Book Review: One Hundred Saturdays by Michael Frank

My Rating:

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

At the age of fourteen, Stella Levi, the youngest of seven children born to Miriam and Yehuda Levi, leaves a packed suitcase near the door of her family home in the Juderia, the Jewish Quarter on the Island of Rhodes. The suitcase was symbolic of her aspirations - to finish school and attend university in Italy, to travel and learn and see the world beyond her sheltered life. But life had other plans for her. Seven years later, on July 23, 1944, she is one of the 1,650 Jewish population of Rhodes who are rounded up by the Germans and sent to Auschwitz, along with her parents and immediate elder sister Renee. It was one of the longest journeys (in terms of both time and distance) of any deportation during the Holocaust. Ninety percent of her fellow Rhodeslis would not survive the concentration camps.

In 2015, author Michael Frank meets ninety-two-year-old Stella in Greenwich Village. Over a hundred Saturdays spanning six years, Stella shares her story with Mike who views Stella as “a Scheherazade, a witness, a conjurer, a time traveler” who shares her journey with him.

Stella extensively details her early life in Rhodes including the history of the Sephardic Jews- their language, customs and traditions and the way of life in the Juderia. She also talks about the changing political landscape of the region and how it impacted the lives of residents of the island- both inside and outside the Juderia. More than half of the book is devoted to Stella’s life before deportation – her family, her dreams and how life changed for her and her family with the promulgation of racial laws in 1938 and the persecution of Jews that followed. Though her family followed the news of the war on the radio (which was prohibited), they had never known about the concentration camps until they were sent to Auschwitz. Initially, she is reluctant to talk much about her experiences in the concentration camps as she does not those experiences to define her story. However, having established a level of trust with the author , she eventually gives him a glimpse into the horrific period she spent in the camps , having been shuttled from Auschwitz- Birkenau to Dachau and the satellite camps before the camps were liberated by the Allied Forces. Stella goes on to share how she rebuilt her life in the aftermath of WWII- dealing with the loss of those who perished in the camp, the difficult choices she had to make, her journey from Italy to the United States with the memories of the home she left behind and the uncertainty that lay ahead. As we follow Stella's life through the years we see how she refuses to be defined by her tragic past but chooses to live life as she sees fit- constantly reinventing herself as the situation demanded.

“Very early on, almost from the beginning, something curious happened. I detached myself from the Stella who was in Auschwitz. It was as if everything that was happening to her was happening to a different Stella, not the Stella I was, not the Stella from Rhodes, the Stella I knew. I watched this person, this other Stella, as she walked through this desert, but I was not this person.” After a moment she adds, “There was no other way.”

Michael Frank's “One Hundred Saturdays” is a well-written, moving and insightful biography. The narrative is structured in the order of the conversations he has with Stella Levi. Stella's story gives us a glimpse into the history of the former Jewish Quarter of Rhodes, Greece. Her decision to share her story largely stems from her desire to preserve the history of her community. I had no knowledge of the the history of the Jewish community of Rhodes before reading this book. The descriptions of the culture and customs were both interesting and informative. Maira Kalman's beautiful full-color illustrations depicting scenes from Stella's life are a lovely addition to the narrative. Stella's story , though heartbreaking, is ultimately one of courage, survival and resilience, and commands both respect and admiration. Overall, this beautifully penned biography is an absorbing read that I would definitely recommend.

Many thanks to Avid Reader Press, Michael Frank and NetGalley for the digital review copy. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.