Once We Were Brothers (Audible Audio Edition) Ronald H Balson Fred Berman Macmillan Audio Books
Download As PDF : Once We Were Brothers (Audible Audio Edition) Ronald H Balson Fred Berman Macmillan Audio Books
The gripping tale about two boys, once as close as brothers, who find themselves on opposite sides of the Holocaust.
Elliot Rosenzweig, a respected civic leader and philanthropist, is attending a fundraiser when he is suddenly accosted and accused of being a former Nazi SS officer named Otto Piatek, the Butcher of Zamosc. Although the charges are denounced as preposterous, his accuser is convinced he is right and engages attorney Catherine Lockhart to bring Rosenzweig to justice. Solomon persuades attorney Catherine Lockhart to take his case, revealing that the true Piatek was abandoned as a child and raised by Solomon's own family only to betray them during the Nazi occupation. But has Solomon accused the right man?
Once We Were Brothers is Ronald H. Balson's compelling tale of two boys and a family who struggle to survive in war-torn Poland, and a young love that struggles to endure the unspeakable cruelty of the Holocaust. Two lives, two worlds, and 60 years converge in an explosive race to redemption that makes for a moving and powerful tale of love, survival, and ultimately the triumph of the human spirit.
Once We Were Brothers (Audible Audio Edition) Ronald H Balson Fred Berman Macmillan Audio Books
In the early 2000s, a very rich and powerful Chicago octogenarian is accused of being a Nazi butcher from WWII Poland…..accused by another old man who claims to have know him personally, seven decades earlier.Masterful job weaving together the present-day lives of all the characters, with the history of the terrible German scourge of Poland during the war. Because this story seemed so personal and first-hand, I felt for sure that the author must have been a Polish holocaust survivor…or at least someone who was there to witness events like those portrayed in the story. Turns out that the author is a Chicago lawyer, with no direct connection to WWII Poland.
This is great historical fiction, well written/edited. Characters are fully developed, likable (or hate-abe) and totally believable. This is one of the best books I’ve ever read……I just couldn’t put it down. Looking for much more from this author. Most highly recommended for history nuts (like me).
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Once We Were Brothers (Audible Audio Edition) Ronald H Balson Fred Berman Macmillan Audio Books Reviews
This novel is another story within a story. The contemporary story concerns a lawsuit by a Polish Holocaust survivor against a prominent Chicago businessman, claiming that the latter was a Nazi involved in assigning Polish Jews to work and death camps during WWII. The alternative story is about the relationship between these two men growing up in a Polish city. More than that, it is a vivid description of the trials and tribulations of the Polish Jews during the long buildup of Nazi Germany and the subsequent occupation of Poland by the Nazis. Thus, it is not a true Holocaust story, but an occupation story. The interesting feature is that the German as a boy is taken in by the wealthy Jewish family and is a foster brother. When the Germans are victorious over Poland, the German boy’s mother returns as a high level Nazi functionary to claim her son and integrate him into Nazi life. One can be sympathetic to both sides through much of this tale, as the German is assigned to the Polish city tries to protect his Jewish family, but succumbs to his own ambition. It is this conflict that provides much of the psychological tension in the story.
The contemporary story of the young lawyer struggling with her own demons is also interesting, though it seems a little far-fetched that the case described would not be able to get the attention of a more prominent group of Nazi hunters. The legal aspects of the case are handled rather simplistically, so it is not really much of a trial story.
Overall, I would recommend this story as another view of WWII occupations and how some were able to survive them.
There is a lot about the structure of the book that makes a gripping story less gripping. The lawyer character from whose POV we find out about the protagonist's backstory seems kind of flat and distracting when compared to the the characters in the bits of the book set in Poland, and weirdly the antagonist is also poorly fleshed out. We don't get much of a sense of how he went (psychologically speaking) from an ally to his Jewish neighbors to a Jew-hunting NAZI beyond the bare facts of what he did and when he did it. Similarly, Rosenzweig as we meet him in old age remains rather opaque to the reader; I would have liked for the author to show us more of how Rosenzweig kept his mask on and how he justified it to himself. It seemed to me there was too much 'tell' and not enough 'show' to that aspect of the book.
If you manage to get past those problems (I ended up skimming anything that didn't involve Ben Solomon), there's a great read here. This book is clearly the product of a lot of research, and when you're in the past with Ben Solomon, you're VERY much present and riveted. I'm glad I read it and would recommend it to a friend. It's a solid four stars worth of read, but for that fifth star, I'd like to see the author focus less on his POV character and more on the two men in the title - former brothers turned against each other by war and a toxic, antisemitic culture.
I rarely read books or watch films that feature Nazi Germany; it's too painful for me. I was born in 1938, and some of my father's people in Poland were sent to concentration camps, in which they dealt with very unpleasant treatment. Fortunately, they survived, and my dad made himself responsible for getting them into the USA, where they lived as proud American citizens until they passed away several years ago.
While this book deals with the way Polish Jews were treated by the Nazis, it was mainly a legal thriller. The story was very well developed--with so many really interesting characters.
I'd recommend it to anyone of any age.
This first book by this author was a great debut novel - one of the best books I've read this year. Caution based on this book I bought the author's second novel and didn't enjoy it all. Maybe he expended all his writing skills in this one - anyway, I digress. The story begins with an elderly Jew going to the opera with a replica gun and confronting one of the city's leading wealthy businessmen/benefactors. He accuses him of being a Nazi war criminal, and so the story begins. Suffice it to say that he faces an uphill battle proving his accusation, but he is fortunate to catch the interest of a sort of down on her luck female attorney, and subsequently her erstwhile private investigator friend/boyfriend, and the story takes us on a page-turning ride through his revelations of Nazi Germany, his insistence that he is certain of his accusation, and the building up of the case and evidence that ultimately brings the book to a compelling climax. The good characters are likable, the bad characters are just the right degree of unlikable and none of them are one-dimensional or perfect. The book rings true. You will get hooked on the story, you might shed a tear or two, but ultimately you will feel fortunate for having known these characters. I strongly recommend this book.
In the early 2000s, a very rich and powerful Chicago octogenarian is accused of being a Nazi butcher from WWII Poland…..accused by another old man who claims to have know him personally, seven decades earlier.
Masterful job weaving together the present-day lives of all the characters, with the history of the terrible German scourge of Poland during the war. Because this story seemed so personal and first-hand, I felt for sure that the author must have been a Polish holocaust survivor…or at least someone who was there to witness events like those portrayed in the story. Turns out that the author is a Chicago lawyer, with no direct connection to WWII Poland.
This is great historical fiction, well written/edited. Characters are fully developed, likable (or hate-abe) and totally believable. This is one of the best books I’ve ever read……I just couldn’t put it down. Looking for much more from this author. Most highly recommended for history nuts (like me).
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