I really enjoyed this book! Previously I've read alot of holocaust-survivor books and I find them really educational and informing.
What I liked most about this book is how it's told from the perspective of a 10 year old girl, who just knew she had to survive. I love how you can understand her struggles, and feel her hopes and dreams for the future. You really want her to make it! She only tells of what she knows at the time and not adding all the information she got later in life. You get a sense of how unknown things where, and you keep wondering yourself what's going to happen to these twins around the next corner.
What i didn't like was the lack of information about the "tests" that was done. It felt like they were subject to very few "tests" from reading the book, and from other books I know that's not true. I understand that this book is men for a younger audience, but still it didn't feel quite real when it's widely known that horrible tests where performed.

Other than that the book is very easily read, and I would probably have enjoyed this even more when I were younger.

"That was the last time I ever saw my mother. And that is also the last time I remember crying in Auschwitz. My childhood ended that day, that moment."

I try to get my hands on every Holocaust memoir I can because their stories need to be heard. Humanity cannot afford to repeat such an atrocity, so I was ecstatic when Tanglewood sent me a free copy to review, and Eva Mozes Kor's memoir was worth every moment I spent reading it.

When twin Eva is sent to Auschwitz with her parents, two older sisters, and twin sister Miriam, she is only 10 years old. She and her twin sister are immediately selected for Dr. Mengele's experiments and they are ripped from their family. She tells us her story beginning before the war, and the reader gets a very clear picture of how tranquil life was on her family's successful farm. How loved she and her sister were by their mother, who doted on them and loved to dress them up and show them off. But then antisemitism begins to show its face and you feel angry for this innocent people that endured such ugliness. She tells of how excited she and her sister are to begin school, only to be tortured by not only classmates for their Jewish heritage, but by their schoolteachers. She writes that when they are just six years old, their own schoolteacher plays a short film for the class titled "How to Catch and Kill a Jew". I can't imagine being forced to watch that in high school, let alone the innocent age of 6!

Her story of just basic surviving, something many of us take with a mustard seed of thought, is absolutely inspiring. I would often have to remind myself I was reading about a ten year old girl. I won't go into any details, but I will include that a good portion of her story involves forgiveness. She apparently gained notoriety amongst Survivors for this and she goes into great detail explaining her take on what forgiveness is, and who it really benefits. I would recommend this book for that portion alone, even if you have no general interest in memoir type books. I did find it interesting that when she was speaking of her own experiences it was for the most part without any emotion conveyed. It read as almost mechanical and factual (even though you still see glimpses of her personality). The only time I saw any real emotion was when she was speaking of her mama or her Miriam. I'm going to leave this with a few quotes that really stayed with me:

"Crying, crying, crying. The crying of children for parents. The crying of parents for their babies. The crying of people confused and bewildered. The crying of people who saw with certainty that their nightmares had come true. All together, the cries resounded with the ultimate and most unimaginable pain of human loss, of emotional grief, of mental and physical suffering."

"At Auschwitz dying was so easy. Surviving was a fulltime job."

"I discovered once I made the decision was that forgiveness is not so much for the perpetrator, but for the victim. I had the power to forgive. No one could give me this power, and no one could take it away."

"Anger and hate are seeds that germinate war. Forgiveness is a seed for peace."

"It is the ultimate act of self-healing. Forgiveness has nothing to do with the victimizers. It does not condone them, excuse them, or endorse them. No one asks to be a victim. Forgiveness is the only power a victim has to heal, liberate, and empower themself."

*Thank you to NetGalley and Tanglewood for giving me a copy of this wonderful book in exchange for an honest review.

I knew Eva Kor's story before picking up Surviving the Angel of Death, but I couldn't help being touched just the same.

There are many survivor biographies/memoirs available to those interested in firsthand accounts of the Holocaust, but few detail the experiencing of Mengele's human experiments. Even fewer of these accounts are written for younger readers, something I feel important as I don't believe in censoring these realities from students learning about the realities of the past.

I also loved that the final sections of the book examined the controversial reactions Kor's attitudes and forgiveness inspired. The experiences of both her childhood and adult life are important, but I liked how this volume emphasized that Kor was also an individual and that her positions and activism were rooted in personal emotions and never intended to speak for the community of survivors as a whole.

i really enjoyed reading this book, it really doesn't hold back Eva's perspective is haunting and I really appreciate that she was able to tell her story.

When it comes to books about the Shoah, Surviving the Angel of Death is one that lends itself extremely well for educating younger readers. I think the writing style is very accessible, and there’s enough in there to give a solid impression of Auschwitz without explicit details. Whether younger readers need to be protected from those details is another matter entirely (my opinion: no, they do not), but should you be looking for something that’s easy to follow and less explicit, then this might be the book for you. For me personally, it was a little too simplistic at times.

What I did appreciate deeply about this book is that it doesn’t only focus on the time these twins spent in Auschwitz. The book starts quite far before their deportation, and you get a good impression of the rise of antisemitism in these girls’ village. In my experience, this isn’t too uncommon in books about the Shoah, but what this book did that I’ve only seen sparingly in other books is the descriptions of events after the liberation of Auschwitz. Things weren’t as clear-cut as ‘going home’, especially for children who were the lone survivors of their family, and it’s a side to this time period that’s often overlooked.

