Upon the Head of the Goat: A Childhood in Hungary 1939-1944

I love this book and think it should be required reading in schools for all young adults

It was gud. T t t t t t t t t. T ttt. T t t t. T t

I am a 12 year old boy and I had to read this book for my reading honors class and I loved the concept of the book but I felt it was confusing and lots of parts were unexplained. But all in all it was a good book.

Enjoyed this book.

I got this book because my daughter needed it for school. She is enjoying it.

a fairly good book but not very dramatic and rather slow paced

This is a very powerful book.

This 1940's Hungarian Jewish childhood is a very interesting story for those interested in the old ways of life in small towns of Europe right before and during the war. Told from the viewpoint of a nine year old girl, Piri, from a family of seven, the author writes from her own memory of life with her grandmother on a small piece of land with chickens and a big garden in the countryside. It may not appeal much to those who cannot relate to country and small town life, or who don't like a girlish point of view, or who don't care about the pre-holocaust years where Jewish grownups were under restrictions of which children knew little.I thought the author did a good representation of what a girl would think or see or notice. Many such autobiographies try to give the official background of Nazi or Soviet edicts to clarify for the reader why a sudden change came into the life of an uncomprehending child. She does not do this so one can feel the confusion and anxiety that must creep into the girl's awareness. There are different languages to contend with: Yiddish and Ukrainian and Hungarian and German. There are different outfits: peasant and town clothing.Her own father as a Jew was thrown into the labor arm of the Hungarian army. He sends letters from various work sites but the family never sees him again and his paychecks do not arrive to her mother. Everything is extremely tight and good food becomes scarce. Jobs are engaged in which one is paid in food, such as working for the fishmonger.The actual final roundup into the Local Ghetto, a way station called the Brick factory, is near the end of the novel, when Piri is 13 and already more focused on boys and social status and clothes and jealousy of Teens with More than she has. Her identity is also a kosher Jewish one and she is faced with secular Jewish kids and Zionists who reject the old rules. When all the families wind up there regardless of their beliefs, it is clear that Jews are considered a race above all else. Stripped to their basic belongings and living in crowded filth and always hungry, waiting for over two weeks for trains to bring them to Germany for work camps as they have been told, the teens come to appreciate each other and overcome class and religious differences between themselves.Since we know for the outset where they will wind up, the author is wise in not dwelling on the horrible cattle car ride and the realities of auschwitz. We can learn from her how the life was for a normal Jewish orthodox family before the war. Her mother was an actress before marriage and that seems in itself a little unusual. She remained the cheerful force till the end.I loved Hungary when I visited there in 1985. Pastoral beauty of summer and abundant fruit and tomatoes everywhere! If you want to hear about Hungary this is a great treat.Little tidbits about how a Jew could give himself away while passing as a gentile: if he cracked some eggs and examined the yolks for bloodspots before cooking, then others in the kitchen would know. Apparently the kosher rules forbid eating blood.Her elder sister is very involved in the Zionist movement locally and sneaking out to meetings. Her mother disapproves. Piri accompanies her there once and reports on their enthusiasm. They gather up spare clothes and blankets for arrested Jews. Later these zionist workers find out that Jewish leaders kept the goods locked up for themselves at the brick factory and would not distribute them to the cold and desperate women and children awaiting train transport for weeks on hard floors. Such smallDetails bring the realHistory to life as we see how people come in all sorts, both good and bad.The author wrote a sequel of life after liberation from the camp. I will try to find it.

Comovedora lembranças de uma garota em uma época de grande injustiça! Que esses dias de tanto ódio não voltem mais.