Tuesday, December 9, 2014

The Last Witness by Jerry Amernic



Genre: Adult, Realistic Fiction, Historical Fiction
Source: I received a copy to facilitate my review. The opinions expressed here are my own.

From Goodreads:
The year is 2039, and Jack Fisher is the last living survivor of the Holocaust. Set in a world that is abysmally complacent about events of the last century, Jack is a 100-year-old man whose worst memories took place before he was 5. His story hearkens back to the Jewish ghetto of his birth and to Auschwitz where, as a little boy, he had to fend for himself to survive after losing his family. Jack becomes the central figure in a missing-person investigation when his granddaughter suddenly disappears. While assisting police, he finds himself in danger and must reach into the darkest corners of his memory to come out alive.

My Thoughts:

Once again we are reminded that if we try to sanitize history, as so many of our school history books do, the we are sure to repeat it.  That is not always a good thing. From the minute I read of the first killing I was hooked.  What is so amazing is that this book is set in the future, not too far from present time, yet we have all heard people say the holocaust didn’t happen.  Are we doomed to repeat history?  Maybe. I hope that if we ever have such an event that I can show as much courage as Jack did as a child and as an adult.  I was able to connect with his granddaughter’s passion for learning about his history not only because I love history, but because I too am a teacher.  I learned a long time ago that almost all teachers strive to continue to learn something new. The fact that someone would kill to keep the truth of the holocaust quiet is so realistic and frightening.  This is a book I will definitely recommend to my friends, especially those who are teachers.  These are lessons that should be taught in schools.  I would definitely read anything else this author wrote as this was an excellent piece of writing.

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