Rena’s Promise by Rena Kornreich Gelissen and Heather Dune Macadam

Rena was one of the first women to arrive at Auschwitz in 1942. Somehow she survived the concentration camps, through the Death March, and to liberation. Her story is incredible. Her will to live and keep her sister alive is inspiring. The majority of the story is told using Rena’s words with footnotes explaining some of the people, places, and things she mentioned. At the beginning, however, the secondary author, the one doing the interviewing, put herself in the voice of Rena and alternated back and forth between past and present tense and first and third person. It was irritating and though she did it on purpose, I think it detracted significantly from the book and was relieved when she settled into just using Rena’s words. I still highly recommend reading Rena’s Promise.

4 (out of 5) Stars

Books Read in 2017: 8
Pages Read in 2017: 2900
Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks (more book reviews!)
Reason I Chose It: Birthstone Bookology (R in GARNET)