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Summary: A good book for children about the horror of war
Review: I read this book many times as a child, and always felt moved by the story. She and her family were deported because they happened to have made money and, incidentally, this took place around the time Stalin became very paranoid about the Jewish people (at first he considered them his most likely supporters, but he always turned on everyone sooner or later). I was pleased to see so many others are enjoying this book today. However, I was surprised by the comments by the reader from LA who referred to Esther as a "spoiled brat" and asked "what's wrong with communism?" On paper, nothing seems wrong with it. Wherever it has been put into practise, it always ends up with a few people taking all the power and wealth while the common workers live in absolute poverty--making his/her quote "power to the people, workers, and laborors" dreadfully ironic. That is exactly what never happens with any communist government humans have set up, although it is supposed to be the goal. I only wish the LA reader had submitted an email address so I could recommend some Solzhenitsyn to give him/her an idea what it's like to live under Stalin. What's wrong with communism? Over 60 million dead in Stalin's gulags sounds wrong to me.
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Summary: Great memories
Review: I remember reading this book as a young teen and found it enthralling. The images of the girl knitting by dim candlelight to earn money have stayed with me, as well as the sense of the frigid climate in Siberia. I was just reading a newspaper article about a man who survived a Siberian gulag and my memory of this book was jogged. I did an online search to see if I could find the title. I highly recommend it.
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Summary: For 26 years, this story has lived with me.
Review: I was 12 years old when I read this book in Kingston Jamaica as part of my 8th grade English Literature Programme. It was my first introduction to the inhumanities human beings inflict upon each other. I have read Esther Hautzig's story at least 25 times over the years and each time I read it, my heart and soul is filled with compassion, fear, tears, joy, courage, and a whole gamet of emotions. Her ability to describe the events of her and her family's exile to Siberia in such explicit detail is one of the most incredible attributes I could bestow upon her. I believe that the greatest crime one can commit is a crime of the spirit, and Esther Rudomin, in spite of her ordeal, managed to find a way to hold on to her zest for life. Her spirit just completely explodes in every page, every word of her book. She lives within my heart, and her courage to live has been a guiding force in my life since I was 12 years old. I am now 38.
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Summary: EXCELLENT BOOK!!!!
Review: In middle school, i had to do this bookreport and we had to pick the books from a list. In one it said, "Endless Steppe" Challenging. So I choose The Endless Steppe. i want to tell you right now, I LOVED THIS BOOK!! Some parts were so sad and some parts it made you want to grip the book with terror. Espesilly, when the lady didn't give Esther the full price on what she knit the sweater. Anyway, BUY THIS BOOK! YOU'LL LOVE IT!
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Summary: Zest for life
Review: In the extraordinary circumstances of her exile Esther struggles through the trials of adolescence. I first read this book in grade nine. I always wondered what happened to Esther. Fifteen years later, thumbing through craft books in the library I came across one by Esther Hautzig. The blurb told me she'd married and now lived in New York. The story was complete. Do yourself, your spirit a favour and read 'The Endless Steppe.'
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Summary: The Endless Steppe
Review: It is World War II, and no Jew is really safe. Esther lives in the outskirts of Poland, and she takes almost everything for granted. When soldiers come and put her family on cattle cars, no one knows where they are going. When they finally arrive, they find out they are in the Siberian steppe. They have hard work, like blowing up mines and tending potatoes, but finally they are allowed to go into town and live in a house. Hautzig vividly describes life in Siberia and what it is like from a child's perspective. Hautzig writes in such detail you feel like you're there with her. You feel what she must have felt. You feel her pain, her shivering in the cold snow when she doesn't have a good coat and has to walk a mile to school. You can hear her scream in the snow storm, her mom yelling to her trying to find her. It's a real page-turner, and it leaves you hanging at the end of each chapter. What a great book!
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Summary: WWII from a different perspective¿
Review: It's during 1942 when little Esther Rudomin's life changes forever. A resident of Poland, who lived a comfortable life with her parents and extended family, Esther, along with her father, mother and grandparents are arrested by the Russians, suspected of being "capitalists" and ripped from their home. They are piled into cattle cars, their destination unknown. When the train finally stops, they realize they are in the harsh region of Siberia. For the next long five years, Esther recounts the struggles her family go through for food, clothing and shelter. We also see how Esther tries to fit in as a young teenager in the Siberian society. I found the book opened my eyes to an event I knew nothing about, while at the same time revealing to me the Siberian way of life during WWII.
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Summary: The Bond of Family
Review: �The Endless Steppe� is the true story of ten-year old Esther, who survived in completely strange surroundings. The story takes place during World War II, when the Russian government stated that capitalists were the political enemy and arrested them all. At the time, Esther was living peacefully in Vilna, Poland, with her parents and grandmother who were capitalists. However, her happy life ended when two soldiers forcefully entered her house and arrested her and her family. They were all sent to Siberia where the steppe continues endlessly and worked many years in the mines.When I read this book, I was surprised by how such a young child could survive in such a strange harsh environment. Everything was taken away, and they had barely enough money, clothes, and food to live on. The new house, new school, language, environment, every thing is new to her. But Esther always tries to enjoy her life. Everyone in Esther's family also has a difficult time in their new surroundings. The parents got new jobs and they had to work really hard. However, their common hardship knits the family together. They support each other in order to remain alive. From this book, I learned about the lives of people in Russia during the World War II. I believe there were many children like Esther in Russia, but not many of them could live like her. Her resolution, passion, and strong family bond make her strong in her new environment. It is a great book and I strongly recommend it.
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Summary: One of my favourite childhood books...
Review: Like many other reviewers here, I discovered this book at the age of 8, during the 1970s and have re-read it many times since. When I moved to New York in the early 1990s I found myself living only a few blocks from Esther Hautzig, and acutally met her daughter once in a store. I had to tell her that her mother's book was one of the most memorable I had read as a child - and I was a bookworm who consumed a minimum of four books per week. Several years ago I discovered another book by Ms. Hautzig, "Remember Who You Are" - a series of autobiographical stories, written for adults; many of these stories tell what happened to the people the reader first met in "The Endless Steppe". I was fascinated to learn, for example, that Miss Rachel - Esther's governess in Vilna - was also sent to Siberia and one day took the risk of illegally hitching a ride (during that time in the USSR one needed permission to travel internally from the local commissar; failure to do so could result in imprisonment or worse) from the village where she was living to Esther's village, showing up totally unexpectedly. (Miss Rachel now lives in Israel.) Evidently Ms. Hautzig's editors advised her to leave that incident out of "The Endless Steppe" because readers would not find it believable. Also related in this collection is the fate of Esther's beloved cousin, Salek, in the Vilna ghetto, and the heartbreaking deaths of her maternal grandmother and her favourite aunt at Ponar. At any rate, I advise any parent who wishes to give his/her child a book to be cherished and re-read, a book about the strength and importance of the family, about a place and time that is rapidly fading into history, to buy this book. And for the adult who read and loved "The Endless Steppe" as a child, try to find "Remember Who You Are" at the library as I believe it is out of print.
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Summary: Roller coaster ride
Review: One day i was in the library when i remebered i needed a book for my english class. So i could read during silent reading time.... and i just glanced at it and picked it for its cover.. and i guess i judged by its cover and it came out to be a pretty good book....and i recommend this book to people who like suspense and curiosity for what is going to happen next....
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