I was expecting this to be a depressing, horrifying story, but it was anything but. These girls survived something unthinkable and came out of seemingly alright...The author and his mother, Zhanna, came to my area to give a talk. Although I couldn't go, my students and the faculty who did get to go, said Zhanna was lovely, spry, and completely irrepressible! She told them a bit of her story, but her son really just wanted her to play for the audience, which she did fabulously!! (the kids made a short recording of her for me)Many of the individuals who went to see her and her son have now purchased and reading this book. And if this is something you can get teenagers to read and fight over copies of, you've really got something! In this memoir by the main character's son, we learn of Zhanna, a Russan piano prodigy whose parents and grandparents die in a roundup of all Jews by the Germans early in the Second World War. Zhanna and her sister are saved from the this when her father bribes a soldier and tells her to do what is necessary to survive.We learn of her performances for the Germans that keep her alive to entertain the troops. And, eventually we follow her journeys in the aftermath of the war.
What do You think about La Pianista Bambina (2010)?
Well written Biography about how two girls survived WWII by playing the piano for Nazi soldiers!
—mina9398
Really interesting. I haven't read much about the Russian Jews. learned a lot.
—maari
