Items related to Chasing Shadows

Gryn, Hugo Chasing Shadows ISBN 13: 9780670893072

Chasing Shadows - Softcover

 
9780670893072: Chasing Shadows
View all copies of this ISBN edition:
 
 
The death of Rabbi Hugo Gryn in 1996 was an occasion of great sadness for millions who had enjoyed his contributions to radio 4's "The Moral Maze". Few though knew of the extraordinary life he led before becoming a highly-respected London rabbi. This autobiographical work, written at two different points in his life, separated by four decades, offers a portrait of one of Britain's best-loved spiritual figures and broadcasters.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

Review:
Rabbi Hugo Gryn "came clean" in January 1978 by speaking publicly for the first time about his experience of the Holocaust and subsequently spent a year publicly speaking on the subject as though he were a witness on a stand. He was prompted to do so by the whisperings of revisionists who denied the Holocaust--regrettably as prescient a reason still to read this affecting account and those of its ilk. Where the first section is charmingly self-conscious at times, reading as a fascinating insight into pre-war life in Berehovo, a Carpathian town, towards its close the shadow of war has started to fall relentlessly, preparing us for the middle movement of this unfinished symphony. The trainee rabbi's 1951 descriptions of life at the old brick factory, Auschwitz and Lieberose display the scrupulous matter-of-factness of one compelled by catharsis to write but unable to engage: shock, in other words. This is reminiscent of Primo Levi's If This Is A Man, and the recently republished The Pianist by Wladyslaw Szpilman and the effect is all the greater for the literalism. There are moments of dark humour, such as the new arrivals at Auschwitz (including the Gryns) laughing at the "lunatics" they find with shaven heads and grotesquely mismatched clothes, only to realise that these broken people had arrived only a week earlier. And in a moment that chills the reader's blood, who guesses what the unwitting Gryn doesn't, he walks into an extermination chamber building thinking it's a bakery and only survives a mass gassing because a guard points out that he is too old for a "shower". These are survivalist anecdotes, for that quickly became the main activity of those who returned from the camps, who grappled with awful, and often mortal, guilt over their fateful existence. That as a life Chasing Shadows is incomplete matters little; rather, the specific focus of testimonies such as Gryn's retains a relevance and imperative that brooks no indulgence or sentimentality, and thus renders the unbearable readable. This is a moving and worthy testament to an extraordinary man who taught and spoke of beauty and civilisation even after staring hard in the face of evil. --David Vincent

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.

  • PublisherViking
  • Publication date2000
  • ISBN 10 0670893072
  • ISBN 13 9780670893072
  • BindingPaperback
  • Number of pages328
  • Rating

(No Available Copies)

Search Books:



Create a Want

If you know the book but cannot find it on AbeBooks, we can automatically search for it on your behalf as new inventory is added. If it is added to AbeBooks by one of our member booksellers, we will notify you!

Create a Want

Other Popular Editions of the Same Title

9780140286618: Chasing Shadows

Featured Edition

ISBN 10:  ISBN 13:  9780140286618
Publisher: Penguin, 2001
Softcover

9780670887934: Chasing Shadows: Memories of a Vanished World

Viking, 2000
Hardcover

Top Search Results from the AbeBooks Marketplace