Title: Impossible Escape
Author: Steve Sheinkin
Major Themes: Holocaust, Prison Camps, Survival
Synopsis: Having survived in Auschwitz for two years, Rudi Vrba knows the horrors of the camp inside and out—and determines that, no matter what, he must try to escape and tell the leaders of the Jewish community what’s happening to those being shipped off against their will.
I love doing reading challenges. Not only do they push me outside my comfort zone at times, but they also give me prompts that help me discover books I’d otherwise never even know existed. That’s the case with Impossible Escape—I needed a book written by a Jewish author, and after searching high and low for a while, I came across this book. At some point—likely while scrolling through a list of audiobooks—I saved this title as a potentially interesting story, but I never actually listened to it. Life moved on, and it wasn’t until that reading challenge came up that this book appeared back on my radar. I’m so glad I decided to read it; it quickly became one of the best books I’ve read this year!
Publisher’s description:
From three-time National Book Award finalist and Newbery Honor author Steve Sheinkin, a true story of two Jewish teenagers racing against time during the Holocaust―one in hiding in Hungary, and the other in Auschwitz, plotting escape.
It is 1944. A teenager named Rudolf (Rudi) Vrba has made up his mind. After barely surviving nearly two years in the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland, he knows he must escape. Even if death is more likely.
Rudi has learned the terrible secret hidden behind the heavily guarded fences of concentration camps across Nazi-occupied Europe: the methodical mass killing of Jewish prisoners. As trains full of people arrive daily, Rudi knows that the murders won’t stop until he reveals the truth to the world―and that each day that passes means more lives are lost.
Lives like Rudi’s schoolmate Gerta Sidonová. Gerta’s family fled from Slovakia to Hungary, where they live under assumed names to hide their Jewish identity. But Hungary is beginning to cave under pressure from German Nazis. Her chances of survival become slimmer by the day.
The clock is ticking. As Gerta inches closer to capture, Rudi and his friend Alfred Wetzler begin their crucial steps towards an impossible escape.
This is the true story of one of the most famous whistleblowers in the world, and how his death-defying escape helped save over 100,000 lives.
My thoughts:
This isn’t a book to be taken on a whim or as a pleasure read. It is well written (it reads like a novel, even though it’s heavily based on real history!), but it takes its toll as you read it. Once I got partway into the story and realized how good it is, I started talking about it to all my family, and most of the older ones took the time to listen to it, too. My 15-year-old brother listened to it while he worked with Mom one day, and he came away somewhat shocked. “I never knew they did things like that!” he said, in reference to the Nazi death camps. We realized he’s always heard the glossed-over children’s version; this book goes into a bit more depth. Even though it does show the depravity of what went on there, it manages to strike a balance between showing the evil without reveling in it or going overly deep—that impressed me!
As far as the story itself, it’s a doozy. Imagining all the things this young man went through just to survive—and the many ways he could have easily died, but didn’t—brings you right into his life story, and gives you a sense of awe at the tenacity of the human spirit. I particularly found the descriptions of different escape attempts fascinating—you often hear about how hard it was for people to escape, but this book reveals some of what happened when people attempted to escape and were subsequently caught (often, the results of their capture were quite gruesome). That element of the book was unexpected, but is no less an important part of the story of those who ended up in the prison camp system, whether they survived or not.
Impossible Escape is not an easy story. I found it gripping, but also confronting to consider how far evil people will go to further their ends. In this case, this story is a ray of hope in the saga of the holocaust, but you leave the book painfully aware of the many, many people who lost their lives and never had the chance to see freedom again. This is a very real, heartbreaking read, but I highly recommend you check it out, as I believe it is one of the best stories I’ve seen of hope, courage, and bravery in the face of insurmountable odds.
WARNING: There are occasional mentions of people being shot when they resisted or tried to escape. Chapter 4: Boy shot at, punched in the mouth, a beating. Chapter 5: Jesus, he’s still alive, boy had a bayonet to his throat, you dirty (something) head. Chapter 6: Where the hell. Chapter 8: Description of gas chamber, men shot. Chapter 10: Stealing. Chapter 11: You bastards. Chapter 12: Men hung, described to some extent. Chapter 14: Man almost drowned, description of gas chambers, seeing naked corpses. Chapter 16: Bastards (twice). Chapter 17: Mention of girl’s period stopping because of what she was going through. Chapter 18: You bloody bastards, what the hell. Chapter 20: You bastard, boy beaten (described). Chapter 21: Good God, lying. Chapter 23: You old swine, you bastards, description of gas chambers. Chapter 25: Mention of finding a man in the bushes with a woman. Chapter 26: Description of people who were shot trying to escape. Chapter 27: Bloody, bastard. Chapter 29: I swear. Chapter 30: Kiss our arsses. Chapter 34: Men shot at. Chapter 36: To hell with it. Chapter 38: Brief description of a battle. Chapter 39: Girl and woman beaten. Chapter 40: Oh God. Epilogue: Brief description of how Himler died.
Age levels:
Reading Independently—Ages 15 and Above, Adults
Links to buy this book:
Amazon: Kindle | Hardcover | Audible Audiobook (unabridged)
AbeBooks: View Choices on AbeBooks.com
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