When I first saw the description of this book - I thought, there is no way to really draw these two things together. Well, okay, I was wrong, but some of the threads really didn't seem to fit.

I read through this book, and while I loved the historical pieces that were mixed in, I felt this author was extreme in many of her descriptions. There were places where this could have been cut down to fewer words, with just as much meaning - and nothing is left out. I could almost feel her anxiety through the pages of the book.

The history of her parents and their time of living through the concentration camps, fleeing Communism, and their eventual landing in Canada was quite interesting. The threads of history, the stories, all combined to make a compelling piece.

Now add in the murder - interesting, but very spread out, and not always jointed well together in the book. When she started drawing comparisons between herself and the victim, I rather tuned out the next several paragraphs, finding nothing that really concluded that.

Interesting book, but overall was just okay. I absolutely enjoyed the historical sections more.

If ever a book needed a developmental edit, it's this one. The author attempts to tell the story of how traumatic it was--or wasn't, maybe? for her family to find out that one of their hired handymen had killed his partner and left her in a crate under the deck of their country house. Along the way, the author tries to connect this trauma with her parents' experiences in the Holocaust. It doesn't work, and the author comes off as naive, privileged, and not terribly bright. The other figures in the book--her husband, her brother, her kids, and even her parents--are all one-note creations and the story itself is surrounded by badly out-of-chronology anecdotes that confuse the timeline and are totally irrelevant. This might have made a good magazine article, pared down to its essentials and written well, but as a book it's not worth the time it takes to slog through it.

Generally, my practice in undertaking reviews is to see what other people are saying about a book. In reading some of the reviews on Goodreads, I wondered really if they had read the same book as I had, as some of the criticism of the book seemed to somewhat miss the point of it.

Although the inspiration behind the writing of this book may have been the real-life murder of Samantha Collins, what The Crate is, is a clever interweaving of true crime, memoir and historical record of some of the darkest days of world history.

By taking the discovery of a body at the family cottage, Deborah Vadas Levison is able to reminisce about her own, sheltered upbringing, which is in direct contrast to that of her parents who, being Jewish and Hungarian, were directly persecuted during the Holocaust, losing close and extended family to forced labour and the death camps. It is so important that stories like theirs are recorded – especially these days when ‘Lest We Forget’ seems more of a platitude than a genuine promise to not let these things happen again.

Joined with these horrific experiences is the story of Samantha Collins, whose life only came into contact with the Vadas family in the most tragic and violent way. Featuring information that the author has gathered directly from Ms Collins’ family, the account of her life is itself a cautionary tale of how easy it can be to fall onto a certain path, and how domestic violence affects so many families.

The book deals well with a catalogue of difficult subjects, and treats them all with the utmost sympathy and respect. It’s interesting to see the family’s focus switch from ‘why did this happen to us?’ to ‘actually, there was a young woman who was the victim here’ and we certainly could all do with having such empathy at times.

I have read a good deal about the atrocities of the Holocaust, both in fiction and non-fiction, but still it just seems unreal that such hatred was heaped upon one group of people. Ultimately, as Debbie Levison points out, the best way to honour the dead is to live, to make a life and leave a legacy for your descendants – something that the Vadas family has certainly done.

As I’ve said, the book is written so sympathetically to the horrors it tries to protray, and with such affection and some of the language is so evocative – in particular, Debbie Levison recalls a visit with her father to Budapest and the Dohány Street Synagogue, and feeling as though they were among ‘ghosts, whispering Kaddish for eternity’. Phrases like that pepper the book, and create such a sense of atmosphere and tragedy.

Books like this are crucial in these days when anti-semitism seems to be growing, the far-right are being listened to by many more people and nationalism is seen as something to be admired. Any one of the ever-dwindling number of Holocaust survivors can tell you where those roads lead, and it’s something we should all be concerned about.

The Crate by Levison is a true story about the horrors that happened during a time of the nazi regime and how it impacted her family. I found this story to be engrossing and I could not put it down. There are at times that the writing is not what you would expect from a book writer but rather a journalist but we must keep in mind that the author is just that. I hope that others that read this do so with an open mind and realize that these things really happened. She is a gr at story teller.

Thank you to netgalley as well as the author for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest review.


4 out of 5 stars

Deborah Vadas Levison is a wonderful story teller. She keeps you engrossed during the whole story. She gave Samantha a much needed voice, and you learn so much about her and the struggles she had to endure. She weaves together a story of life and death situations, and tells of horrendous atrocities that we must never forget. She adds her own personal thoughts to the story, and keeps you captivated from beginning to end.

I'd like to thank Netgalley for an ARC of this must read book!

I'm sorry, this is nonfiction but it is so boring! This story dwells in the past and the present seems insignificant except for the murder. For some reason, instead of the police, the daughter is the one discovering the mystery of the murder.

I cannot keep reading this. Too boring for me.

Thank you Netgalley for providing me with a free copy of this title.

