Eva Wiseman,
Kanada
Tundra Books, 2006

Rating: E*

"We shall draw from the heart of suffering itself the means of inspiration and survival." - Sir Winston Churchill.

When Eva Wiseman uses this quote on the acknowledgement page of her newest novel Kanada she is epitomizing the plight of Jutka Weltner, the main character, who survives the ravages of World War II and the Holocaust. Wiseman divides her story into 3 parts - Limbo, Hell and Paradiso. In Limbo we are introduced to Jutka and her Jewish family who are living in Hungary. The year is 1944, her father and brother have been conscripted and her mother has been running the family business. Jutka and her friends, Jews and non-Jews, are still enjoying the freedom they experienced before the German occupation - they play together, go to school together, etc. Then, one day the Jewish students are ordered to sit at the back of the classroom, the next day they are told not to attend school anymore and things get worse from there, to the point where Jutka, her mother and grandmother, along with close friends, are deported to the Auschwitz concentration camp. Upon arrival the older women are separated from the younger girls and sent to the "ovens". Hell describes the ordeal Jutka and her friend Agi are put through as they fight starvation, dirt, lice, hard work, abuse and constant death among their inmates, in their struggle to stay alive and retain some hope of this "hell on earth" coming to an end. Paradiso focuses on what happens to Jutka and her friends after they are released from the concentration camps. Most of them have no relatives left, they have no homes and there is still much anti-Semitic feeling throughout the country. They are still living in camps with very little in personal belongings, still not knowing what the future holds for them.

Just before Jutka is sent to the concentration camp her family receives a package from a cousin in Canada. It contains food items but the item that Jutka appreciates most is a book about Canada. During her interment, she often finds herself dreaming of life in Canada, a vast country which appeared to offer freedom and she vows to go there if she survives. (Little did she know about Canada’s position on rejecting Jewish immigrants during the World War II). At Auschwitz, Jutka learns about another Kanada - the storehouse where possessions stripped from prisoners were stored and where Jutka is selected one day to be put to work. Although the possibility of staying there offeres more in the way of food and an easier work load, Jutka declines the offer and goes back to be with her friends. When the prisoners are released, Jutka meets and falls in love with a young Jewish man named Sandor who is intent on going to Eretz Isreal to make a new life for himself. When the time finally arrives to go Jutka has to make a decision which will affect the rest of her life - will she go with Sandor or will she follow her dream to go to Canada?

Wiseman has written a very poignant story based loosely on the experiences of her mother and father during World War II. Jutka is a very strong character who changes from an innocent young girl at the beginning of the novel to a mature young woman who has experienced more that any human should have to endure by the end of the story. Through her story we are shown the horrors of life inside the concentration camps and the persecution and prejudice which the Jewish people experienced even after the war was over as they tried to regain a place in society. While Wiseman writes vividly of the atrocities committed by the Nazis, her writing style is captivating and young people should find this book an excellent read. I recommend it for all junior high and high school programs which include World War II and the Holocaust in their history programs.

Thematic Links: World War II; Holocaust; Jews; Hungary

Victoria Pennell
Vol. 11, number 2
December 2005

*Rating System:
E - Excellent, enduring, everyone should see it!
G - Good, even great at times, generally useful!
A - Average, all right, has its applications.
P - Problematic, puzzling, poorly presented.