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mountains, his daily life at Auschwitz.
Little is mentioned of his marriage,
his children or his relationship with an
emotionally distant mother whose care
overwhelmed Levi during the last
years of his life. Those shortcomings
relate back to the very question haunt-
ing this biography: Why did Primo
Levi commit suicide 12 years ago?
Causes cannot be substituted with
plausible explanations. Levi himself
understood that distinction and used
it to stunning effect in his memoirs,
novels and poems.

— Reviewed by Judith Bolton-Fasman

My Life as a List: 207 Things About
My (Bronx) Childhood by Linda
Rosenkrantz (Clarkson Potter; 89 pp.;

$15)

In an afterword to My Life as a List,
Linda Rosenkrantz recalls that she was
on a plane from New York to Los
Angeles when she had the idea to jot
down memories from her childhood
in the form of a list. By the time her
plane landed, she had filled a note-
book and come up with the idea for
this captivating little book.
She expanded each of the ideas into
full anecdotal reminiscences that even-
tually totaled 207, and covered the
period from her first consciousness to
the birth of her sister and the arrival
of physical womanhood at age 11.
What started out as a very personal
memoir turns out to be a great deal
more for readers who discover this
treasure. From the snippets of recollec-
tions strung together by numbers
emerges a picture of girlhood that is at
once universal and unique.
In this intimate portrait,
Rosenkrantz bravely admits physical

"Tops on my list. .Their Filet Mignon"

shortcomings, emotional insecurity
and uncomfortable secrets. She once
won a prize for an essay that she real-
ized later was in part unwittingly pla-
giarized, and a relative once wrote a
fictitious newspaper article applauding
her generosity that wasn't true to get
publicity for himself.
She includes telling vignettes that
reveal the nature of her parents' rela-
tionship and their position in a lively
extended family whose members
included an aunt whose name was
never mentioned. She remembers
learning to play the accordion, reading
movie magazines, writing to pen pals,
not being able to swim and being a
Girl Scout.
Readers will recognize some part
of their childhood selves in this
story, but it also documents a very
specific time in history. As a Jewish
child during World War II,
Rosenkrantz suspected her mother of
being a spy for Hitler and bemoaned
the war she thought would never end
as she watched newsreels at the
movie theater. Later she wondered
about neighbors who subscribed to a
Communist newspaper. This slim
volume is liberally sprinkled with
photographs of the author as a child
and of the people she describes in
her reveries. Also included are news-
paper clippings, letters and an early
report card.
But enjoyable as it is to read, per-
haps the book's greatest value is in the
author's suggestion that others start
jotting down lists of their lives just as
she did. A few sentences recall whole
episodes and allow the writer to record
and pass along stories that otherwise
would have been lost.

— Reviewed by Glenda Winders

Judith Bolton Fasman is the
books editor for our sister publica-
tion the "Baltimore Jewish Times."
Jonathan Groner is a freelance
writer based in Washington, D. C.
Ellen Jaffe-Gill is the author of
"Embracing the Stranger" and the
editor of "The Jewish Women's
Book of Wisdom." Rebecca E.
Kotkin is a contributing editor to
"Jewish Family e7 Life." Marlena
Thompson is a freelance writer
based in Washington, D. C.
Deborah Walike is an editorial
assistant at the "Baltimore Jewish
Times." Glenda Winders writes
for Copley News Service.

-

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John Tanasychuk Detroit Free Press
.January 8th, 1999

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Detroit Jewish News

6 /25
1999

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