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There are currently 23 member reviews
for Once We Were Brothers
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Eileen P. (Pittsford, NY)
Disappointing
This was a complete miss for me. First of all, the writing left a lot to be desired. The dialogue was excruciating, and the didactic nature of the 'testimony' was ham-handed. Secondly, there were too many things in the story that didn't seem plausible or understandable. Thirdly, and perhaps most importantly, the characters were pretty well either all good or all bad which stuck me as over-simplistic and rather silly. Overall, the book reminded me of a bad propaganda film from the 1950s.
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William B. (East Peoria, IL)
Once We Were Brothers Fails
I really hate to give bad reviews, but this book fails on a couple of levels. First, the writing is pedestrian. Secondly, the plot is difficult to accept. There are numerous inconsistencies and logical difficulties. Perhaps most troubling to me as a seasoned reader of this period (Poland during the Nazi period), the author gets the history wrong. I could almost go no further than page 44 when speaking of 1935 and Heydrich's secretary, Balson suggests she "knew about the plans for the Final Solution! It just gets worse after this. A well educated attorney that needs the basics, and I mean basics, of the Holocaust explained to her. The entire mechanism for the unfolding of the story is terribly "clunky"
