Reviews for Among men and beasts

The average rating for Among men and beasts based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2013-02-24 00:00:00 Carla Vince This is a tremendously moving follow-up to Jack Kuper's better known 'Child Of The Holocaust'. I have always had a very emotional reaction to any stories of survival, particularly those of Holocaust survivors, since there are so few that have survived in my own family history. Kuper is so honest and so clear in his manner of expression, his words bring tears to my eyes and makes my heart bleed. While I am drawn to Holocaust literature, I am rather selective about how much and when I let it in, it can get very overwhelming very fast, but Kuper's work was fully accessible to me as a twenty-something who still had so much to learn about World War II, and is still more relevant to me today, as survivors of the Shoah (Jewish Holocaust) are fewer and father between, age and time claiming them and their stories with them. Kuper's novels will keep help these stories alive for generations to come, and are told in such a way that they have a wider appeal than many other books of this genre. His story is often said to be akin to that of 'Anne Frank' in it's naivete and it's chilling observations of humanity and all it's weaknesses and strengths. We must never forget. Even if you only read one novel about the Holocaust a year, or every few years, Jack Kuper's novels should be on your list.

Review # 2 was written on 2013-03-25 00:00:00 Olivier Gourgousse I've read several books recently that followed experiences of people during WWII. And dealt with how people could mistreat the Jews the way they did. This book deals with the story of how a notorious outlaw saved the life of a young Jewish boy and then trained him to become his shadow and operative in mercenary and resistance operations. It is well written and I feel like the book itself could have been a story I sat in front of the author and listened to him tell me. It does contain two descriptions, one witnessed by the author, and one anecdote from a concentration camp talking about how Jewish babies were killed. Tears filled my eyes reading about these two instances. How can monstrosities perpetrated on helpless children be acceptable to so many people. Isolated instances, while none the less terrible, are easier to comprehend in that one or two people can be easily viewed as outsiders and crazy. But these actions were done with the full knowledge and support of hundreds and cooperation of thousands. The author asks where was God while this was happening and struggled with that question. It is times like these that the answer is difficult to understand. The book did remind me of the movie Defiance, about Polish Jews that hid in the woods from the Nazis and managed to escape capture and death that way. This book talks about interactions with people that lived that story. Well written and worth the read if the subject matter sounds interesting.