Becoming Alice: A Memoir: Amazon.ca: Alice Rene: Books

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"Strongly recommended a deftly written memoir that will hold the reader's rapt attention from beginning to end." -Midwest Book Review "Her ability to authentically capture the bewilderment and pain of dislocation through a child's eyes including the disharmony in her immediate family makes for engaging reading that will resonate with young adults everywhere." -Beth B. Cohen, Ph.D., author of Case Closed: Holocaust Survivors in America, 1946-1954 Six-year-old Ilse watches Nazi soldiers march down her street in Vienna, Austria. It is the beginning of an odyssey that will take her to Riga, Latvia, and finally to Portland, Oregon. Becoming Alice chronicles her Jewish family's harrowing escape and struggle as immigrants to fit into the American landscape. The added problems of growing up within a troubled family cloud her childhood and adolescence. Ilse changes her name to Alice. Not until she moves into a boarding house in Berkeley, surrounded by girls from a patchwork of cultures, does she make peace with her true identity. Becoming Alicebrilliantly showcases Rene's triumph over adversity, identity crisis, and the sometimes debilitating power of family ties.

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4.0 out of 5 stars Courtesy of Teens Read Too, Aug 12 2009

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TeensReadToo "Eat. Drink. Read. Be Merrier." (All Over the US & Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Becoming Alice: A Memoir (Paperback)

Born with the name Ilse, Alice Rene was six when the Nazis took over her hometown of Vienna, Austria.

Her Jewish family was forced to flee, and while many others, including some of her family members, weren't so lucky, Ilse and her parents and older brother eventually settle in Portland, Oregon.

From there, Alice documents her life in America: learning English, her struggles making friends at school, becoming an American citizen. She changes her name from Ilse to Alice and starts calling her parents "Mom" and "Dad" instead of "Mama" and "Papa."

As she gets older, Alice experiences her first romance and watches her older brother go through the pain of heartbreak. She also gains the courage to stand up to her overbearing father for the first time. When high school ends and she starts applying to college, Alice begins to plan ways to forge her own identity apart from her family.

This is an interesting memoir that reads more as a series of chronological anecdotes than a straightforward narrative. While the effects of the Holocaust are an inescapable part of the novel, the focus is more on Alice's experiences becoming American and establishing her own identity.

I would recommend BECOMING ALICE as an interesting coming-of-age memoir.

Reviewed by: Katie Hayes

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Amazon.com: 4.8 out of 5 stars (17 customer reviews)

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars An engaging story of the impact of global events on one very human family, Aug 23 2009

By K. Bourgeois "What Could You Possibly Be Thin... - Published on Amazon.com

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This review is from: Becoming Alice: A Memoir (Paperback)

After I read this book - in one sitting because I just couldn't put it down until I was sure Alice turned out OK - it struck me how we don't fully understand history until we understand how individuals are impacted by historical events. The frightening specter of World War II hovers over every page of this memoir. It impacts this family's actions and reactions long after history books declare it ended. And long after Alice's father has turned off the radio - Hitler marches into _________! - in the family's tiny living room.

Alice is caught up in a global event that is very personal to her and her family. How each of the family members deals with their fears, their view of themselves, the sacrifices required when their sense of community is shattered, and their ability to integrate in their new surroundings is what makes this book so compelling. Sometimes we learn more about an historical event that affects millions by how it affects one small family.

Read this book to get a glimpse into what it was like for Jewish refugees to escape to America to face ostracism and shame. For a proud father who is forced to abandon his profession and cope with the loss of an essential part of himself, the respect and status he enjoyed as a successful doctor. For a mother who might have gone her entire life not knowing she had the mental toughness to run a successful business. For a son to drift in and out of relationships, unable to find his bearings. And Alice, a young child, naive and understanding only how the day's events impact her, who blossoms into a woman who creates a space for herself in the world where she can feel safe.

In today's world where everything is so technological, so system-driven and hard-wired, it's a relief to realize that humanity, both fragile and flawed, is still the driving force in how our lives unfold.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Courtesy of Teens Read Too, Aug 12 2009

By TeensReadToo "Eat. Drink. Read. Be Merrier." - Published on Amazon.com

This review is from: Becoming Alice: A Memoir (Paperback)

Born with the name Ilse, Alice Rene was six when the Nazis took over her hometown of Vienna, Austria.

Her Jewish family was forced to flee, and while many others, including some of her family members, weren't so lucky, Ilse and her parents and older brother eventually settle in Portland, Oregon.

From there, Alice documents her life in America: learning English, her struggles making friends at school, becoming an American citizen. She changes her name from Ilse to Alice and starts calling her parents "Mom" and "Dad" instead of "Mama" and "Papa."

As she gets older, Alice experiences her first romance and watches her older brother go through the pain of heartbreak. She also gains the courage to stand up to her overbearing father for the first time. When high school ends and she starts applying to college, Alice begins to plan ways to forge her own identity apart from her family.

This is an interesting memoir that reads more as a series of chronological anecdotes than a straightforward narrative. While the effects of the Holocaust are an inescapable part of the novel, the focus is more on Alice's experiences becoming American and establishing her own identity.

I would recommend BECOMING ALICE as an interesting coming-of-age memoir.

Reviewed by: Katie Hayes

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Riveting Memoir, Feb 28 2011

By Claudia Moscovici "literature salon" - Published on Amazon.com

This review is from: Becoming Alice: A Memoir (Paperback)

Hailed as "a deftly written memoir that will hold the reader's attention from beginning to end" by the Midwest Book Review and described as "a magnificent memoir and an impressive, courageous piece of work" by Writers Digest Magazine, Alice Rene's Becoming Alice: A Memoir deserves every word of praise it got...and more. The memoir begins with a description of the Anschluss, when Hitler annexed Austria to the Third Reich in 1938. Becoming Alice describes the impact of these tragic historical events upon Austria's Jewish population from the perspective of a six year old girl named Isle.

Isle and her family watch helplessly as the Nazi soldiers march down their street in Vienna. Faced with discrimination and the threat of deportation, they're obliged to flee Austria for fear of worse. Taking only their most basic belongings, Isle and her father, mother and older brother Fredi risk a difficult journey through Stalinist Russia, at war with Germany, to eventually make their way to Portland, Oregon. The memoir reflects historical fact, but it's as well written as the best of novels. In fact, Becoming Alice is reminiscent in subject and narrative voice of The Diary of Anne Frank.

Alice Rene's autobiographical narrative skillfully captures the girl's limited and innocent perspective as she lives through one of the most inhumane and incomprehensible moments in human history. While Isle and her family are quite fortunate to have escaped the Holocaust, finding themselves as new immigrants in the U.S. is no easy matter either. As Isle adapts to the new culture and craves acceptance and assimilation, she becomes increasingly critical of her family dynamics: particularly of the interaction between her overbearing father and submissive--yet also, in some respects, incredibly strong and resilient--mother. By the end of the narrative, when she's already in her teens, Isle succeeds in Americanizing not only her name--which she changes to Alice--but also her whole identity and outlook. She doesn't forget, however, her original culture, nor the historical calamity that brought her family to the U.S. This is a riveting story : a memoir that reads like a novel about a moment in history that we should never forget.

Claudia Moscovici, Notablewriters.com

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 17 reviews 4.8 out of 5 stars