Reviews

A well-respected Polish journalist, Krall survived World War II as a child by hiding in a succession of Polish homes. The Subtenant , the first of two works in this volume, is his semiautobiographical novel about the experiences of a young Polish Jew during the Nazi occupation. Krall presents the horrors of the war as a surreal comic nightmare, with ``brightness'' and ``blackness'' as the prevailing forces. To be born into the right Polish family gave one privilege and brightness; to be a Jewish child hidden in gentile homes isolated one in blackness. The story has several voices--some of which carry the character's moral and political dilemmas into the present. To Outwit God , the other work in this volume, was previously published as Shielding the Flame: An Intimate Conversation with Dr. Marek Edelman, the Last Surviving Leader of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising ( LJ 8/86). Provoked into a fascinating discussion about heroes and heroism, Edelman gives an eyewitness account of the Jewish uprising and conveys his dedication as a physician and Solidarity activist. The two works together form a strong memoir of Jewish survival in the Holocaust and provide background for modern Polish opposition movements such as Solidarity. Recommended for most collections.-- Molly Abramowitz, Silver Spring, Md.