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Comments
from various sources around the globe
Booklist
"Chapman
knew little about her mother's childhood in a small German village,
where hers was one of only two Jewish families, or how she felt
when her parents sent her to the U.S. when she was 12, in 1938.
Haunted as she was by the loss of her family, she never spoke of
it, and so Chapman was surprised by her invitation to accompany
her on a trip back to Germany. Measured and mesmerizing, Chapman's
account of their unpredictable experiences, and the insights they
gained into the anguish and guilt of the Germans who remembered
her mother, constitutes a new and profound perspective on the legacy
of the Holocaust. Turning journalistic pragmatism into an art form,
Chapman allows each wrenching fact and observation to land in the
mind like a stone in a pond, sending out ripple after ripple. No
one survived the Holocaust unscathed, she realizes, neither Jew
nor Gentile, and the sorrow is handed down from one generation to
the next as inexorably as a gift for music, or beautiful deep, dark
eyes."
Kirkus
Reviews
"An
outstanding portrait of the painful postwar waltz of Germans, their
victims, and their victims' victims."
Chicago
Tribune Book Review
"Meticulously
detailed account...which Chapman renders with precise and often
moving prose."
Dallas
Morning News
"Fern
Schumer Chapman's account of Edith Westerfield's return to Germany
half a century after her forced exile was a finalist in the National
Jewish Book Awards for 2000. Anyone who reads her observations about
the remnants of anti-Semitism will surely be moved and even outraged."
San
Diego Jewish Press Heritage
"This
finalist in the 2000 National Jewish Book Awards should have been
a winner. It's beautifully written and is so gripping that it is
hard to put down... It is a book that can be discussed and appreciated
for its literary elements, its historical significance and its depiction
of a mother-daughter relationship."
Wisconsin
Jewish Chronicle
"Motherland
is essentially not a Holocaust story. However, the traumatic nature
of this event provides the backdrop of fractured identity, disrupted
human connections and a shattered world view… The journey back
to ‘the motherland’ becomes a compelling account of the
damages of the war, for victims and perpetrators, and for the toll
it exacted on the lives of generations born in its wake."
WomanLinks.com
"Amazing...
tragic and triumphant...incredibly powerful."
Hadassah
Magazine
"…touching...moving...a
thoughtful analysis of modern Germany's relationship to its past
and, not incidentally, of the relationship of a mother and daughter."
St.
Louis Post Dispatch
…a
"powerful memoir"
Indianapolis
Star
"Motherland
has elicited favorable reviews for its personal, poetic, yet journalistically
meticulous approach."
JewishFamily.com
"Chapman's
prose is lean and lyrical. She imposes no melodramatic score on
a story that clearly resonates with genuine drama. The subtlety
of the author's tone encourages readers to use their own sensibilities
to try and discern the complex emotions felt by Edith and her daughter
toward the past, the present, the people they encounter, and ultimately
to each other."
Jewish
Heartland
"The
book flows beautifully -- from Fern's memory to Edith's, to the
trip and finally, with the birth of Fern's daughter, to the future."
Cleveland
Jewish News
"Chapman
skillfully recreates for the readers the experiences she and her
mother encounter in Germany...As the author describes the complicated
relationship between herself and her mother, she infuses her story
with warmth and surprising humor... The stories of these less visible
victims are told by a second generation of gifted writers like Chapman,
whose voices will help ensure that the message of the Shoah will
resonate for years to come."
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