Heart wrenching story about Auschwitz, but one of the better reads about the Holocaust.
Very graphic and a traumatic read.

DNF- I love a good historical fiction; especially set during WWll but this one is not for me. The writing style and I are not getting along and I think we need to part ways. Plot wise it seems like it could be a great story, but the writing jumps all over the place and makes it difficult to follow. One thing I noticed was that there were no quotation marks used...at all...which made things confusing and discombobulated. I would have to take a second to determine if the character is thinking to themselves or speaking, and when they were speaking...who they were speaking to because it’s not really identified in the writing. Very confusing!

I received a free copy of this title from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not in any way shape my view of the title.

This is a good historical fiction book . I enjoyed it. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for letting me review this book

What a raw and emotional book. I'm still recovering from the story. This is one of the most heartbreaking novels about the Holocaust I have read. Not only does it deal with the war, but also the aftermath of the war and how the recovery process has to start.
Its a raw story of two young brothers who are prisoners at Auschwitz and you will feel every emotion that they go through while there. Its also a story about love, hope and survivial. This story captures the bonds of family and how strong they can make each other. Thank you #NetGalley for the ARC.

I really wanted to read this book. Sadly, I could not get past 25% of the book. I am never the one to not finish a book. I usually push through even if I find parts to be excruciatingly difficult. The rating I have given is one that I never have given. It is based purely on the way the book is written. I could not read the ‘stream of conscious’ story. It goes all over the place from one moment to the next then somewhere completely different. So painfully difficult to follow. I have read other reviews and many people rate it highly, saying it's a wonderful (though heart-breaking) story. I understand the story is told (and translated) from three siblings' perspectives, but I just couldn't follow the story. Perhaps as they say it lost something in translation.

This book is a heartbreaking well-told story of the lives of these men.
It is a well-written roller coaster of emotions. It was a hard read at times
and I cried several times throughout the book. I still think it is important to
know our history.

Thank you so much to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for the chance to read an advanced copy of this important book.

This was a very brutally graphic tale of events that happened in Auschwitz, an important story to tell.
This story is told from different people’s points of views and memories and different eras of time.
However the writing style in the first half of this book was gruelling and then it seemed the second half was written with more ease. I give this a 3.5 ⭐️

This book really was moving. Although the subject was a horrible piece of history, I have so much admiration for the concentration camp victims for the strength they displayed. They never gave up hope and kept going even when the future looked grim. I cannot imagine what they all must have been through. The writing was very honest and it gave a very clear picture of how things were. I am grateful to Mr. Adler for sharing this story. Everyone should read it.

Thanks Netgalley and the Publisher. What a heart rending read and probably one of the most disturbing books I have read for a while. I would highly recommend.

Very heartbreaking to read, but I wasn’t a fan of the structure of the writing. It was hard to follow sometimes, and I felt that the flow was off.

The book is so moving. Very overwhelming. Very harrowing to read. But interesting all the same. You cannot begin to imagine what they went through. If only it wasn’t a true story being told.

The Brothers of Auschwitz is a powerful book written by Israeli Author Malka Adler, based on the true stories of teenage brothers Dov and Yitzhak’s harrowing (that word seems so weak) experiences during the holocaust in WWII. The brothers and their family were unmercifully removed from their village in Czechoslovakia in 1944, they were taken to Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Adler uses their accounts as well as her father’s own experiences in Treblinka and her own research to write this incredible story.

This book is in three, roughly equal parts; the holocaust period, immediate post-war ‘recuperation’ period and finally their lives in Israel. Each chapter alternates between Dov and Yitzhak’s accounts of the same events, this style provides the reader with their different perspectives, it is also an excellent way of following each brother during the times they are separated. The style was so overwhelmingly descriptive, intense, dark and heavy. It was relentless, there was so much matter on each page you could linger for much longer to let the material sink in – it is and should be a long read. It is hard work, really hard work.
Their journey takes in their experiences at several concentration camps, labour camps such as Zeiss, death marches, post-war hospitals, repatriation to their home village and their journey to, and their lives in Israel. I learned so much about the terrible experiences of Jews during this period, it was visceral and unremitting.
Some examples, of the hundreds I could draw on are;

Their lives were determined by the flick of an SS Officer’s white-gloved finger on the train ramp at Auschwitz.

The orchestra.

The smell of the crematorium. I will leave it to you to discover what their physiological reactions were to the smell during captivity.

Forced labour, this was a sure-fire way of slowly killing people, they worked them senseless, didn’t provide anywhere near enough food or water, or clothing – these people lasted no more than three months. Then in comes the next shipment of labour.

