All But My Life

Gereda and her family are the picture of a perfect family; mom, dad, daughter and son; the only catch is that they are Jewish. When the Germans invade Geredas family lives have changed faster than they ever realized. My heart was aching when I was reading because the whole time I was anticipating when the Germans would rip their family apart or kill any of them. I could relate to Gereda when her brother had to leave to go to the war because my cousin was sent to Iraq two years ago and that was on of the hardest things I have ever hard to do. When he left he didn't shed one tear and he would not look back at any of us because he said that he wanted to remember us in a happy way, not when we were all sobbing. Page 31 broke my heart when the family had to sell all of their belongs and all of their neighbors buying all of their memories or nothings. Abek is so in love with Gereda and it has to be so hard to tell someone that no she will not marry him. She is put in such a tough situation when his family offers to pay for her to have a working permit. This is Gereda's chance to get out be safe but she knew this would mean she would have to marry Abek and she was just not in love with him. That had to be so hard for her and if I was in that position I am not sure if I would have been able to say I wouldn't take the permit. (pg. 105-106) I have lost my father and I could never imagine losing my whole family. I have so much respect for Gereda because she was able to pull herself together and survive, I truly can not say that I would have been able to do that.