Where Butterflies Go

Meira Sokolow is a young Polish Jew residing in Warsaw. Her early was typical and yet not without its standout moments. After a few hiccups, she gets married to the boy of her dreams and begins her family. Six years after this marriage, the Germans come invading and her life changes almost overnight. Her family is forced into a ghetto and the first priority of every single day was survival, against hunger, against disease, against the German brutalities… After some long and torturous years, with only a handful of survivors left from the concentration camp, Meira decides to go to New York to begin her life anew. But is it so easy to lay to rest the ghosts of the past? The story, written in the first person perspective of Meira, is based on the true story of the author’s great-aunt. The book can be broadly divided in four sections: 1. Meira’s early life in free Poland. 2. Meira’s life in the ghetto and concentration camp. 3. Meira’s struggle to rebuild her life in New York. 4. Meira’s acceptance of the past and her way ahead. I must admit that the second part was my favourite, even though it was the most emotionally traumatic. (I won’t bother to give trigger warnings; it’s a real life account of life under a brutal siege. You need to go in mentally prepared.) This section is well-written, intense, and painful to read. At times, I wondered if the content bordered on being trauma porn, but I soon rectified my thinking: the entire Holocaust is nothing but ghastly trauma and any accurate detail about it is bound to feel extreme. I also loved the first and third parts of the book. Meira’s early years prior to the WWII gave a nice glimpse into a Polish teen’s life. I enjoyed the cute romance and the depiction of the parents’ mentality. Knowing this gave the right background to knowing the personality of the entire family and hence, a better understanding of their reactions in the ghetto. The third part, which is set in 1950s New York, is also a eye-opener. What happens to survivors, how easy is it when people say ‘you need to move on”, what does it feel like when people tell you “you are lucky”? All the aspects of PTSD are covered in this particular section without mentioning the term outright. Really well-done. My rating dipped because of the below reasons: · The final section, while still having its moments of beauty, goes too much into a needless information. I don’t want to reveal spoilers here, so I’ll just say that some of the details related to the romantic relationship (especially the physical details) weren’t really required in this section. · The writing goes too much into vocalisation of personal thoughts and opinions. While this happens at times in first person narratives, it becomes boring if it happens again and again. · Many times, the writing goes into too much of ‘telling’ rather than ‘showing’. At times this also led to a repetition in the writing, as the same content is verbalised in multiple ways consecutively. There need to be some things left to the intelligence of the reader. This particular flaw becomes much more obvious in the audiobook as the reiteration of thoughts comes out very clearly when you are listening rather than reading. · I am not sure how I feel about the political stance taken by a couple of the characters. There seemed to be an undertone of finger-pointing in these scenes, and I don’t particularly relish that in the books I read. As far as I am concerned, it is always individuals to be blamed, never religions or countries. Regardless of these minor shortcomings in the writing, this is still a story I would recommend for all historical fiction fans who don’t want to stop knowing the character’s life story at the end of the war but also want to know what happens afterwards. I heard the audiobook narrated by Rebecca Gibel and she was an absolutely fantastic narrator. Her accent, her enunciation, her voicing of the individual characters and her emotional nuances – all were spot on. A special thank you to author Debra Doxer for the audio ARC of the book in exchange for an honest review.