The abhorrent behaviour of the Germans was shocking, but also the Hungarians, Russians and many others was just as bad. Even fellow inmates – the depravity was off the scale.

The conditions in the camps were worse than you could imagine, and due to the way this nightmare world was presented by Adler, you had a real sense of place (as much as you can get), it was suffocatingly horrible.

The resilience of people who died and survived was remarkable, the recovery period after the war was equally traumatic, many didn’t survive and those who did were scarred and damaged physically and psychologically and usually both.

The way their neighbours from their home town assumed ownership of their home, livestock, pets and possessions, the silence of their neighbours, and even active complicit actions seemed to come so naturally.

The questioning by fellow Jews in Israel asking, “why didn’t you fight back?” was just too upsetting to put into words. How could they fight back?

Their residual behaviours, such as hiding bread under their pillows, or their pockets, long after the war ended. Their lives in captivity endured.

Yitzhak’s memories of the young German girl with plaits during his forced marches to the Zeiss factory – are so very heart-warming and sad. I’ll leave you to discover the details of that interaction.

A friend of mine recently asked me, “How can you read such a book?”, I think the question must be “How can we not?”. This, and books like this, should be read by as many people as possible. Genocide, ethnic cleansing, crimes against humanity have occurred since, and still occur to this day.

Aspects of humanity, and the human condition is something we all need to own and be ashamed of in equal measure. I cannot recommend this book enough; this experience will stay with me for a long time to come.

5 Stars

I would like to thank NetGalley and HarperCollins for providing me with a copy of this book in return for an unbiased review – reading this book was a privilege.

The Brothers of Auschwitz is a stunning book that deals with the atrocity of The Holocaust. I was very emotional reading this book and it's a story that will stay with me for a very long time.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC

I enjoyed the perspectives from the two brothers and all the information about them after the war. I have read many holocaust survivor books that talk about the camps and what the prisoners went through but I don't think I have read a book about prisoner's lives after the war and the struggles they continued to have.

Wonderful, heartbreaking historical fiction,although based on real people. Two brothers, Dov and Yitzak and their life before, during, and after WWII. There are lots of books recently about Auschwitz, this one is raw, descriptive, and will take you on an emotional roller coaster. Thanks to Net Galley and the publisher for the opportunity to read an advance copy.

This is a historically fictional account of a family that was separated by the Holocaust before finding their way back together. Even though this is a novel, it is based on a true story and the author did justice to making sure that the reader understood the emotional consequences of this period.

First and foremost, please let me start by saying this book took me longer to read than most. It’s quite emotional and I had to take breaks every so often because I needed to process what I was reading. This book is also very graphic, as it should be. It definitely paints a vivid picture of what life was life for these characters before, during and after the war.

I originally was going to give The Brothers of Auschwitz 4 ⭐️’s because I didn’t like the way the story itself was cut into at random times by the person to whom the story is being told. And then, I read the authors notes and that changed my thinking. I CANNOT stress enough how important reading the authors notes is when it comes to historical fiction. In most cases, it lays the foundation for the story that you are reading. It gives you insight into how the author pieced the story together and what research and traveling they did to accomplish their goal.

The Brothers Auschwitz is a fictional story based on the very real Dov and Yitzhak. From their days as teenagers in a small Hungarian village with their parents, brother and sister, to their deportation to Auschwitz, their time in the camps and their life after. I don’t have to go into great detail about what things were like for them in the camps except to say it was hell on earth. But together, the brothers managed to take one day at a time, one piece of bread at a time and love to see liberation. They lost so much during the war but were stunned to find out that their sister survived as well.

The strength and resilience of these three amazing people got them through the toughest of times but as most Holocaust survivors are...they are scarred beyond belief by their experiences and again as many survivors do...they refused to talk about life in the camps. At advanced ages, this changed and their story comes spilling out.

As with so many stories, the life in the camps is horrendous but what got to me the most is what life was like just after liberation and the first few years following. It’s a vantage point of WWII that you don’t come across every day. Yes you hear about the survivors that immigrate and begin new lives but what about the ones that don’t. Getting their physical and mental health back took years for some survivors. The PTSD that these people endured and some still do is unreal. The need to keep their freezers stocked with bread...just in case. A fear of trains. Fire. It’s intense. This book painted such a vivid picture for me and once I finished...I was numb for a bit.

So in honor of all survivors, I encourage you to read this book. Read it with an open mind and heart. Take breaks when you need to. Think about how it relates to the world today.

The Brothers of Auschwitz begins with the line:

In the darkest part of the sky The light breaks through.

Read this and remember to always find the light.

