the Nazi Holocaust. Eventually she settles in Florida. This is a dark, haunting tale with some surreal satiric elements. There are many fascinating touches to "The Shawl." I was intrigued by Ozick's representation of immigrant "English-as-a-second-language" speech patterns. Also noteworthy is Ozick's look at the complexity of linguistic, class, and national identification within the Jewish community. Rosa's problematic relationship-by-mail with a professor of clinical social pathology is also noteworthy, and struck me as comparable to a certain motif in Toni Morrison's novel "Beloved." Rosa, who is bitter, angry, and psychologically broken, is a genuinely haunting and tragic figure. "The Shawl" is not light reading, but it is a memorable and rewarding book. Recommended as a companion text: Art Spiegelman's 2-volume "Maus."
Rating: 
Summary: Dont read this book unless you have to!!
Review: Being that I'm enrolled in a Holocaust Literature course there was no recourse but to read this book. I would not recommend this book otherwise lol!! Although this book is about 100 pages, it reads like a 300 page novel. Initially, I couldn't discern Orzick's message. Everything in the first chapter was encoded in metaphor. When our class held discussion I had nothing to contribute besides....huh? Eventually, I sought a book by Joseph Lowin simply entitled "Cynthia Ozick." It broke down the metaphors for me and then suddenly the book made sense. So if this required reading for you, I suggest you read "the shawl" along with Lowin's book. Goodluck!
Rating:
Summary: Dont read this book unless you have to!!
Review: Being that I'm enrolled in a Holocaust Literature course there was no recourse but to read this book. I would not recommend this book otherwise lol!! Although this book is about 100 pages, it reads like a 300 page novel. Initially, I couldn't discern Orzick's message. Everything in the first chapter was encoded in metaphor. When our class held discussion I had nothing to contribute besides....huh? Eventually, I sought a book by Joseph Lowin simply entitled "Cynthia Ozick." It broke down the metaphors for me and then suddenly the book made sense. So if this required reading for you, I suggest you read "the shawl" along with Lowin's book. Goodluck!
Rating:
Summary: The best fictional evocation of the Holoaust
Review: Both stories in this brief book ("The Shawl" and "Rosa") are about the same women, who sees her baby killed in the camps and thirty years later is haunted by her memory. "The Shawl" (the first story) is, I think, the best short story in the English language (it dwarfs Carver and Cheever in scope, has deeper moral thrust than O'Conner and in a few pages evokes the Holocaust as much as Primo Levi was able to do in his eloquent long works). In a few words: Read this story and you will be changed. On the other hand, "Rosa" (a novella) is drawn out and, though powerful, more nuanced and subtle than its predecessor. Although usually good things, these elements work against the story (especially if read in succession) - "The Shawl"'s power is its unwillingness to compromise anything whereas "Rosa" seems to err a bit on the long side. It's almost tempting to give the stories entirely different ratings but the "10" of "The Shawl" so far eclipses any "9" or "8" I would give "Rosa" that I think it unfair to lower the status of the better story. This work is not nice or easy and doesn't attempt any of the catharsis some Holocaust Fiction ludicrously includes. It is hard to read (and should be) because both works are more or less a statement about our own humanity (or inhumanity). The prose itself is wonderfully easy, but the depth of emotion Ozick strikes makes this a very difficult 69 pages. Read it and you too will "never forget".
Rating:
Summary: The best fictional evocation of the Holoaust
Review: Both stories in this brief book ("The Shawl" and "Rosa") are about the same women, who sees her baby killed in the camps and thirty years later is haunted by her memory. "The Shawl" (the first story) is, I think, the best short story in the English language (it dwarfs Carver and Cheever in scope, has deeper moral thrust than O'Conner and in a few pages evokes the Holocaust as much as Primo Levi was able to do in his eloquent long works). In a few words: Read this story and you will be changed. On the other hand, "Rosa" (a novella) is drawn out and, though powerful, more nuanced and subtle than its predecessor. Although usually good things, these elements work against the story (especially if read in succession) - "The Shawl"'s power is its unwillingness to compromise anything whereas "Rosa" seems to err a bit on the long side. It's almost tempting to give the stories entirely different ratings but the "10" of "The Shawl" so far eclipses any "9" or "8" I would give "Rosa" that I think it unfair to lower the status of the better story. This work is not nice or easy and doesn't attempt any of the catharsis some Holocaust Fiction ludicrously includes. It is hard to read (and should be) because both works are more or less a statement about our own humanity (or inhumanity). The prose itself is wonderfully easy, but the depth of emotion Ozick strikes makes this a very difficult 69 pages. Read it and you too will "never forget".
