
As an Amazon Associate and affiliate partner, Menrva Books earns from qualifying purchases. Learn more
Ruth Rothwax, a successful woman with her own business, Rothwax Correspondence, can find order and meaning in writing words for other people—condolence letters, thank-you letters, even you-were-great-in-bed letters. But as the daughter of Edek Rothwax, an Auschwitz survivor with a somewhat idiosyncratic approach to the English language, Ruth can find no words to understand the loss of her family experienced during World War II. Ruth is obsessed with the idea of returning to Poland with her father, but she doesn't quite understand why she feels this so intensely. To make sense of her family's past, yes. To visit the places where her beloved mother and father lived and almost died, certainly. But she knows there's more to this trip. By facing Poland, and the past, she can finally confront her own future.
Ruth Rothwax, a successful businesswoman, attempts to reconcile her own life with the haunting, unspoken history of her father, an Auschwitz survivor. Driven by an inexplicable need to confront the past, Ruth orchestrates a trip to Poland with her father, Edek, hoping to bridge the emotional distance between them. As they navigate the physical landscape of their family's origins, Ruth struggles against the weight of intergenerational trauma and the limitations of language in expressing profound loss. The narrative unfolds through a blend of sharp, observational humor and somber reflection, capturing the friction between a daughter's modern life and a father's fractured memories.
This work is characterized by its ability to balance the gravity of historical trauma with the mundane, often humorous realities of contemporary life. The narrative structure suggests a focus on the psychological toll of silence within families, particularly those shaped by the Holocaust. Readers likely find the interplay between Ruth's professional mastery of language and her personal inability to articulate her grief to be a central, compelling tension. The prose style appears to favor character-driven introspection over plot-heavy action, creating a space for the characters to confront their shared history at their own pace.
Page Count:
0
Publication Date:
1999-01-01
Publisher:
HarperPerennial
ISBN-10:
0006392180
ISBN-13:
9780006392187
No comments yet. Be the first to share your thoughts!