Stolen Headstones by Ari Schneider

Rating:

4 Stars

Themes:

Holocaust, Biography

Thoughts:

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. I read quite a lot of Holocaust stories but this book still taught me something new. I haven’t read about families who were hidden/protected in France or Italy before so this was something new to me. It was interesting to have the story of the author's family being told alongside his own factual trip back to follow their footsteps while writing. I also found the photos a great touch as it added a face to the names of people who deserve to be remembered, especially those willing to risk it all.

Favourite Quote:

“The Nazis intended to make the Jewish people disappear, so they had them cremated, which is forbidden in Judaism, and the ashes discarded. If no one could visit Jewish graves in remembrance, then the world might forget that they had existed. But many people were there, remembering in defiance of evil. In that way, we have won. And yet, I fear it's not enough.”

Comments

The War of Sober by Edward Rand

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Shame-Sex Attraction by Lucas Wilson

Rating: 4 Stars Themes: Non-Fiction, LGBTQ+ Thoughts: I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. This is definitely a difficult read and it took me quite a while to get through it for that very reason. It is split up into 17 different peoples experiences with a foreword and afterword. It’s definitely an important read for many as these practices are still legal in many countries, including my own, and without knowledge of the damage of the practices many may not join in the protests or sign the petitions to try to get laws in place. As a member of the community myself I found some of these stories such as the ‘Sniffing the Gay Away’ and ‘Convert’ especially difficult to read and reminded me just how lucky I was to have such a supportive and loving community around me. I appreciated that the afterword highlighted the limitations of the collection such as having little to no religious, geographical or racial diversity but that they did try to ga...

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