Upon the Head of the Goat: A Childhood in Hungary, 1939-1944

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Summary: Upon the Head of the Goat
Review: A powerful story about a family in the grip of Nazi Gremany. So moving, I was glad it was a novel. The pain of seeing family members brutalized by the German soldiers is something I wish our young people could understand the privelges they have. Recommed this work

Rating:
Summary: Upon the Head of the Goat
Review: A powerful story about a family in the grip of Nazi Gremany. So moving, I was glad it was a novel. The pain of seeing family members brutalized by the German soldiers is something I wish our young people could understand the privelges they have. Recommed this work

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Summary: Outstanding --detailed and compassionate
Review: A young Jewish girl -- nine when we first meet her and nearly fourteen when the book ends -- experiences the beginning of World War II with her parents in Hungary (and her grandmother in the Ukraine). Eventually, she, her family, and all the Jews of their small town, are forced to leave their homes and await a train that will take them to Auschwitz. This is a terribly sad coming of age story that is accessible to children older than ten. It doesn't explain the Holocaust, but it goes further than most books in allowing readers to 'experience' the fear, confusion, and especially the courage felt and displayed by the characters. Indeed, the author, who based the story of her own experiences, does an outstanding job drawing all the characters, including a number of the non-Jewish townspeople and one particular non-Jewish Hungarian soldier. It is especially interesting to learn so much about small-town life in the Hungarian-Ukrainian border region. It is sad, but not at all morose. It is inspirational -- because so many characters, young and old, display courage and fortitude in the face of increasing misfortune. And it is filled with compassion -- you almost feel sorry for the non-Jews who turn their backs on their Jewish neighbors. In one scene, the young narrator, who can only take a few items with her into the ghetto, gives her record player and records to her non-Jewish friend, to hold for her until she returns, even though they have not spoken to each other since the Jewish children were excluded from the town's schools. You can feel the hope of the narrator that someday she might return, get back her records, and they can play together again. And you can feel the shame the non-Jewish friend feels -- wanting to still be friends, but feeling constrained by the societal pressure to ostracize the Jews. At one point the author recalls her Grandmother's words that Jews and non-Jews 'are all the children of God.' But she is looking at a German guard preparing to force them on to the train to Auschwitz. And she wonders if this cold, grey man -- who is ignoring all the suffering around him -- is also a child of God. Clearly, the author does not draw any of the Nazi characters compassionately. On the other hand, their actions and their treatment of others evoke our pity, more than our hatred -- for they, the Nazis, had clearly forgotten that all people are 'the children of God.' This book is filled with the 'humanity' and 'humankindness' exhibited by the Jews who are subjected to oppression, hatred and derision, but who respond by helping each other and those who are less fortunate. The author expresses very little hatred towards the oppressor. But I was left with a terrible sadness, knowing that the German and Hungarian oppressors chose to act inhumanely -- they did it to themselves -- they denied their 'humanity.' There is no way that I could forgive such horrible people, but this book is the first book that made me pity them. I look forward to reading the sequel: 'Grace in the Wilderness.'

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Summary: A realistic and different view of World War II
Review: I personally recommend this book. It's a touching story and shows a very different aspect from a survivor. As all of us may know how bloody the World War II can be, the way Aranka Siegal writes reserves the cruelness of the war itself. Her story rather focuses on the people in the difficult time, and it makes an unforgetable sadness and impression in the readers' minds. All readers would sympathize for what the main character, Piri (also the author), has been through. It is, for sure, a very successful book.

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Summary: An excellent book!!
Review: I read this book for a book report and that was one of the very few books that I really enjoyed giving the book report to the teacher. I actually couldn't wait until English class so I could read this book, or when ever I had time. It is a book you just can't put down!!!

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Summary: The best learning experience about the holocaust
Review: I read this book last year at Chelsea Public school and just being able to talk to Aranka about her experience was really neat, it made me think alot about how peole were treated and that they shouldnt have been treatedthat way. The book did alot for me, and it made me feel very upset the way that things happend

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Summary: A lighter holocaust survivor story
Review: I think that it gives a very honest and realistic perspective of life from an average young girl in times of high anxiety. Neither the violence or the sex is graphic or overdone. Appropriate for a young or sensitive reader, or someone interested in something light and non-challenging.

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Summary: The Wrong Goat
Review: In this narrative we see through childish eyes an ordinary family trying to hold on to decency and the dignity of the individual while their country (Hungary) falls into ruin under the jackboot of tyranny. We come to understand the worth of the family and the wrongness of the conquerors that are trying to turn them into "Schwein." Though they have separated innocent people out and have attempted to fasten all the ills of society upon them, they themselves are most in need of the Biblical goat to carry away their sins upon its head, and cannot find one.

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Summary: Upon the Head of the Goat
Review: It was a very interesting and informing book. It was easy to feel for the characters. I highly recommend it for people who are interested in the lives of young holocaust victims.

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Summary: upon the head of the goat
Review: The book,upon the head of the goat written by Aranka Seigal,is about childhood in Hungary during world war 2.Piri,a nine year old girl has a hard time growing up because she is a Jew.She goes to her grandmother`s in Kamjaty for her summer vacation and since there was a war between the borders her visit becomes a year long stay.when she is finally able to return home she and her family have a hard life and there has been many changes.She and her family were sent to a Ghetto that was an old brick factory.They would later be sent to Auschwitz.I rocommend this book because I think you really get to feel how hard it was to grow up in Hungary.