This true story tells of the author's parents settling in Canada and having a home to live a life of tranquility after their time during the Holocaust.
Then they discover a sealed crate under their crawlspace which changes their lives forever. They get embroiled in questions, accusations and fear, something they thought they had left behind them.
The first few chapters of this book ramble and are difficult to follow, but if you do stick with it, then the story has intrigue.

4.5 stars (rounded up to 5)

Thank you to #NetGalley, the author and publisher for a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

First of all, I felt very honoured to be able to read a copy of this powerful book. It is hard to categorize in some ways because it can fit into several different genres as the title leads one to expect. At different points throughout the book we learn about the experiences of the author's Hungarian parents as they lived not only through the Holocaust but also through what came afterwards. As a young woman growing up, the author did not really know what the Holocaust was or why she didn't have a large extended family as her classmates all seemed to have. She and her older brother led protected lives where their parents did their best to keep them shielded from all the horrors that had been a part of their worlds. When a body is found in a crate underneath her parents cottage, the violence of the act leads to a search to better understand her parents experiences and come to grips with the trauma that she feels as a result of what happened.

The book is also part memoir as the author reflects on her own growing up and search for self, her love of the outdoors and the Muskoka region where the family cottage is located. her moving away from the family she holds dear and the cottage she loves to find a new "family" in her synagogue in the US. She left knowing that she could come back each year to spend time with those she loved in a place that was very dear and safe to her. When it became evident that a violent act had touched upon this sacred space it drew her to question whether she or her family would ever be able to go back and feel the same sense of peace and joy as they had felt before.

In her efforts to deal with the trauma, Deborah began an in depth research to learn more about the victim and what her life had been like. As the story is told she moves between past and present, her parents story and that of the victim and this led to some repetition which was a minor drawback in the story. The answers to what happened are not given out all at once and as a reader I was enthralled and drawn in to find out who the killer had been and what the motive was. When the answers were finally revealed there was an added sense of horror in that the family knew the murderer.

Lastly, the book is a book that speaks to justice - justice for those harmed via the Holocaust and for the family and victim of this heinous crime. Kudo's to the author for the time and effort that she put into her research. I hope it has given her a sense of peace as to how things turned out.

In Canada these days we often hear about generational trauma especially in regards to the treatment of the First Nation's people of our land. This isn't an easy concept to grasp for those of us who come from a life of relative privilege but this book demonstrates how the trauma of the parents does indeed affect those who come afterwards. I think it is a book which has an important place in our modern world where hatred and violence seem to be on the rise again in so many places. Aside from being a fascinating piece of investigative work to read, it also has a moral lesson to leave. I highly recommend it.

THE CRATE: A Story Of War, A Murder, And Justice examines man’s seemingly limitless capacity for evil... but also, his capacity for good.

The crate by Deborah Vadas Levison was not what I had initially expected. This book is a true crime novel regarding a murder in a small Canadian town. The narrator is the daughter of holocaust survivors. The author weaves an intriguing story of love and loss. I enjoyed the backstory of the author learning her heritage.

There is a true love woven into this work between the author and her family. Her parents worked hard to make her life one of value and not loss.

The murder victim is a loss for so many people but this family is not a stranger to loss. I enjoyed the family of the victim background on the victim also.

I enjoyed the opportunity to read and review this book.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author and publisher for a copy of the book. As always an honest review.

*My rating is actually 4.5 stars but since there's not half stars, I always round up.

I cannot say enough wonderful things about the book. I've already recommended it to people, even before I had finished reading it. I will try my best to do the book and the people the justice it deserves in my review.

From the beginning I was blown away by the gorgeous poetic writing. I was captivated from beginning to end, as the author tells the story of her parents' survival of the Holocaust, move to Canada, and eventual discovery of a woman murdered on their cottage property. The Crate is more than just the telling of crimes across history and their impact on people. It's so impactful it's almost intangible.

The author shares with us the stories of her childhood growing up in Canada with Jewish Hungarian parents who had survived the Holocaust. Through their stories we get a first hand look at the atrocities committed during the war, the strength of survivors, and effects these experiences had on their lives and their children's lives. Her appreciation of her parents and their experiences is wonderful. She's doing them a great justice by putting their stories down on paper. It is absolutely important that these stories, these individual human experiences are shared with the world before they are lost forever.

The book also tells the story of Samantha, the woman who was murdered and body was found hidden under the family's cottage. The author related Samantha's life experiences to some of the atrocities her parents experienced. After all, they're all just human beings. The book honors Samantha's memory. The chapters about Samantha didn't pull me in as much as the rest. Possible because while they're well researched, some aspects are not the author's personal life experiences.

The book is incredibly insightful and does a great justice by telling the stories of her parents, the other Jewish people in the Holocaust, Samantha, and her family.

It shows humanity at its best and at its worst.

The Crate by Deborah Vadas Levison is on my unofficial must read book list of the year.

