Lauren Grodstein Interview, plus links to author biography, book summaries, excerpts and reviews

Lauren Grodstein
Photo: Nina Subin

Lauren Grodstein

An interview with Lauren Grodstein

A letter from Lauren Grodstein to readers about the genesis of her novel, We Must Not Think of Ourselves.

Dear Reader,

We Must Not Think of Ourselves is a novel I never expected to write. I had no ambition to tell a story about the Holocaust; people like Elie Wiesel and Primo Levi had already done the brutal job as perfectly as it could be done. I could not imagine attempting to put myself in their company.

But in July 2019, I discovered the stories of the people of the Warsaw Ghetto.

Or, more specifically, during a family trip to Warsaw, a tour guide brought us to the Jewish Historical Institute, a prosaic name for an extraordinary place. The institute houses the Emanuel Ringelblum Archive, the work of thirty-two secret diarists who, under the direction of historian Emanuel Ringelblum, secretly recorded everything about their imprisonment in the ghetto from 1940–1943. In comprehensive detail, their reports describe the ghetto's schools, synagogues, and prisons; its marriages and births; its struggles to feed its population; and its terror at the oncoming deportations to Treblinka. Their work constitutes the most significant written testimony of what was once Europe's largest Jewish community.

Of the thirty-two diarists, three survived; they were the ones who showed authorities where to dig up the buried archive after the war. Without this record, we would know nothing of the Warsaw Ghetto, save what the Nazis saw fit to record.

My family and I spent a transfixed afternoon reading translated diary entries and studying the ephemera the diarists collected. When we left, I said to my sister, "There are a thousand novels in that building."

She said, "So you should write one of them."

"Hah!" I said out loud. Then, for emphasis, I said it again.

"Why not?"

"Every reason," I said. "But first and foremost, who am I to even try?"

Yet the people of the archive kept tugging at me: Daniel Fligelman, who believed in the humane treatment of animals; Gela Sekstain, who drew beautiful portraits of her daughter. I spent almost a year trying to ignore them—and then the pandemic started. Suddenly I was trapped in my house, and I needed a project. I decided to write a page of the novel. We'd see how it went.

Much to my surprise, the first page begat another one, and then another, and during those long days when there was nothing to do but stay inside and worry, I found I could bury myself in the research and imagination I needed to write this book. I envisioned my characters trying to live their lives, finding food, finding meaning—even finding small moments of joy. Days outside were filled with fear of Covid; days inside were filled with the memory and testimony of the Warsaw Ghetto archivists and the characters I imagined who lived alongside them.

Now that I've spent years with the residents of the Warsaw Ghetto—both real and fictional—I've learned that the story of the archive is there for us whether or not we feel we're up to the challenge. Perhaps now more than ever, we must listen to what the Jews of Warsaw wanted us to know.

Sincerely,

Lauren Grodstein

Unless otherwise stated, this interview was conducted at the time the book was first published, and is reproduced with permission of the publisher. This interview may not be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the copyright holder.

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Books by this Author

Books by Lauren Grodstein at BookBrowse
We Must Not Think of Ourselves jacket Our Short History jacket The Explanation for Everything jacket A Friend of the Family jacket
Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Read-Alikes

All the books below are recommended as read-alikes for Lauren Grodstein but some maybe more relevant to you than others depending on which books by the author you have read and enjoyed. So look for the suggested read-alikes by title linked on the right.
How we choose readalikes

We recommend 11 similar authors


Non-members can see 2 results. Become a member
Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Top Picks

  • Book Jacket
    Suggested in the Stars
    by Yoko Tawada
    In Scattered All Over the Earth, Yoko Tawada's 2018 lightly dystopian novel, a ragtag group of young...
  • Book Jacket: Shred Sisters
    Shred Sisters
    by Betsy Lerner
    "No one will love you more or hurt you more than a sister" is a wry aphorism that appears late in ...
  • Book Jacket: Model Home
    Model Home
    by Rivers Solomon
    Rivers Solomon's novel Model Home opens with a chilling and mesmerizing line: "Maybe my mother is ...
  • Book Jacket: The Mighty Red
    The Mighty Red
    by Louise Erdrich
    Permit me to break the fourth wall. Like any good reviewer, I aim to analyze a book dispassionately,...

Members Recommend

  • Book Jacket

    In the Garden of Monsters
    by Crystal King

    A woman with no past, a man who knows her, and a monstrous garden that separates their worlds.

  • Book Jacket

    The Bog Wife
    by Kay Chronister

    Five West Virginia siblings unearth secrets after the rupture of a supernatural bargain tying their fate to their land.

Book Club Giveaway!
Win Let Us Descend

Let Us Descend by Jesmyn Ward

Jesmyn Ward imagines the life of an enslaved girl in the years before the Civil War in this instant classic.

Enter

Wordplay

Solve this clue:

J O the B

and be entered to win..

Your guide toexceptional          books

BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.