Michel, Michel

by Robert J. Lewis and Robert Lewis

Book Overview

An explosive, emotional novel about a young Jewish boy whose parents die at the hands of the Nazis but he is saved by a Catholic Frenchwoman and raised in her faith. When the war ends Michel's aunt in... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0671472461
• ISBN13: 9780671472467
• Release Date: September 1967
• Publisher: Simon and Schuster
• Length: 735 Pages
• Weight: 1.75 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Michel, Michel

Robert Lewis, the author, was born in 1916. He has deicated his life to study, teaching, and writing. This novel is about the possession of the child Michel Benedek who is Jewish by birth but has been baptized in the Catholic Church by his rescuer at the end of WWII. Michel is a pawn in the struggle between the Catholic and the Jewish forces which reflect the general attitude of France towards anti-Semitism and anti-Clericalism which exists to this day. In the end Michel must make his own choice between the religion he was born with and the religion he fell into when he was rescued and adopted by a Catholic French woman. This compelling novel will keep the reader spellbound till the very end.

Michel, Michel, an under-appretiated book

I discovered this book on an obscure shelf in my library, and, on completing it, I went to find reviews online, and was shocked to find there were very few, so I will add my own, for this book is a masterpiece. It is a tale of a French Jewish boy who was taken in by a Catholic woman at age 3 when the Gestapo took his parents away. She raised him according to her faith and baptized him (despite the fact that he had been circumcised). Now, in 1948, his aunt in Israel wants him to come and live with her. The boy's adopted mother wants to keep him, and invokes the help of the Church. The extravagant custody battle that ensues shows us the incredibly complex and historic French legal system, and the anti-Semitic and anti-clerical views that prejudice it. Stuck in the middle of this, is Michel, a pitiful, confused boy who was told by various ignorant church leaders that the Jews were evil people who killed Jesus and deserved to be punished. The boy wonders whether he and his father, who he remembers with clarity and affection (and was never baptized), are damned for the nature of their birth. Too stubborn to tell anyone his feelings, he manifests them by being unusually pious, but he still does not know where he belongs. As the conflict around him escalates to the national level, the conflict in his heart drives him to an attempt suicide. This book shows us what happens when children are torn from their families (biological or otherwise) and pulled every which way. It also makes fascinating points about the nature vs. nurture issue, and leaves an ambiguous answer for the interpretation of the reader. It does not divide the world into the heroes (Jews) and antagonists (the Church), but, instead, shows us the faults of each side.

Interesting Jewish-Catholic dialogue

This book was very captivating! I think it is good in showing the problems found in Jewish-Catholic dialogue, including revealing prejudices and misconceptions on both sides. It reveals the anti-Semitic attitudes in France, which continue to cause problems though the setting is post WW2. It's a long book, but reads quickly.