I got this book from one dollar shop in San Francisco. But it took me more than one year to start reading the book. It was unnoticed because of other books I was having. Before started reading the book I read about the author. It was dazed to see that the author is 96 and this is his first book. During the initial pages, I always read some sentences again and again because I have a strong feeling that he might have committed some mistakes. But slowly slowly I started liking the book. By the end I became real fan of him.
The book starts with his early life in a street in England. He is a Jew. He is having 4 siblings. The name of the book depicts the invisible wall between Jews and Christians who were living on both sides of the street. The main soul of the book is the love between his elder sister Lily and Arthur who is a Christan. But they got married overcoming this wall. The book also shows about his mother's struggles to make two ends meet. His father was a rude man, who once drag his sister Lily to the tailoring shop and restricting her to go to college. He has never show any kind of love he has to his father in the book. Through out his book he has shown his devotion to his mother. Very heart touching. I recommend this book who all want to feel good about your past. He is shows how the poverty hit them. Standing below the stairs, she used to call at her kids to throw their cloths down. Then all of them throw their cloths down. Out of that few she catches and rest fall down. In his words,
“Some she managed to catch with her open arms, others rained down on her head, hit her in the face, or scattered on the floor around her feet,” he writes. “After gathering them, she sewed and mended and washed under the gaslight until late in the night.”
He also talks about his brother who dreamed about being a journalist but cannot only because he is a Jew.
At the age of 12 his family moved to USA. Later on he came to know that his sister has died because of a heart disease, 5 years after her marriage with Arthur. And Arthur also died after 2 years. Their child Jimmy was killed by war.
This memoir has contents which has shaken me emotionally. The author has lot of experience and power for that.
After 40 years he came back to his old street in England with his wife Ruby. Whatever he sees there is entirely different. There were no one whom he knows except one lady. What he can hear from her is the story of his neighbors who had fled or died because of the war.
AT the end he is saying he is missing his wife, whom he has married for 67 years. She died at 91 and the loneliness makes him write this book. There is a second book from him called The Dream. He is saying,
"There is lot more to come. I m working on my 3rd book. I may never finish that. But as usual I will try"
Suwon, South Korea
nice writing macha....
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