"Maybe Esther-A Family Story," Book Review

A few months ago, a neighbor invited us to meet some friends of hers, who were visiting from abroad. They were Yohanan Petrovsky-Shtern and his wife. Yohanan Petrovsky-Shtern is the brother of Katja Petrowskaja, the author of Maybe Esther-A Family Story  We found them to be charming, intelligent and fascinating people. And then a few weeks later, my neighbor gave me Petrowskaja's family memoir/history book which is totally amazing.

"Maybe Esther-A Family Story" tells not only about Katja Petrowskaja's family but about herself, too. She grew up in the Ukraine not knowing all that much about her family's history. There were things like the great-uncle Judas Stern who was an assassin, a crucial tidbit which nobody wanted to talk about. Nobody was certain of her great-grandmother's name; it might have been Esther.

Petrowskaja left the Ukraine as a young woman and, davka, chose to make her life in Germany. "Maybe Esther-A Family Story" was originally written in German. The English translation by Shelley Frisch is excellent. I have no idea how it compares to the original, but it's very readable and flows nicely.

As a young woman, Petrowskaja attempted to distance herself from her Jewish Ukrainian roots, while her brother became a religious Jew. Their ancestors also went in different directions, and Petrowskaja tells of the challenges she took on to search for and document their amazing sagas.

Petrowskaja is descended from teachers, but not the usual academic, science, math or history teachers. Her family taught the deaf and had unique techniques for teaching clear speech to those who couldn't hear.

Of course, as with any Jewish Ukrainian family there are two large "elephants in the room," the Soviet Union and the Holocaust. Petrowskaja manages to deftly weave all of this together in a very readable tapestry. I highly recommend Maybe Esther-A Family Story.

Product details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Harper (January 30, 2018)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0062337548
• ISBN-13: 978-0062337542