I didn’t always agree with Eva Mozes Kor, but I’ve always appreciated her efforts in education. The added information at the end of this revised edition did give some much needed context to some of the decisions she made and things she has said regarding forgiveness. It made me understand her viewpoint a bit better, and I think it was a good thing it was there.

Overall, a book I’d definitely recommend to people who want to start educating themselves on the Shoah. For seasoned readers on the subject, it might leave you wishing for a bit more depth.

This book was a quick read, with only 70% of the text comprising of the main story. The majority of the remainder is taken up by an epilogue, followed by a lengthy afterword, which I personally didn't find engaging and wasn't interested enough to read.

I honestly thought this could have been a lot better. Much of this book feels like it's been slapped together. I also think it suffers a bit from Eva being an unreliable narrator. After all, this book is composed from the memories of a traumatised young child. There are inconsistencies, repeated sentences, choppiness, exaggerations regarding time.. all of that takes away from what should be a very powerful story.

I appreciate the fact that this was written for a younger audience and the nature of the writing reflects that, but I'm still unsure who I would recommend this to. This book is stuck in a weird place where the reader can't go into it with too little or too much prior knowledge of the war.

I think with some tidying up this could be a great book, but as it is, unfortunately I don't recommend it.

I read this book in one sitting. I will read anything I can about the Holocaust, whether it be fiction or non fiction.

I’ve read a lot about what was life inside the camps and different survivor stories. I haven’t read many about what life was like leading up to life in the camp or what life was like after liberation.

Reading about how everyone in Eva’s town started to believe what they were being told about Jewish people and how they ended up being treated was heartbreaking. I can’t even begin to imagine being a little kid and sitting in math class and one of the questions in your book is “If you had five Jews, and you killed three Jews, how many Jews would be left?”

Eva’s determination to live and her ability to forgive after is just amazing. I have been to Auschwitz. I have walked the tracks, seen the remaining crematorium, stood in the barracks, seen the piles and piles of hair and personal items taken from people. There are no words to describe what you feel while your there.

It is so important to remember and read, as hard as it may be. They lived it, the least we can do is learn and remember. This book is geared more so to young readers and I think it’s a good introduction to Holocaust history.

I really want to thank the publisher for sending this to me, I realized I should've picked it up a long long time ago.

Eva's point of view was truly an experience to read from and I am very thankful to have had this opportunity.

What an amazing memoir, I read it in one sitting in about 2 hours. And I cried, a lot.

Educational and entertaining, this opened my eyes somewhat whilst helping pass a fair few lockdown hours :-)

Surviving the Angel of Death is aimed at teens and young adult readers: it is a very powerful and harrowing read of Eva's experience in Auschwitz. Its ultimate message is one of hope and forgiveness despite everything that she went through. You can feel Eva's strength and defiance come through the book. This book would be particularly powerful for any secondary students studying the Holocaust for the first time.

Thank you to NetGalley, Tanglewood, Eva Mozes Kor and Lisa Rojany Buccieri for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Horror of Real Life comes to fruition in the epic journey of surviving. Not only does our author survive the Holocaust but one of the Nazi regimes cruelest members. The journey of this book is intense and terrible. Have tissues, and a shoulder to cry on...but definitely READ this book.

Thank you NetGalley for the review copy.

Eva Mozes tells her harrowing story of how she and her identical twin sister, Miriam survived Dr. Josef Mengele's twin experiments. Eva and her sister were the youngest of four children. Their Uncle and Father had visited Palestine in the thirties and felt that they should leave everything behind and move. Unfortunately, Eva's mother felt that the family was safe in the small remote little Romanian town that they lived and refused to move.

The story is heartwrenching. But, the strength and resolve to live were the keys to Eva's survival. Miriam was the easy-going twin. It was Eva who found the strength to survive whatever disease that Mengele had given her in a series of shots. She became very ill and was not expected to live at all. Had she died, it would have meant the death of Miriam immediately as well. Mengele liked to perform dual autopsies with the sick twin and the healthy twin to see the impact on the bodies.

The real story begins after they were liberated by the Soviet soldiers. Eva found solace and peace of mind by learning that she had to forgive everyone, including herself. The inspirational speeches that she gave over her long life were amazing. There is much to be learned from reading Eva's story of survival. It's not only about surviving Auschwitz... but, surviving and flourishing afterward.

this book is hard to read, but is a must read for everyone. It's important for these stories to continue to be told, and never forgotten.

I don't know how Eva managed to survive everything she did, and make it out of Auschwitz. She is a true survivor and an inspiration.

Surviving the Angel of Death by Eva Mozes Kor and Lisa Rojany Buccieri is the incredible true story of Eva's time at Auschwitz where she, along with her sister Miriam, was subjected to the torturous experiments of Dr Josef Mengele. As stated in the afterword, it is extremely rare to hear an account of a child who survived the camps, let alone one who survived as one of Mengele's twins, and this deeply personal story will serve as a tool not only towards education, but as a lesson in the power of forgiveness. Eva was clearly a remarkable woman, and it is gratifying to know that she found such purpose in her life following unimaginably horrific circumstances. Recommended.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Tanglewood Publishing for the opportunity to read Eva's story.

I found this to be a powerful, horrifying, and moving story. I hadn't read this book when it was originally released, so I can't speak entirely to the new content compared to the original, but I think that the information and story are well presented. This isn't an easy book to get through, but it is one that will stick with you.