The Brothers of Auschwitz, a biographical novel, is the most moving and disturbing Holocaust book I’ve ever read and there have been quite a few. Yes, any story about the experience of being in a concentration camp is deeply upsetting but this one was extremely raw and emotional for me. The detail is exceptional and it will shock you to your core. The reader will feel the pain, anguish, desperation, helplessness, terror, and the horrors of it all as experienced by these two brothers who were taken at 15 and 16 years old. You can’t help but feel outrage that human beings were treated in such a brutal and barbaric way.

<i>We all knew the method at Zeiss. The method: No food, no water, no place to breathe, no shower, no coat, no medication, just work, work fast, until death comes. It takes about three months to come. In the meantime they bring a fresh, healthy consignment and the old-timers get on a train to the nearest available crematorium. Yes. Three months was enough for the Germans to turn healthy young men into a pile of disgusting rags.</i>

There are aspects of being a concentration camp prisoner that I never even contemplated but are on clear display in this book. Yes, it is very difficult to read at times but I feel it is an important book that is worth reading because it brings the experience to life like no other book. There is a marked tension throughout the story that had me on the edge of my seat, unable to put this book down.

This is a story about family, love, the will to survive and above all else, hope. The bond between these two brothers is remarkable and you cannot help but wonder if either would’ve made it through without the other. It is a miracle that they even found each other and were able to stay together.

What really makes this story stand out from all the others I’ve read is that roughly one-third of the way through the book the war ends. It’s the aftermath that we witness up close and the post traumatic stress that the brothers experience for the rest of their lives. Acclimating to civilized life after suffering and struggling to merely survive is no easy task. It is impossible for them to escape the images, memories and even the smells.

<i>Sometimes I have images with sound from life in the camps. The images and sounds come like thieves in the day.</i>

There are so many things these former prisoners had to learn or relearn — not to gulp their food, not to steal food, not to keep food in their pocket or hidden in their bed, to say please and thank you, to wash their hands before a meal, and so much more. There were many newly acquired fears that stuck with them. Because they were shuttled in cattle cars from one camp to the next, one brother won’t ever get on a train. Also feared are hospitals and one brother refuses to ever set foot in one — as a result, he won’t even go for a much needed cataract surgery. One brother confesses that he can’t and won’t go anywhere near a BBQ. Going to a bakery is a very scary proposition because of the ovens. Then there are the mental images and sound bytes that assault their senses at any time. You may leave the concentration camp but the camp never leaves you.

<i>I realized that the war had ended in the world but not in people’s hearts. I knew, the war would never ever leave us. Just like putting a boiling iron with a number on the body of a calf. The calf grows older, the number remains unchanged.</i>

In fact, after the war was over, the brothers discovered there was a new “hell.” Safely ensconced in Israel, they faced humiliation and later felt shame.

<i>...you went like sheep to the slaughter and didn’t resist. You didn’t fight like men. There were thousands of you in their trains, why didn’t you revolt. You could have grabbed their guns, at least wiped out a few Germans before the crematorium. Aah. We felt new enemies had risen against us. For the Germans we were garbage, in Eretz-Israel we were sheep.</i>

<i>We should have attacked them. We should have caused havoc, stopped those convoys walking and walking to the crematorium as if they were handing out candies on sticks in there. They’d have fired their rifles, so what, was gas any better? At least we’d have stopped the pace of death, I think about that and go mad.</i>

<i>Before the hunger we could have risen against them. The hunger weakened our minds. A hungry person can’t think about anything, his mind is stupid. The Germans took care to make us stupid in the camps, so we wouldn’t notice the convoys going to the crematorium, is it any wonder that we were silent? People didn’t even have the strength to commit suicide. The mind needs a lot of strength to think it’s better to die.</i>

There seems to be some issue with the translation as what’s written seems “rough around the edges.” Perhaps it will be improved when published but if it’s not, it is still a book that needs to be read.

Thank you to Harper Collins UK One More Chapter and NetGalley for an advance reader copy in exchange for my honest opinion and review.

War stories really don’t interest me but I do find myself compelled to read books about how the war affected people and none were more persecuted than the Jews, I have read a few stories from the survivors of Aushwitz and I have always been appalled by the conditions and circumstances that so many went through but only a handful have survived, but they have always left me in awe of their resilience to make a life for themselves, but with this book, the Brothers from Aushwitz I found It so difficult to read, when I requested this book I didn’t realise it was fictional but based on some war time experiences but it was the writing technique that really let it down, it jumped all over the place and the way the dialogue was told was really hard to follow and I had to give up at chapter 12.

This book was really hard to get into. I have read a lot of books about the holocaust and this one was hard to follow and the characters were all over the place.