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The Boy on the Wooden Box by Leon Leyson (view source)
Revision as of 08:29, 25 July 2013
, 08:29, 25 July 2013no edit summary
Even working for Schindler, life for Leon's family is full of privation and danger. And not everyone in the family will make it.
Sadly, Leon Leyson didn't live to see his book published. He died in January 2013, just one day after his manuscript was received by his US editor. But the important thing is that he lived a long life after World War II ended, thanks to Oskar Schindler. He finished the education interrupted by the Nazis. He had a profession and a career. He fell in love, got married and had children and grandchildren whom he loved and who loved him back. All thanks to Oskar Schindler. And eventually, he came to terms with his past. These are things to be thankful for. And they are also things that make ''The Boy on the Wooden Box'' the perfect companion to ''The Diary of Anne Frank''. In the middle of all that horror and darkness, there were pockets of hope and light.
I loved Leon's story. It's honestly and simply told. It paints a vivid picture of life in Poland before WWII and an equally vivid picture of the hell endured under the Nazis. But it never revels in suffering. Readers will understand exactly why Leon was reluctant to share his story in later life and will like him even more for his eventual decision to share it. It's honest and it's heartbreaking but it leaves you with a determination to do better, to ''be'' better. I hope that's testament enough.