Monday, December 7, 2015

‘Train’ Follows Its Own Track

by: Avigial Albert for Fresh Ink for Teens

Teens take center stage in this riveting Holocaust novel by Danny M. Cohen


There are many forgotten people scattered over the pages of history, and it’s a great privilege to hear from them like we do in “Train,” a novel by Danny M. Cohen published in January. The story is set over a 10-day span in 1943 Germany, and it chronicles the efforts of six teens — Marko, Tsura, Kizzy, Alex, Ruti and Elise — to escape and keep each other safe from the Nazi round-ups bursting almost spontaneously into existence all around them.

To tell the truth, in the beginning I was totally bewildered, mostly because the book's point of view switches between all those different characters.  It took a while to settle into the natural rhythm of the book, but once I did — well, I won't say I enjoyed it, because the Holocaust isn't an enjoyable theme — the story was just plain fascinating. The various plotlines began to make sense and the characters managed to separate themselves from the vague, overwhelming tangle of personas a reader often encounters at the beginning of a book.

Continue reading.

Follow us on   

No comments:

Post a Comment