This was a heart wrenching true crime, but it reads like a novel. There is no boring police procedural, there is just real people, raw emotions, and horrible tragedy. The author describes in great detail her parents survival during the holocaust, their hopes and dreams of a new life and owning a small lake front property of their own, and the shocking murder that touched their lives when a body was discovered on their land. This was an incredible read. 5 stars

I received an advance copy for review

A fascinating and memorable book that combines the horrors of life under the Nazi regime in Hungary with a modern day true crime , this book may seem like a strange blend but it is one that works well. It is clearly a very personal work for the author, as not only does it involve her family history but it also describes a horrific crime that came to light on her family's summer property. The book opens with a shocking phone call to the author, where her brother reveals that a crate containing human remains has been found hidden under their family's cabin, the dismembered body of what would eventually be revealed to be a young woman.
The book is broadly split into two parts, the first half deals mainly with the history of the author's parents who fled communist Hungary in the years following WWII. Both were Jewish and suffered atrocities when the Nazi's invaded in 1944, which scarred them for the rest of their lives. Deprivation, starvation and witnessing the death of close family members left scars which are passed down the generations.
The second half of the book focuses on the family after the gruesome discovery, and also on the young woman at the centre of it, as well as the capture and trial of her killer. Both historical and modern tragedies are woven together cleverly, to make this book a heartbreaking testament to the fact that violence is always with us.
I read and reviewed and ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own.

Reading Debbie's incredible story and knowing it is her own personal family history, made me feel a few extra goosebumps. The fact that her parents were survivors of the Holocaust and lived through the most horrid and unthinkable crimes against humanity in the most brave, courageous, and intrepid fashion was inspirational and heart wrenching at the same time.
There was a point in her story when she sat at the kitchen table while her mother sliced and layered potatoes and eggs in a pan. She listened to the detailed accounts of torture her parents endured and I really felt like I was sitting at the table next to Debbie. She writes with such passion and spirit that as I read her detailed descriptions of her family's past, I felt tears trickle down my cheeks. 
We've read so many books about this time period but there's a difference between writers who have researched this time period to write about and those who have lived through it first hand. With every personal account, story, and memory that Debbie shares with the power of her pen, we could feel the love, loss and need to share with others. It was chilling to read about how the dead body found in a crate below her family's cottage and the incredible loss it was to the family was strongly connected to the pain and suffering endured by her own family. 
We highly recommend this story to anyone who loves true crime & stories about the Holocaust time period. Thank you Deborah Vadas Levison for sending us a copy to review.

Vadas' parents were Hungarian Jews who escaped the Holocaust as young adults, then fled Communist Hungary with the author's elder brother in a backpack. Their carefully insulated community of friends, all marked by their experiences, allowed them to build a new life in Toronto, relentlessly shielding their kids from danger and risk. In 2011, though, the family found out that the handyman they'd hired because of his Eastern European last name and friendly personality had brutally murdered his ex and stuffed her body under their cabin as he did renovations. In a stroke, the parents were shaken to the core by the presence of violent evil in their place of asylum, reminded of the Hungarian neighbors who turned on them, while the author and her brother, carefully shielded their whole adult lives, came face to face with violence on their own property. Vadas' husband, whose Jewish parents were younger, and left earlier, raised him with a far more casual attitude, which manifests in this family crisis as being a callous, "just don't tell me about it," dick.

Reading Debbie’s incredible story and knowing it is her own personal family history, made me feel a few extra goosebumps. The fact that her parents were survivors of the Holocaust and lived through the most horrid and unthinkable crimes against humanity in the most brave, courageous, and intrepid fashion was inspirational and heart wrenching at the same time.
There was a point in her story when she sat at the kitchen table while her mother sliced and layered potatoes and eggs in a pan. She listened to the detailed accounts of torture her parents endured and I really felt like I was sitting at the table next to Debbie. She writes with such passion and spirit that as I read her detailed descriptions of her family’s past, I felt tears trickle down my cheeks.
We’ve read so many books about this time period but there’s a difference between writers who have researched this time period to write about and those who have lived through it first hand. With every personal account, story, and memory that Debbie shares with the power of her pen, we could feel the love, loss and need to share with others. It was chilling to read about how the dead body found in a crate below her family’s cottage and the incredible loss it was to the family was strongly connected to the pain and suffering endured by her own family.
We highly recommend this story to anyone who loves true crime & stories about the Holocaust time period. Thank you Deborah Vadas Levison for sending us a copy to review.

I thought this book was AMAZING! Deborah Levison wove both of the stories of the Holocaust and true crime together perfectly.. A shocking book that goes back and forth throughout the story on both topics.of this true story. It could be made into a miniseries or a movie.. This story will leave an impression on me for a long time.
Thank you netgalley for letting me give an honest review on this book.

A very well told story about a family’s lake cottage in Canada- their peaceful getaway from the workaday world that they’ve made for themselves, after starting over in Canada once surviving the Holocaust. They find their tranquil place has suddenly gone from a precious memory to everyone’s newest nightmare after a crate is found with the remains of a murdered body hidden in the crawlspace underneath the cottage. . As they struggle to come to terms with it as police investigate, they wonder if violence has followed them from Europe. A fascinating read for those with an interest in the Holocaust, true crime, and justice in this murder case.
My thanks for the advance digital copy that was provided by NetGalley, author Deborah Vadas Levison, and the publisher for my unbiased review.

WildBlue Press
June 19, 2018