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The Neighbor's Son

by:
Liesel Appel (Author)

ISBN: 0-7414-2777-X ©2005
Price: $19.95
Book Size: 5.5'' x 8.5'' , 401 pages
Category/Subject: BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Personal Memoirs

When 9 year old German Liesel discovers her family Nazi secret she begins her lifelong search for new identity only to discover that she can’t change who she is.

Abstract:
What if you awakened one day and realized your parents were part of unspeakable evil? Do you turn away from them and therefore yourself? The unique coming of age story of Liesel and her preoccupation with finding her neighbor’s son is extremely eventful and takes the reader from postwar Germany to England, Africa and the United States. It explores interconnectedness between victim and perpetrator and touches on universal themes of family, forgiveness, guilt and justice. This candid account of a family’s history combined with a flawed protagonist’s sexual history will strike deep emotional responses in a thoughtful reader.

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Customer Reviews

  The Author's Search for Truth and Justice , 10/22/2005
Reviewer: Carol H. Treiber
Uplifting!! Inspiring!! The true story of the author's personal journey from young innocence forever lost to a passionate and lifelong quest for justice. For me, a German by birth, it was a heart-wrenching return to postwar Germany with intense gratitude to Liesel Appel for her ongoing determination and fortitude to seek justice. She exemplifies the words of the late Mahatma Gandhi: "You must be the change you wish to see in the world." Liesel Appel - a woman to be admired, a must book to read.

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  Seeking Justice , 10/24/2005
Reviewer: Donna
An intriguing story about a German woman who feels compelled to right a wrong, committed by her family and fellow countrymen. Highly recommended.

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  Witness , 10/25/2005
Reviewer: Robert Eaton Kelley
From a young girl’s shock at the discovery of the Nazis past of her German parents, to a young woman’s coming-of-age witness to the injustices of nations, to a mature woman’s courageous determination to tell her story to the world, Liesel Appel’s The Neighbor’s Son is one individual’s fascinating memoir of a journey to moral truth, a mirror of universal truth for us all. A fascinating and exciting tale.

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  The Neighbor's Son; an emotional page turner , 10/26/2005
Reviewer: Frances Ewing
Liesel Appel's consuming empathy for society is an emotional rollercoaster for anyone who has an interest in Germany, civil rights in England, the European dominance in the Congo, the challenges for an interracial couple coming to the United States, and the day to day struggles of finding religious peace. All of these experiences are seen through the eyes of a woman who's trying to come to terms with the guilt she feels for her families involvement in Germany in the 1930's and 40's.

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  An Exceptional Story of Courage , 10/26/2005
Reviewer: Peggy Manz
"Courageous" is the word that often came to mind as Liesel Appel bared heart and soul in her personal story. Because of long ties with German friends, it reminded me in a poignant way of the guilt and shame that robbed multitudes of their pride and sense of patriotism. Sadly, as a result, those positive sentiments were often not passed on to their offspring. The book reveals the author's daring and brave journey as she fought against the cruelties of prejudice and her intense path as she seeeks and finds her own peace.

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  Riveting!!! , 10/26/2005
Reviewer: Yitta Halberstam
As the daughter of a holocaust survivor, I was particularly fascinated by Liesel Appel's riveting memoir. I grew up consumed by my parents' and relatives experiences, never imagining that children of perpetrators would be engulfed by their own legacy of guilt and responsibility. Liesel's extraordinary journey is the journey of love and redemption. For those of us struggling with minor and mundane changes, Liesel's account of her personal trajectory is utterly inspiring and transformational. Highly recommended!

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  highly recomended , 10/27/2005
Reviewer: herta bovshow
i was totally taken by this book. exeptionaly well written and hard to put down. just tells you how a little girl growing into a woman, carries guilt and shame through her whole life, comes out a survivor and finds the strengt and ability to write about it My Coment : exellent, a must read.

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  STANDING ROOM ONLY!! , 10/28/2005
Reviewer: Don H. Appel
On our second date LieseL,her one year old Grand Daughter,Jesica,riding in her stroller were on a walk when Liesel began to relate her lifes journey to me. The words were measured and spoken with great difficulty. For me this was the beginning of a 15 year witnessing of Liesel's creation of a musical score in words that create all of the emotions,drama,and tears that brings one to their feet chanting 'BRAVO BRAVO'

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  This is terrific , 10/30/2005
Reviewer: Eileen Barker
This is the best book I've read this year - it is beautifully written, and the story is gripping. It is 'human' in the best senses of the word. I had tears in my eyes on more than one occasion. I can’t wait for the next one. Liesel Appel knows how to say important things so they can be heard.

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  Heart gripping, Chilling! , 11/06/2005
Reviewer: Ursula Duba
Liesel Appel's book is heart gripping, chilling, and almost hard to believe--that decent, caring people like her parents gave in to the most evil forces and thereby denied even to themselves that they were in fact participating in genocidal atrocities. How is it possible to delude oneself so totally? Her father a much revered educator to boot! Hadn't her parents been taught the basics of an ethical civilization: "Thou shall not kill" and "Treat your neighbors as thyself?" Liesel Appel brilliantly succeeds in her wrenching endeavor to lay bare the loss of her parents'humanity, despite the fact that she was a coveted and much loved child, especially by her Papa, the adored hero of her early childhood. In describing this process of dehumanization of her parents and other adults around her, she is unreservedly forthcoming and unflinchingly honest. Not once does she escape into abstract evasions. Besides, this book shows us the nature of her soul stripped down to its very (sweet and caring)essence and therby she gives witness to her own deep humanity-despite having been raised by deluded, hateful (criminal) nazis who notwithstanding that they thought of themselves as belonging to the "people of poets and thinkers" abandoned their own judgement of what's right and wrong and discarded any notion of empathy for those they considered THE OTHER. In this process, Ms.Appel's parents voluntarily became thugs of the lowest kind. By describing how painful it was for Ms.Appel to see her adoring parents for who they were, I want to express my gratitude for her courage to embrace the truth rather than run away from it. Besides being an inspiration for us all, I would like to recommend this book to any school library, to any college and university and to anyone who wants to know why the Germans, a highly literate and civilized people, most of them baptized Christians who had been taught the Ten Commandments, lowered themselves into cruel, life-destroying barbarity.

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  Written from the Heart , 11/06/2005
Reviewer: Alphonse Fazio
Liesel Appel's story is an honest, direct telling of her past, and her life-long attempt for redemption, in the eyes of others, but most importantly, within herself. This is a work written straight from the heart, which will touch yours. Alphonse Fazio

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  Passion and Compassion! , 11/09/2005
Reviewer: Professor Alan L. Berger
The Neighbor's Son is a compellingly honest and important work. It is written with both passion and compassion, shedding light on a too little known dimension of the Holocaust legacy on certain members of the German second generation. The concern of some and the indifference of most is attested through Liesel Appel's own witness. I hope that this book will appear in German. Also the description of the prejudice and duplicity rampant in the Palm Beaches of the 80's--and not totally absent today--is right on the mark.

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  Inspiring , 12/09/2005
Reviewer: Karen Nilsen
Leisel Appel's lifelong determination to see justice done is inspiring. It takes an awesome amount of courage to confront your family and birth nation, the source of your life and childhood teachings, and say "What you did was wrong." Leisel does just that in this book, and the result is humbling to me. This woman has had an amazing life, and she tells about it with a straightforward honesty that makes for a very compelling read. My dad and I, who usually differ in our taste in books, both had a hard time putting it down.

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