Rating:
Summary: Good fictional view of the Holocaust
Review: Cynthia Ozick, a fiction writer, clearly depicts the affects of the Holocaust on one woman, Rosa Lublin. Ozick uses an accumulation of two of her short stories, one being "The Shawl," and the other being, "Rosa." In "The Shawl," Rosa witnessed the murder of her baby daughter, Magda, while at the hands of the malicious concentration camp guards. Magda was thrust towards an electric fence the first time that she was seen by a Nazi guard. Rosa had done an efficient job of hiding Magda until Rosa's neice, Stella, stole Magda's "magical shawl" for her own comfort, thus wielding Magda to the guards. The tragic death of Magda changes the course of Rosa's life forever; long after the Holocaust is over. There is a time where Rosa tells the way that life goes... "there's life before, life during, and life after-Before is a dream. After is a joke. Only during stays." For Rosa, Hitler's reign during the Holocaust is "during." "The Shawl" follows "Rosa". In this sequel, Rosa is now living in Florida, "a hellish place," where she is meagerly financially supported by Stella. Stella lives in New York; both women live alone. The reason for their separation stems to the time when Rosa flipped out and completely destroyed her shop in Brooklyn; for she would have been placed in a mental rehabilitation center, had she not left New York immediately. Rosa, 59, continues to agonize over the loss of Magda, even after nearly 30 years. Everyday, she writes letters to Magda in "the most literary Polish," while she can only communicate with Stella in English. Unable to afford simple things such as paper, Rosa either finds blank sheets in the "hotel" lobby where she is staying or she finds envelopes which she delicately unfolds to form squares of paper, or, as she puts it, "the fresh face of a new letter." Rosa's life then changes when she encounters a wealthy man by the name of Mr. Persky. Persky is a rather obvious flirt in their chance meeting. Does anything happen between Rosa and Persky?
Rating:
Summary: Good fictional view of the Holocaust
Review: Cynthia Ozick, a fiction writer, clearly depicts the affects of the Holocaust on one woman, Rosa Lublin. Ozick uses an accumulation of two of her short stories, one being "The Shawl," and the other being, "Rosa." In "The Shawl," Rosa witnessed the murder of her baby daughter, Magda, while at the hands of the malicious concentration camp guards. Magda was thrust towards an electric fence the first time that she was seen by a Nazi guard. Rosa had done an efficient job of hiding Magda until Rosa's neice, Stella, stole Magda's "magical shawl" for her own comfort, thus wielding Magda to the guards. The tragic death of Magda changes the course of Rosa's life forever; long after the Holocaust is over. There is a time where Rosa tells the way that life goes... "there's life before, life during, and life after-Before is a dream. After is a joke. Only during stays." For Rosa, Hitler's reign during the Holocaust is "during." "The Shawl" follows "Rosa". In this sequel, Rosa is now living in Florida, "a hellish place," where she is meagerly financially supported by Stella. Stella lives in New York; both women live alone. The reason for their separation stems to the time when Rosa flipped out and completely destroyed her shop in Brooklyn; for she would have been placed in a mental rehabilitation center, had she not left New York immediately. Rosa, 59, continues to agonize over the loss of Magda, even after nearly 30 years. Everyday, she writes letters to Magda in "the most literary Polish," while she can only communicate with Stella in English. Unable to afford simple things such as paper, Rosa either finds blank sheets in the "hotel" lobby where she is staying or she finds envelopes which she delicately unfolds to form squares of paper, or, as she puts it, "the fresh face of a new letter." Rosa's life then changes when she encounters a wealthy man by the name of Mr. Persky. Persky is a rather obvious flirt in their chance meeting. Does anything happen between Rosa and Persky?
Rating: 
Summary: soul of the holocaust
Review: I believe the holocast a nightmare - an ugly beast. if Weisel's book " night" be the fictional body of that beast then Shawl is the fictional soul of that beast. This is not first hand description of holocast so it is less bloody but still touching. I liked it for it's literary values and not for it's historical value. even concntration camp kills human beings but does not kill the social barriers that are build inside us from childhood. that idea kind of defeats me. I like the central Character rosa - reminded me of another great novel from Maim Gorky called the "mother"
Rating:
Summary: My mouth was dry.
Review: I haven't read the novella, so I probably shouldn't write a review of this book. But I read the short story "The Shawl" last night in a different collection of short stories and couldn't get up after I had read it. If the novella is even half as powerful as the title story, this book would obviously qualify as a must-read for any literate person.
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