Real Time: A Multi-Voice Young Adult Novel About Holocaust Legacy and Identity in Modern Israel

my 7th grade grand daughter asked if i would read this book that she read in school, after i read it she and i spent time on a cold sunday afternoon talking about it, with a date to meet again to continue . now, how much better can this get!

In her novel Real Time, Pnina Moed Kass examines the effects of one fateful moment on the lives of many different people. Seemingly unrelated people are linked through their direct or indirect involvement in the explosion of an Israeli bus by a suicide bomber. Kass narrates through the perspective of many characters, including a teenage German trying to find information on his Nazi grandfather, a Holocaust survivor trying to keep his life from being disrupted again, and a young Palestinian trying to support his family by agreeing to become a shaheed. Kass's characterization is excellent. Each character has a voice that is not only distinct from all the others, but is also extremely believable. The reader may appreciate and even personally feel the dreams, hopes, and fears of each character. Kass complicates the "good guy-bad guy" dichotomy in this novel. We are led to sympathize with one of the potential suicide bombers, seeing his family's oppression and hearing his story in his own words. He sees Israel as his people's oppressor, like Nazi Germany was the Jewish people's oppressor. We also, however, sympathize with the victims of the explosion on the bus. Kass depicts life as it is--complicated. For every action, there is a long back story for each person involved. Through this fictional account, Kass allows us to see what the back story of a breaking news report might be. The number injured or killed is representative of individual people, each with his or her own story. Also, those charged with the crime have their own stories to tell. We cannot say that anyone is purely good or purely evil. Kass also examines how different people deal with grief. Some must keep order in their lives, scheduling each moment in a predictable way so as to eliminate the possibility of remembering. Others must escape in a geographic sense, abandoning the stimuli that might conjure up a memory. Though Kass allows some of her characters a happy ending, they are still indelibly altered by the bombing and will need to learn how to cope with their grief. Also, some of the characters learn that not all of lives' questions can be answered. I would suggest this book to young adults because it provides another perspective on events and themes that have shaken our world, from the Holocaust to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Also, it tackles difficult themes such as grief, hatred, and uncertainty. The book is also enjoyable to read. Kass's characterization and decision to depict the situation in "real time" through the voices of many different characters makes this novel engaging. This is not a novel, however, for someone that requires clear-cut answers or completely happy endings. Kass does not suggest that the suicide bombings will end. In fact, she suggests that they will continue. Also, the problems of the "innocent" characters are not completely solved. It is these details that make this novel realistic.

as advertised

REAL TIME is set in contemporary Israel, telling a story in real time, in which the lives of so many people come together, minute by minute. The narration switches back and forth between several different characters, telling one story but also many stories. These characters include Thomas, a German boy who has come to Israel looking for answers about his family. Baruch, a Holocaust survivor who now works on a kibbutz. Vera, another kibbutz worker who is finding her Jewish roots and escaping her tragic past in Odessa. Sameh, a Palestinian working illegally at a diner. Saheh's friend Omar, a reporter, and many, many others. All of these people are different, looking for different things, but there is a moment when all of their lives come together, and it is a tragedy. So much sadness, so much despair, is evident. Can there be healing and hope for those who survive this tragedy? Only time will tell. This novel is a breathtaking story, but it's more than that. For one thing, it's a behind-the-scenes look at what is usually seen only on television. And yet it's more than behind-the-scenes; it's the secrets, thoughts, hopes, and dreams of every person involved. The way this story is told, in (as the title suggests) real time, switching back and forth between several narrators, is a part of what makes it amazing. If just one character told the story, so many aspects of it would not be seen. Pnina Kass Moed is a brilliant writer, and the story she tells in REAL TIME is equally brilliant. Reviewed by: Jocelyn Pearce

Set in contemporary Israel, with narations from multiple characters, this novel shows how people struggle with terrorist attacks. Thomas Wanninger is a 16 year old from Berlin. He came to Israel to find out information about his grandfather who was a WW2 nazi officer. Him and other characters such as Baruch and Vera join a kibbutz. In the book it shows how they change from one moment to another. From the terrorist bus bombing by the Palestinian boy, some characters are followed throughout the whole novel while some are briefly shown. While starting with the book, it was a little confusing with the different narrations, but we eventually got used to them. The novel is very powerful in the sense of its realism. Every character seems to have the perfect position to fit with the seeting and time.

I was apprehensive about reading this book because I wasn't sure whether it would be from a balanced perspective or whether it would take sides in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Having read it, I wouldn't classify it in either category; I'd just have to say that it's realistic. The book revolves around a homicide bombing of a bus in Israel. It is told through the perspectives of various characters, including a German teenager who's come to Israel to find out about his grandfather who may have been a Nazi, an Israeli soldier, an Israeli immigrant, the 16 year old Palestinian boy recruited as a "Shaheed," the Israeli who imploys this boy illegally, a Palestinian doctor treating the bomb victims in an Israeli hospital, and others. The author presents a startlingly realistic portrait of what living and being in Israel is like for all of these people. She communicates the emotions and tensions that come with living under such tense circumstances and brings readers into this challenging world, allowing them to see what it's like for themselves. I highly recommend this book and challenge audiences to try to step out of their secure worlds for a few hours and into the lives of the people in this book. I think it will be an enlightening experience.

Real Time is a pretty straightforward, surprisingly gritty tale of a bomb, and how it explodes into the lives of several different people all searching for understanding. The style takes some adjusting, reading like Jack Bauer's diary and taking a somewhat detached stand on violence and morality. This is a novel perfect for someone looking for an uncomplicated format with an interwoven plot that reads as effective, but not preachy. Personally, I found it a bit difficult to be accessible at first, but overall it developed into what felt like a raw look into the violence that plays a role in these character's lives, and the reflection of violence in our own lives. An unblinking yet cautionary tale, after one gets settled into the book, it becomes very difficult to put down. I read it in one sitting.

When I first picked up Real Time, I thought this book was going to be exclusively about Jewish communities and the Nazi's that invaded them (which was definitely not the gist of what the book was about at all). I honestly didn't even give the back of the novel a chance before I dived in, which was a bad idea because I was immediately confused about several things; When the heck is this all taking place? Who are all of these characters, and what do they have to do with the first one I was introduced to? I guess that's the downfall of writing in first-person though, because a character can simply leave important details out that would help while one is actually reading the book. It also wasn't about the kind of Nazi story I was expecting to read about, instead taking place in Jerusalem and the Middle East. In all, I thought the writing was decent; easy for a younger student to read and understand. The situations that the characters were put through were intense and realistic, giving me insight to several different takes on what happened instead of one exclusive experience. This is nice, I think, because it's then hard to pick a single side and stick with it. It gives kids choices and options, so they can choose their own opinion and go with it instead of having it done for them. For someone who is interested in Nazis and the Middle East, this may be a good book for you. However, it is certainly not the best thing I've ever read. The varying between POV gets confusing, there are parts where the author is suddenly switching to scripted writing (not often, but it still bothered me), and it could use a bit more explanation IN the book about these events, as well as other little details that would otherwise make it a great read. The story itself is intriguing, just not for my personal taste.