CoffeeAndThorn reviewed The Book of Uriel by Elyse Hoffman
Review of 'The Book of Uriel' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
What a brave, haunting, beautiful and moving book!
Combining a fantasy, a parable, Jewish folklore and historic events from the holocaust, this is a remarkable book. At its heart is Uriel, a mute child from a community famous for its choir - a community devastated by the holocaust. Uriel survives, but only just. He is a beautifully and simply drawn character who would win over the hardest of hearts. He has lost everything except his faith, his book of stories and his readiness - as it turns out - to help the angels at whatever cost.
Who is this book for? It has illustrations that make it look like a book for children, and it certainly has threads of story that could work for all ages from child through adolescent all the way to old lady like me, but the adult themes - including some depictions of massacre and of …
What a brave, haunting, beautiful and moving book!
Combining a fantasy, a parable, Jewish folklore and historic events from the holocaust, this is a remarkable book. At its heart is Uriel, a mute child from a community famous for its choir - a community devastated by the holocaust. Uriel survives, but only just. He is a beautifully and simply drawn character who would win over the hardest of hearts. He has lost everything except his faith, his book of stories and his readiness - as it turns out - to help the angels at whatever cost.
Who is this book for? It has illustrations that make it look like a book for children, and it certainly has threads of story that could work for all ages from child through adolescent all the way to old lady like me, but the adult themes - including some depictions of massacre and of torture - mean it would need some parental guidance for little ones, and some care even with teenagers. But hey - radical idea! Why do we think of books in this way? Wouldn't this be the perfect, perfect book for a family to read together? Yes, really, you could do it. Make an evening of it, in installments, switch off the television and the computer, sit round, and take turns reading it aloud. Listen. Talk about it. Share the stories, fantasy and otherwise. We must never forget the holocaust, and this would be a way of making it real to another generation, Jewish and otherwise. This is such a beautiful, enriching book: even in this fractured century, I think a family could make that work...