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mizzan's review against another edition
4.0
I won this book through first reads, but it was slow in getting to me and then sat at the bottom of my to read pile for a month.
When I picked it up it took a while for me to get in to the story, but the story itself is well told and remarkable ( if indeed a heinous story can be called such). Well written with a large literary focus.
If someone would like to read this book, comment on this review and ill get in touch and send you my copy. It is only fair that the free read is passed to others who may enjoy it.
When I picked it up it took a while for me to get in to the story, but the story itself is well told and remarkable ( if indeed a heinous story can be called such). Well written with a large literary focus.
If someone would like to read this book, comment on this review and ill get in touch and send you my copy. It is only fair that the free read is passed to others who may enjoy it.
abookishaffair's review
4.0
I was very excited to read this book. I love books about survival stories and it's even better when they are non-fiction survival stories. "Christened with Crosses" is just the sort of survival story that I like. At a very young age, the main character is forced to make his way across Russia as a young child. There are probably not many people in the world who would have been able to make that same journey and thrive the way that he was able to thrive. It was truly amazing.
The story takes place during the 1940s, which if you know anything about the Soviet Union during that time, you know that it was not the kind of place you would like to be if you were on the wrong side of the government. By being a veritable orphan, the author is just that. He escapes in and out of different orphanages. Orphanages were not places you wanted to be in the Soviet Union. The author vividly describes some of the things that happened to him and those he knew and some of it was definitely hard to read.
Through this book, we get to learn a lot of the stories of different people in the Soviet Union. I think that because the author is Polish, he has an especially interesting story. He is in a country where at first, he really doesn't even know the language of the places where he is staying. Language, we know, is an integral part of being able to get along in the world. The author comes across so many different people from different walks of life. He tells not only his story but many of their stories too. Some are happy stories. Some are sad stories. Everyone has been affected by the new reality of the Soviet Union during the end of WWII.
Bottom line: this book is often hard to read because of the hardship but it is worth the read.
The story takes place during the 1940s, which if you know anything about the Soviet Union during that time, you know that it was not the kind of place you would like to be if you were on the wrong side of the government. By being a veritable orphan, the author is just that. He escapes in and out of different orphanages. Orphanages were not places you wanted to be in the Soviet Union. The author vividly describes some of the things that happened to him and those he knew and some of it was definitely hard to read.
Through this book, we get to learn a lot of the stories of different people in the Soviet Union. I think that because the author is Polish, he has an especially interesting story. He is in a country where at first, he really doesn't even know the language of the places where he is staying. Language, we know, is an integral part of being able to get along in the world. The author comes across so many different people from different walks of life. He tells not only his story but many of their stories too. Some are happy stories. Some are sad stories. Everyone has been affected by the new reality of the Soviet Union during the end of WWII.
Bottom line: this book is often hard to read because of the hardship but it is worth the read.