Andrew goliszek biography

I had heard of everything he covered except a few surprises here and there. But it still had me engrossed in this on going tragedy. See More Reviews. By Award By Work. Like Embers in the Night Longlist — Richard Carlson. Rebecca Skloot. Patrick Lynch. Eileen Welsome. Allen M. David Hagberg. Jonathan D. Susan J. Harriet A. See All. Add to Favorites.

Pictures Author Gallery. Links No links. Helper Hub LibraryThing members improve authors by combining author names and works, separating out homonymous authors into separate identities, and more. Fingers of thick black smoke rose columnlike along the horizon and swirled eastward in the cold wind. For days, the pungent stench of death and decay had descended upon the city of Lwow like a shroud.

History comes to life with no prerequisite for anything but a basic interest in wartime events and how ordinary people survive them. Like Embers in the Night will attract a wide audience with its compelling reviews of impossible-to-survive situations and how each character makes compromises and forms strategies to endure. These lead them to wonder if their personal survival is even important in the broader scheme of world affairs:.

And as he watched the sun gradually fall from the sky and looked at the band of ragged men around him, he realized that one of the saddest things in life would be to die in that faraway land and eventually be forgotten. The delicate dances of contrast between characters, survivors, oppressors, and social and political struggle maintain a tension and sense of immediacy.

This keeps readers thoroughly engrossed in not just the lives of ordinary people, but the special projects, objectives, and choices of nations under siege. Also notable and engrossing is the aftermath of war, in which Wanda and Janek continue to struggle over reconciling peacetime with the trauma of the war:. I suffered with nightmares, screamed in my sleep, sometimes woke up crying, thinking I was back in the labor camps.

But the worst nightmares were of my escape from Poland, and andrew goliszek biography Sophie was taken from me. It changed me…and I was never the same…never looked at people in the same way. The book opens with a graphic reference to Auschwitz and moves to recalling the Katyn massacre. How people and society can ever heal after such appalling losses is an enduring question, and the two central characters, Wanda and Janek, continue to be prisoners of the past.

Wanda has dementia, and, with such memories stored in her mind, returns to lucidity are not particularly welcome and only bring further pain. On occasion Wanda remembers Janek, and reminisces that he is handsome.

Andrew goliszek biography

Such recollections are heartbreaking, and the reader will wonder how one person is to survive such continuing pain. The narrative then moves toin Lwow, Poland. The significance of the timeframe is obvious, and the unfolding story well-written. Janek, a Polish officer, is captured, and is fearful of the fate of his wife Wanda and daughter Sophie.

He is taken to a prison camp, where further graphic scenes play out. The terror is not only physical. Janek lies about the existence of Wanda and Sophie in an effort to save them. The utter hopelessness of Poland and its displaced and traumatized people is profound. Both Wanda and Janek are compelling characters with distinct and believable personalities and character arcs.

There are secondary characters; family members, a sympathetic nurse, terrifying occupiers. The pacing of the book is measured, but appropriate for the storyline, and historical background is skilfully woven into the overall narrative. Such a major voyage and re-settling means further upheaval, although great opportunity awaits. That is the mark of well-written historical fiction; Wanda and Janek will seem very real to the reader.

An absorbing read! This gives Like Embers in the Night a hard-hitting feel that brings the siege of Poland to vivid life from its opening chapters: Wanda sat trembling as she rocked back and forth, clutching six-year-old Sophie to her chest so tightly her hands grew numb.