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*This book has been kindly gifted to me. All opinions are my own.*
A Child Without a Shadow is the deeply moving autobiography of Prof. Shaul Harel and his dealings with being a Jewish boy who had to be put in hiding during World War Two. Having lost most of his family to the Jews and the Holocaust, Harel shares how he found his past and happiness again, and how his childhood affected his career choice as a paediatric neurology and child development expert.
At the age of five, Shaul’s parents felt it necessary to put their children in protection by an organisation who renamed and relocated Jewish children into Christian family homes, so they had a greater chance of survival. Amongst the 3000 children that this organisation relocated, Shaul was one of the children and ultimately survived thanks to the good hearts of the organisers.
One of the central themes of the book is identity and the desire to feel Jewish within oneself, even when far from the Jewish diaspora. The way Shaul and the authors write about this feel is rather well balanced, and never tips into extreme patriotism, as Shaul realises that Israel isn’t a perfect nation. This lifetime journey of ‘becoming Jewish’ faced several hurdles along the way, but ultimately, his achievements within medicine and military service proved he is as much a Jew as his colleagues and friends.
Though the writing is in no way brilliant and can sometimes be a little flowery for my liking, it is clear throughout and easy for the reader to gauge the meaning and message of the book. The reader can feel how important Harel’s message is, so this simple style of writing is preferred.
One of the few complaints I have with the book is the lack of chronology. Often, I’d find myself a little lost in the story line because of the year jumping. At the end the author explains this was done intentionally, but it admittedly did confuse me, especially with the many characters introduced throughout.
My final comment, and perhaps I’m looking into this too deeply, is the slight few digs regarding French people. Twice there was sentences that remarked to the effect “we finally managed to find nice French people” or “French people surprised us by being helpful” and it just didn’t quite sit right with me, for a book about compassion, discrimination and the holocaust. Though this may just be a bad translation when writing, it happened twice and left me feeling slightly agitated.
Overall, this is a good book if you’re looking for another holocaust biography. Because Shaul never went through Holocaust himself, it is interesting to find another perspective and outlook of how the Holocaust and Final Solution affected children particularly, an often-neglected topic.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐/5