Remembrancy

*Inspirational and clean reads to remember and see

Translation

White as Silence, Red as Song by Alessandro D’Avinia – Review

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Today I saw another blogger ask on social media if readers preferred seeing the book synopsis or the review first on blogs and every person who weighed in said the synopsis first, so I thought I’d change it up here so that I’m doing what the majority of readers are saying they want. Granted, it was only a handful but the vote was unanimous. If you’re of a differing opinion, let me know in the comments.

I know, off topic, so let me get right to what you came here for!

About the Book

White as Silence, Red as SongInternational bestseller White as Milk, Red as Blood, has been called the Italian The Fault in Our Stars.

Leo is an ordinary sixteen-year-old: he loves hanging out with his friends, playing soccer, and zipping around on his motorbike. The time he has to spend at school is a drag, and his teachers are “a protected species that you hope will become extinct,” so when a new history and philosophy teacher arrives, Leo greets him with his usual antipathy. But this young man turns out to be different. His eyes sparkle when he talks, and he encourages his students to live passionately, and follow their dreams.

Leo now feels like a lion, as his name suggests, but there is still one thing that terrifies him: the color white. White is absence; everything related to deprivation and loss in his life is white. Red, on the other hand, is the color of love, passion and blood; red is the color of Beatrice’s hair. Leo’s dream is a girl named Beatrice, the prettiest in school. Beatrice is irresistible – one look from her is enough to make Leo forget about everything else.


There is, however, a female presence much closer to Leo, which he finds harder to see because she’s right under his nose: the ever-dependable and serene Silvia. When he discovers that Beatrice has leukemia and that her disease is related to the white that scares him so much, Leo is forced to search within himself, to bleed and to be reborn. In the process, he comes to understand that dreams must never die, and he finds the strength to believe in something bigger than himself.

White as Milk, Red as Blood is not only a coming-of-age story and the narrative of a school year, but it is also a bold novel that, through Leo’s monologue – at times easy-going and full of verve, at times more intimate and anguished – depicts what happens when suffering and shock burst into the world of a teenager, and the world of adults is rendered speechless.  [Read more…] about White as Silence, Red as Song by Alessandro D’Avinia – Review

One Brave Girl Touches Many Lives

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In November, when Irma Joubert’s book hits bookstores across the world and becomes Target Book Club’s pick of the month, there may be a little confusion with another book that has a very similar title. But let me inform you, the titles are the only similarities between these two books.

In fact, The Girl from the Train, which was first published in Afrikaans in 2013 before becoming a bestseller in the Netherlands, this book probably had its title first.

girl from train

At age six, Gretl Schmidt is a determined and brave child. She squeezes between the bars of a train bound for Auschwitz and jumps out with her sister. Through a series of events, she is cared for by Jakob Kowalski, a Polish native who is fighting for the home army.

When Jakob’s family is no longer able to care for the girl a few years later, he takes her to an orphanage in Germany. On another train, he reads an article about South African citizens who are interested in adopting German children. Gretl’s new life in South Africa begins.

Readers will grow with Gretl as she is placed and displaced, as she struggles to find a home, a family, and an anchor. One child’s experiences of repeated loss will hit you in the gut and the heart. And poor Gretl seems to get hit with horrible blow after blow. She must keep her secrets or her new family won’t want her. The one person she has trusted with everything is no longer with her.

girl from train quote

I am continuously amazed at the number of lives that were effected by World War II. Not only were the Jews persecuted by the Germans but there were also countries who were inundated by Russian troops. And children continued to be the innocent victims for years.

Gretl and Jakob’s stories are hard to read. Just when it looks like something good might happen to one of them, something comes along to throw them off their game. But through it all, their friendship remains.

****The Fiction Guild and Thomas Nelson provided me with a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest and fair review. All opinions expressed are my own.