The Garden - Hardcover

Matas, Carol

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0590123815 ISBN 13: 9780590123815

Publisher: Simon & Schuster, 1997

Synopsis

During the struggle to create the state of Israel in 1947, Ruth Mendolsohn, who helped young refugees flee Poland in "After the War", is a member of the Haganah, a group of Israeli fighters that believes only in self-defense. Her brother thinks that terrorism is necessary to get results. War seems inevitable and both will have to fight. Will they find the security of a place they can call home?

About this title

From School Library Journal

Grade 8 Up. In After the War (S & S, 1996), Matas related the story of a 15-year-old concentration camp survivor, Ruth Mendelson, and told of her journey from Poland to Palestine. The Garden is set in and around Kibbutz David, where Ruth now lives. It is November 1947, and the United Nations is preparing to vote on a plan to partition Palestine into Jewish and Arab lands. Ruth describes the difficulties the kibbutzniks face as British troops stand by and Arabs attack. She struggles with conflicting feelings about armed confrontation and longs for peace and security. Ruth is a courageous, sensitive young woman whose actions, ideas, and ideals are genuine and thought-provoking. Her first-person, present-tense narration is engrossing and unaffected. The other characters are well delineated, particularly Ruth's wisecracking boyfriend. The Garden is a riveting, relevant novel that raises tough questions?and provides no easy answers. It will be useful in units on war and conflict, but it's also a truly good read.?Ann W. Moore, Schenectady County Public Library, NY
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Gr. 7^-10. In this sequel to the fine docunovel After the War (1996), 16-year-old Holocaust survivor Ruth Mendelson is on a kibbutz in Palestine in 1947, caught up in the war against the Arabs, a reluctant combatant--and killer--in the guerrilla conflict. Ruth's first-person, present-tense narrative tells of brutal action, including massacre by Arabs and Jews. She tells it quietly, trying to be fair to different Jewish views about the war, caught herself between her brother's extremism and those who fight only in self-defense. She is trying to make a home, trying to forget ("All I want is to live in peace"). This is not as strong as the first book. Each character seems be here to represent a viewpoint, and the story is purposive, more political warfare than fiction. Hazel Rochman

Edition details

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Publication date: 1997
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0590123815
• ISBN 13: 9780590123815
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 112