Bending Toward the Sun: A Mother and Daughter Memoir by Leslie Gilbert-Lurie

 ⭐⭐⭐ (Good)

A memoir of three generations of Jewish women - mother, daughter, and granddaughter - dealing with the affects the Holocaust had on individuals from the survivor to a generation twice removed.

In 1942, Rita Lurie, grandmother, was just five years old, when German tanks appeared on her family's lawn in Poland requiring them to appear at the train station the following day. During the night, the family went into hiding. They were eventually taken in by a family that allowed them to live in their attic for two years. During this time, Rita's mother and brother die. Unfortunately, these deaths had a negative impact on her ability to form relationships for the rest of her life. 

Rita and some of her family eventually arrive in America, and the memoir chronicles her life and that of her daughter's and granddaughter's. These stories also introduce a number of family members - some interesting, others not so much.

The story of Rita and her family's surviving the Holocaust is very good. The second half of the book shares the struggle Rita's daughter, Leslie Gilbert-Lurie, and granddaughter, Mikaela Lurie, have due to the influences that survivors "pass on to their descendants."

One of the things that made this book not appeal to me was the overuse of figurative expressions, such as "It was like a schoolteacher clumsily motivating a tired student." The use of these phrases became comical and wordy.

I rated the book 3/5 stars because the story of Rita surviving the Holocaust was excellent. The book was a struggle to finish due to the second half of the book which seemed to drag on forever.

“It was Mom whom I could not live without. Fathers, I was convinced, could not replicate the emotional security and nurturing that mothers provided.” - Bending Toward the Sun: A Mother and Daughter Memoir

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