...
Show More
This was truly disappointing. The back matter of the book seems to be better conceived and more compelling than the actual story itself, which is quite ridiculous considering the subject matter is so compelling! For a story about a daring wartime escape, there was a distinct lack of urgency and high stakes. While it's understandable to have a Holocaust story that isn't completely filled with despair, the war was such a subtle backdrop that it made the entire adventure seem a lot less wild and devoid of any real potential danger, except perhaps a punctured bicycle tire. If you weren't already familiar with the Holocaust, you might think this was just a story about a globetrotting couple who traveled the world for fun while writing what would eventually become some of the most beloved picture books of all time. The saddest moments were things like "they slept on the floor of a restaurant one time." The illustrations were very much in the style of Rey, which was appropriate and well done. There were no complaints in that regard. This is my own Ashkenazi kvetch about the book, but there was basically nothing Jewish about it, either in the writing or in the depiction of their lives. There were no particularly Jewish ethics, no Jewish humor, no mention of practices, holidays, or observances that even relatively secular Jews engage in, and no emotional stress when their families and friends were being rounded up by the Nazis on a regular basis. I'm sorry, but what? I guess my main issue is that the book is presented as one thing and yet fails to live up to its promise. I was led to expect something that I didn't get, which made it difficult to appreciate what I might otherwise have enjoyed learning about. However, what I did learn that was interesting could have been covered in a longform piece in The New Yorker or The Horn Book instead of being stretched into 80 pages plus back matter. I also found it rather funny that the author ended one chapter by saying the Reyersbachs changed their surname to make it easier for Brazilians to pronounce (which is legitimate and believable, considering Ellis Island), then said "it would be a name to remember," and yet didn't even go with the obvious punchline of "rey means king in Portuguese." It felt rather weak.
