Quick Book Reviews Blog

Alice Hoffman has quite the unique flair in telling her stories, and The World That We Knew only further affirms this, taking us to an alternate view of Europe in 1941, colored heavily by the author's own brand of magical realism. The story follows a twelve-year-old girl, Lea, sent away by her mother to hide her from the Nazi regime. With the help of a Rabbi's daughter, Ettie, and a magical golem made specially for Lea, the trio set out on their own unforgettable adventures where evil waits at every corner.

Though there is a certain push towards individuality in many parts of the world today, the truth is that the weird are still more often than not considered abnormal in a negative way and ostracized from society through various methods. It has been like that for as long as humanity existed, though it seems that our intellectual development in recent centuries has allowed us to embrace the weird and the peculiar, to find the charm and appeal of uniqueness they present.