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Hiding In The Spotlight: A Musical Prodigy's Story Of Survival, 1941-1946 (2009)

by Greg Dawson(Favorite Author)

4.02 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

1605980455 (ISBN13: 9781605980454)

languge

English

genre

Memoir & Autobiography

publisher

Pegasus

review 1: I really enjoyed this book written by the son of one of the sister prodigies and Jewish survivors of the Holocaust. It is amazing what they went through. I kept wondering how they would make it through even though I knew they would since the son is alive to tell the story of his mother and aunt. The main reason I have this book 4 stars is because I feel like there was some repetitiveness occasionally which I found slightly annoying when it occurred but quickly got over as I plunged deeper into the story. I loved that the author included quotes from his mom as well as reviews and other quotes within the story. I recommend this book.
review 2: I would actually give this three-and-a-half stars. What makes the book highly compelling is that it's a remarkable, true ... morestory of Holocaust survival. When they are in their young teens two Russian Jewish sisters who are extraordinary piano-playing prodigies are being force marched with their family and several thousand other Jews to a ravine where the invading Nazis will execute them. Their father bribes a guard to let the older daughter escape. How the younger daughter escapes is never revealed. The two sisters change their identities and survive by giving piano performances for the Germans. The book mainly focuses on the oldest sister, who manages to hang on to her copy of the sheet music for Chopin's Fantasy Impromptu the entire time. After the war the sisters emigrate to America and attend the Julliard School of Music, marry, have their own families, and become college piano professors. The author of the book is the older sister's own son, who never knew about his mother's earlier life until years later ("How can you tell children about such things? It would be too cruel.") --- so the book is really a personal family history story. The book's greatest weakness is that the writing is very ordinary, making one wish it somehow could have been written at a higher level. less

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