Greif, Jean-Jacques. The Fighter. New York: Bloomsbury Children’s Books, 2006 (originally published in French in 1998), 223 p. $16.95. ISBN 1-58234-891-X, Pbk. (reviewed from uncorrected advance proof)

     This fictionalized account of a Holocaust survivor’s story doesn’t pull any punches. From the first sentence to the last, we are caught up in Moshe Wisniak’s first-person, present-tense account of his life. The impoverished boy grows up in Warsaw and when he is fourteen years old, moves with his family to Paris. Wherever he is, Moshe fights—Polish schoolboys, a Jewish carter called Fat Yatché, French thugs who admire the Nazis. He becomes renowned for his athletic prowess, especially in boxing. Like a boxer’s fancy footwork, Moshe’s story moves quickly. A romance in 1935 leads to marriage and the birth of a son, but his life falls apart when the Germans invade France. In 1941, he and his brother are put on a cattle car to Auschwitz. And that’s where his troubles really begin.

     The second half of The Fighter is a litany of horrors about the transport, the camps, the gas chambers, and the death march. Haunting images fill the text: “We perceive shreds of screams, carried by the wind’s uneven breath.” (p. 124) Still, Moshe fights to survive and preserve his humanity. For the most part, he succeeds.

     Without being heavy-handed, Greif includes historical events as part of the narrative. He gives a fascinating account of Polish Jews in Paris between the two world wars. They speak Yiddish but change their names, feel awed by modern conveniences like electricity and running water, and are drafted into the Polish army in exile.

     The footnotes in this novel occasionally break the flow of the narrative. Endnotes and a glossary would have been more effective.

     Because of the violence and graphic details of the nightmare that was the Holocaust, this book is recommended for ages 15 and up.

© Anne Dublin.

Originally published in AJL Newsletter, Feb/March 2007.

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