"My Real Name is Hanna" begins in the present day from the perspective of adult Hanna Slivka (who now goes by Marcelina Rosenberg) as she shares her story with her daughter. She details the experiences she and her family went through between 1941-1945 as they struggled to survive the Holocaust in their hometown of Kwasova in Ukraine during WWII – events that led to her family finally leaving behind their home, their country and even their real names.

The story begins with a brief picture of the changing political landscape as the Nazi occupy Ukraine and the growing intolerance and discriminatory practices against the Jewish population that follows. Fourteen-year-old Hanna’s life changes as she can no longer move about freely, is unable to attend school and her family struggles to make ends meet with the meager rations allotted to them. While most of their acquaintances turn away from them, they do find kindness in a few who are willing to help them including their neighbor, Mrs. Petrovich, with whom Hanna shares a beautiful friendship. As the Germans call for "Judenfrei”, a Jew-free Ukraine, the Slivka family is forced to flee their home and take shelter in a cabin in the forest to avoid being hunted, deported, or killed. When they sense they are no longer safe there, the Slivka family, along with others, make their way to the gypsum caves near the valley further away from their shtetele where they spend over one year in hiding. What follows is a harrowing account of a family forced to fight illness, starvation and the constant threat of discovery and their struggle to stay alive and keep one another safe.

“Abram Slivka (my Papa)
Eva Slivka (my Mama)
Hanna Slivka (14 years old, loves to read)
Leeba Slivka (12 years old, loves to sew)
Symon Slivka (10 years old, a really good boy
who loves his dog)
Ovid (our dog)
Steed (our horse)
We all lived in this house until October 12, 1942. If
you find this,
say these names out loud, please, and bury this paper
in the yard.”

Just as other works that revolve around the Holocaust, this is not an easy read. I did like how the author weaves bits of Ukrainian and Jewish traditions, culture and folklore throughout the narrative. The author’s note at the end of the book states that though this book is a work of fiction, the story was inspired by the true account of the Stermer family (reference Esther Stermer’s memoir "We Fight to Survive") who spent over 500 days in gypsum caves to avoid capture by the Germans. She also mentions that only 5 % of Jews in all of Ukraine survived the Holocaust.

Tara Lynn Masih’s “My Real Name is Hanna” is a story about courage, resilience and survival. This is an important, well-written and well-researched story - the kind that should be read and shared and never forgotten. Though the target audience is YA and thus the tone is somewhat subdued, I feel that this would appeal to adults who are interested in historical fiction set in the WWII era. ( )

3.5 Stars ( )

Wow! What a great book! Loved this historical fiction about a Jewish Ukrainian family that survived WWII by hiding I forests and caves, as told from the perspective of Hanna, a teenage girl. She is relating the story to her child, looking back on her past experiences. This book is based on a true story of Esther Stermer’s family, as recorded in her book We Fight to Survive and a documentary film entitled No Place on Earth.

The book is engrossing and well-crafted. Her prose exudes a simple and discreet beauty. It is one of the few books I’ve read about the events of WWII taking place in the Ukraine, where the populace dealt first with Russian control under Stalin and then the Nazis under Hitler. While concentration camps and slaughter of the Jewish population is referenced, the violent horrors are kept at arm’s length, as befitting a novel targeted toward young adults. I appreciated the author’s descriptions of nature and her ability to tell a moving story, while weaving in appealing flourishes such as Ukrainian folklore and Jewish traditions.

Recommended to anyone interested in stories of survival during the Holocaust of age twelve to adult. I found it a powerful and touching narrative of courage and the will to survive, aided by the kindness of a few good-hearted people.

I received an advance reader’s copy from the publisher via NetGalley in return for a candid review. Release date is September 18, 2018. ( )

One of the first sentences that grabbed me in this one was the one that talked about geography and where exactly Hana’s story is set. If you’re from a large or fairly isolated country, it may be easy to overlook how fluid boundaries and borders are historically. And when Hana remarks that the place she lives has been called Austria, Poland, and the date the story starts is part of Ukraine, it really hits home. And also sets the stage for the cultural cruelty described—the Russian government trying to stamp out traces of Polish language and culture, Stalin being anti-religion, the widespread discrimination against Jews, etc.

I loved the descriptions in this, of the war gradually worsening, of Hana’s world growing smaller and more bleak, of the measures they had to take to hide and survive. This tale is a bit different from some of the other WW2 stories you often read, and I found the setting interesting.

Please excuse typos/name misspellings. Entered on screen reader. ( )

Interview with author at the bottom!

My Review: https://youtu.be/9u7CQQrokZs

I got this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

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I think this book was written beautifully. Hanna's attention to detail and youthfulness came out in the novel. They had a strong, loveable voice that I could hear in the back of my head I read the book. The description in this novel was amazing. Little things were described with just one extra word, the flowers were yellow, and it somehow made the book more complete. It made Hanna feel like a fully fleshed-out person living in the real world. It might seem like nothing in just one small example, but when many are strung together they paint an amazing picture. The author managed to hit the sweet spot with the description. It was just a bit more than I'm used to, but not enough to be boring or to take away from the story.

There wasn't much in the way of the plot. It was a survival story about families and struggles and ties. I found it slow at some points for there wasn't much action. Still, I never completely lost interest in this novel, which was surprising as having it on my laptop meant I sometimes when a while without reading it and I wasn't carrying it around with me everywhere as I do with paper copies of books. This book always drew me back in.

The family feeling in the book was very present. I felt connected to all the characters and none of the relationships felt forced or unnatural. My hopes and desires were with them as I read. I was entirely captivated by all their dynamics and their necessity to stay together and I felt as sad as Hanna did when they all had to part ways.

I loved the aspect that it was Hanna telling tp story to her children. While knowing this from the beginning, I knew that Hanna had to live, but I still felt like she was in physical danger at times and was always concerned for those around her. It seemed a bit odd that it was told in the present tense, but it was an engaging choice as it was narrated in the first person.

Storytelling was a big aspect of this book. There was a bit where the adults were just telling stories to the children, and it was so interesting to see what they decided to tell. They talked about family mostly, and I loved how I could see what they valued and what they wanted their children to value when they could finally be free.

Interview with the author Tara Lynn Masih:

Q: What are the differences between writing short stories and a novel?
A: For me, it's a huge difference. The length of the course comes into play. I have a natural tendency to condense, as poets do, so it was a struggle for me to expand the narration. I get bored when there is too much filler in books, so I had to find a good balance between making the reader feel like they are living in Hanna's shoes, but not letting the story get too mundane for me. Still, it's a short book. Some don't like its brevity, but luckily, so far, most do.

Q: Why did you choose to write this book in the present tense?
A: That's an excellent question! The first final draft was actually in the typical past tense, but some editors complained that the action did not seem immediate. My preference has always been to write in the present. My writing flows better. But being that this was the first novel, I tried to fit it into the standard mold that editors find more acceptable. Bad idea. Go with what your strengths are. I painstakingly converted the whole manuscript back to present tense, and we got multiple offers.

Q: What do you think the ethics are of writing about historical events and figures?
A: Another wonderful question. I can't speak about ethics in general for all writers, I can only speak about what I tried to follow. First, I was inspired by a real family, the Stermers. But I did not want to "steal" their story. I believe it should mostly be left for their descendants to tell, out of respect for their trauma. So I fictionalized a whole town and family, and only borrowed impersonal events, dates, survival skills, and two small quotes. Also, in writing about the Holocaust, I did not go fully into the nightmarish atrocities that befell the Jewish population, as some other books have. But my personal feeling was that if I did, I would somehow be desecrating it. ( )