Other People's Houses

by Lore Segal

Book Overview

"An immensely impressive, unclassifiable book." -The New Republic

Originally published in 1964 and hailed by critics including Cynthia Ozick and Elie Wiesel, Other People's Houses is Lore Segal's internationally acclaimed semi-autobiographical first novel.

Nine months after Hitler takes Austria, a ten-year-old girl leaves Vienna aboard a children's transport that is to take her and several hundred children...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1565849507
• ISBN13: 9781565849501
• Release Date: November 2004
• Publisher: New Press
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.2" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

Deserves to be in print

This is a fine memoir in general but the first part (about two thirds of the book) is outstanding in particular. It chronicles the author's life as she is sent by her parents from 1938 Vienna to England, where she lives with several families over the course of the war--from a household of well-off orthodox Jews in Liverpool to one of working class lapsed Christians in the south to the fine house of two elderly and wealthy sisters. Along the way, she describes events from the child's point of view--she was just short of eleven when she began her journey--never allowing her adult consciousness to comment on matters. (Not explicity, at least.) The result is often humorous, as she describes the inevitable cultural and linguistic differences, and that surely makes this an unusual "Holocaust memoir," which I suppose it is on some level.In addition to writing of her own little triumphs and misfortunes, Lore Segal also writes about her parents, who were fortunate enough to join her in England several months after her own arrival. (For various reasons, they were never actually able to live together again as a family in the same domicile.) Fortunate may not be the best word, since her father, already in poor health, suffered with various ailments before dying in 1944. He had been a bank's chief accountant in Austria, and his wife a highly cultured pianist, but while in England they had no choice but to work as gardener (the father) and cook (the mother). The author writes movingly (but not mawkishly) of their struggles. Interestingly, the mother, who adapted well and worked tirelessly, is portrayed in near heroic terms while the father is shown as not only a phyical failure but, I would say, also as a moral one. He is constantly described as breaking down and weeping, and one wonders if the author was ashamed of him, or perhaps she was more ashamed of herself for being ashamed of him. One can at least sympathize with an adolescent girl, feeling confusion while witnessing her father decline in a foreign land.Minor criticisms: I would have preferred another 100 pages on the author's time in England; this is the locus of the book's value and what distinguishes it from others. The material on the time spent in the Dominican Republic--her uncle, her mother, and her maternal grandparents were all there with her--was, to me, less interesting. The final chapter concerns her arrival and first years in New York City. I think all that could have been put into one short chapter and the space given over to, say, more about her school experiences in England. And finally, although Segal published the book when she was about thirty, I would have liked some commentary at the end from the adult's perspective, wondering what sense she made of it all at that point in her life.Others may disagree and like part two as much as part one. I'm sure no one will disagree that part one is a fascinating story, and one very well told.

Other People's Houses

After I saw Ms. Segal interviewed in the film, "Into the Arms of Strangers", I knew I had to read this book. She is incredibly engaging and candid. I found myself reading this book while attempting other chores, it gripped me so much. One gets the feel of sitting down in a parlor with her and sipping coffee (or English tea) as she unfolds a captivating story of escape, disenchantment, survival and hope. The only thing better for me would have been actually meeting her in person. I highly recommend this book. I tell everyone I know to read it.

Brilliant Memoir

I have read so many holocaust memoirs that when I was given this book I wasn't that excited to read it. I was mistaken: no matter how much you have read on this subject, there's no substitute for reading Lore Segal. As a child she's sent on a kindertransport to England, and this memoir chronicles her youth there--as a guest in "other people's houses,"--as well as her advenutres (along with the rest of her refugee family) in the Dominican Republic, and, finally, New York--where she is at last able to establish her own home.Her voice is so strong, smart, and sophisticated that even when the story is at its saddest you'll find her an irresitable narrator.I not only loved reading this book, I learned from it.