Now in paperback, this European bestseller won huge -acclaim from U.S. critics, Jonathan Yardley of theWashington Post Book Worlddeclared this memoir of a Holocaust girlhood and a life reclaimed "one of the best books of 2001 . . . a book of surpassing, and at times brutal, honesty. . . . Among the many reasons thatStill Aliveis such an important book is its insistence that the full texture of women’s existence in the Holocaust be acknowledged."
Ruth Kluger’s story of her years in several concentration camps, and her struggle to establish a life after the war as a refugee survivor in New York, has emerged as one of the most powerful accounts of the Holocaust. Still Alive is a memoir of the pursuit of selfhood against all odds, a fiercely bittersweet coming-of-age story in which the protagonist must learn never to rely on comforting assumptions, but always to seek her own truth.
"A deeply moving and significant work . . . compared by European critics to the work of Primo Levi and Elie Wiesel."-Publishers Weekly
"A stunning contemplation of human relationships, power and the creation of history. . . . A work of such nuance, intelligence and force that it leaps the bounds of genre."-Kirkus Reviews
Ruth Klugeris professor emerita of German at the University of California, Irvine. She is the author of five books about German literature and the recipient of Austria’s National Prize for Literary Criticism. Her widely translated memoir has won eight European Literary awards. Lore Segal’s writings include the novelsOther People’s HousesandHer First American.