Lots of Holocaust reading and watching this month! Winemaker's wife, Transatlantic on Netflix (based on Julie Oringer's book, "The Flight Portfolio." and now this book. This was the best of the three, by far!
I have to do some research to find out how much of this story belongs to the author. It is classified as fiction, but the characters in the book have the last name of the author!
The NY Times in its review calls it an autobiographical novel, so I guess that answers my question! Interesting that Julie Oringer wrote the review for the Times, too!
I thoroughly enjoyed this book, as much as you can enjoy a book about such a dire time in our history. From her review:
“The Postcard” (translated into a lucid and precise English by Tina Kover) takes its readers on a deep dive into one Jewish family’s history, and, inextricably, into the devastating history of the Holocaust in France. Most memorable of the many stories Berest tells in its pages is the one that lends the novel its title: In January 2003, a mysterious postcard arrives at Anne’s mother’s house. The card, bearing a touristy photograph of the Opéra Garnier, is inscribed with the names of Anne’s great-grandparents and her great-aunt and -uncle, Ephraïm, Emma, Noémie and Jacques, all of whom died in Auschwitz. The names are written in ballpoint pen in wobbly letters, on a card that contains no other words, no signature and no return address.
In the end, the story of how the postcard was sent is insignificant, but it weaves through the story to help the author tell it in a compelling way. I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the subject or who is interested in Nazi-occupied France. (My sister-in-law's family lived through this - and lived!
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