Leaving-Memories of Romania - Softcover

Mihai Grunfeld

4.07

14 ratings by Goodreads

9780979229312: Leaving-Memories of Romania

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0979229316 ISBN 13: 9780979229312

Publisher: Millrock Writers Collective, 2008

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Leaving Memories of Romania recounts the author's childhood and adolescence as the son of impoverished Holocaust survivors. His parents are unable to talk about their past, but their lives and the lives of their two sons are utterly shaped by it. As he comes of age, Mihai Grunfeld is increasingly conscious of his parents profound loneliness, the glaring gaps in his family's history, and the questions that go unanswered. Gradually the story of an innocent child's tender, loving relationship with his parents evolves into a powerful tale of complex family dynamics shaped by adolescent experimentation, the daily grind of factory work, anti-Semitism, and big dreams of escaping the politically restrictive system in which he lives.

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About the Author:

Mihai Grunfeld was born in Cluj, Romania where he lived with his family until he was eighteen. In January 1969 he and his older brother traveled to Czechoslovakia and from there escaped to Austria. This was the beginning of a long journey, which took him to Israel, Italy, Sweden, and Canada in search of a home in the West. Eventually he settled in the United States where he is a professor of Spanish and Latin American Literature at Vassar College.

Review:

A moving and lively account of growing up Jewish in Romania under the shadows of the Holocaust and Communism. Mihai Grunfeld lets readers glimpse the complexities of living in one world while dreaming of another. --Deborah Dash Moore, author of GI Jews: How World War II Changed a Generation

Memories create identity whereas gaps in memory leave holes in a person s sense of self. Mihai Grunfeld is the son of concentration camp survivors. His parents never spoke of their experiences in Dachau or Auschwitz. In order to reach for a better understanding of their curtailed life and a deeper sense of his own self, Grunfeld digs back into his own childhood. In recapturing his own early life, the poignant and deeply moving picture of his parents, their post war life and the scars they bore, are powerfully presented. Grunfeld s search leaves the reader deeply moved. A most sensitive and thought provoking book. --Samuel C Klagsbrun, MD, author of Loss, Grief, and Bereavement and Psychiatric Aspects of Terminal Illness

Mihai Grunfeld's compelling memoir offers a rich and evocative account of growing up in post-war Romania, haunted by the Holocaust, yet all the more delighted by the wonders of childhood, the intense yearning of adolescence, the immense challenge of escaping to the West. Grunfeld tells his story with the hard-earned wisdom of a man sensitive to the deeper mysteries. His book has all the charm and magic of a late-night conversation with a long-lost friend. --David Schweidel, author of Confidence of the Heart and What Men Call Treasure

A moving and lively account of growing up Jewish in Romania under the shadows of the Holocaust and Communism. Mihai Grunfeld lets readers glimpse the complexities of living in one world while dreaming of another. --Deborah Dash Moore, author of GI Jews: How World War II Changed a Generation

Memories create identity whereas gaps in memory leave holes in a person s sense of self. Mihai Grunfeld is the son of concentration camp survivors. His parents never spoke of their experiences in Dachau or Auschwitz. In order to reach for a better understanding of their curtailed life and a deeper sense of his own self, Grunfeld digs back into his own childhood. In recapturing his own early life, the poignant and deeply moving picture of his parents, their post war life and the scars they bore, are powerfully presented. Grunfeld s search leaves the reader deeply moved. A most sensitive and thought provoking book. --Samuel C Klagsbrun, MD, author of Loss, Grief, and Bereavement and Psychiatric Aspects of Terminal Illness

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