Thank you NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for providing me a copy of this audiobook. I found myself enjoying the memories of survival and love. Finding love in a place of horrors and find ways to make that love grow. A very humble man filled with courage strength and determination.

#NetGalley

#BauArtistAtWar

This review is painful for me to write. I received the audiobook as an ARC. The forward had me so excited about this book; it sounded like a beautiful but sad story about finding love during wartime. Unfortunately, this one was not a win for me. The author tells amazing stories that pull you into the problem that there are major gaps in time. I almost felt like I was reading a selection of short stories. For example, you miss a lot of the meeting, falling in love, etc, part of the love story but then get this amazingly written story about the wedding night and how he is almost captured and killed that night. I will say the scenes that are focused on are amazing! I really loved that this book goes past the war, and you actually see parts of the trials for those who are guilty of war crimes, which I have never read in a book. I honestly wish this book had been double the length; it might have been a 5-star. The stories we do get are well done, horrible to read, but beautifully written. I just hated the gaps in the book, and the gaps also made it harder for me to connect to the characters.

Overall this book was quite interesting, and started well, but I feel it could do with more substance later on. I really enjoyed the start which read like a story until Bau went into the camp. At this point I felt it became disjointed although still kept the attention and was harrowing what Bau went through, as you would expect. It felt it fell a bit flat as the book went on and struggled to keep my attention. There was very little about Rebecca or the story between Joseph & Rebecca and I wanted to learn more. The end of the book jumped but I didn't feel it was explained very well, was a struggle to get through the last part of the book.
I would give 2.5 but unable to add halves so rated 3.

I don't like rating books like this because it is based off of someone life/true events. I loved the story and it was told so well. These stories always tug at my heart

I am really in my memoir / non fiction era this year and I am loving it. I always rend to gravitate to WWII related books when I read historical fiction / non fiction. Joseph Bau a Holocaust survivor and artist tells his story through words and art.
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Did you ever see Schindlers List? You know the scene where two of the prisoners in Plaszow Concentration camp get married? Well, that scene, that was an enactment of real life Joseph Bau and his wife Rebecca. This is a story of love, loss, fierceness and bravery.
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An incredibly brave man to discuss what most certainly had to be the worst period of his life. It’s so difficult to hear what all of those people were put through. It is astounding the resilience of all of the survivors, they are truly heroes.
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Joseph tells this stories through his drawings and takes the reader through the concentration camp, telling his story and exactly what he remembers. This was very powerful and eye opening. It is most definitely a must read!
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I listened to this one via audiobook and it was narrated by Assaf Cohen. I would have loved to have the imagery right in front of me while reading to really enhance what I was hearing but overall it did not take away from my experience. I love how well this was narrated, highly recommend reading this one alongside the book for the picture purposes.
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Overall, a must read for sure. A truly compelling and powerful story. Huge thank you to NetGalley, Joseph Bau and Blackstone Publishing for the ALC in exchange for my honest review.

My thanks to Net Galley and Blackstone Publishing for an advanced copy of this audiobook. It was so well done and narrated by Assaf Cohen. This true story of Joseph and Rebecca Bau from Poland who lived in the ghetto's and then Palszow Concentration Camp. They were secretly married in the camp, as depicted in Steven Spielberg's movie, Schindler's List.

The book, which I haven't seen, has Joseph Bau's art depicting the ghettos and camp they survived. This book shows the hope and love and even humor that they survived with during this horrific period of time. As many books as I've read on the Holocaust, there were still some new things I learned in this book

This was extremely hard to listen to I think a different narrator or something would help. I just think this is a book I would need to read in physical or ebook