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Books Briefing: A mysterious postcard illuminates a French family's Holocaust history

JL;DR SUMMARY Anne Berest's novel, "The Postcard," expertly combines memoir and fiction to explore her French family's Holocaust history. A way out west there was a fella, fella I want to tell you about, fella by the name of Jeff Lebowski. At least, that was the handle his lovin' parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself. This Lebowski, he called himself the Dude. Now, Dude, that's a name no one would self-apply where I come from. But then, there was a lot about the Dude that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that's why I found the place s'durned innarestin'.

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Tags

Jewish IdentityFranceHolocaust MemoirHolocaust HistoryFamily HistoryMemoryCultural AmnesiaAnne BerestThe Postcard

Places mentioned

France
"The French writer Anne Berest grew up without knowing much about her family."
Carbondale, Illinois, United States
"Frumkin, who published his first novel, The Comedown, in 2018, teaches at Southern Illinois University."
New York City, New York, United States
"Sara Smolinsky is a shtetl-born child who immigrates to the Lower East Side with her family."
Athens, Attica, Greece
"To recover from what she slowly realizes is a psychic break, she retreats to Athens, where she sees a woman she believes is her doppelgnger."

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Cairo Item ID 72723
Cairo Source ID 35
Retrieved 2026-01-14 05:31:40 UTC
Curated 2026-01-14 08:31:58 UTC