Book Review: "The Invisible Wall: A Love Story That Broke Barriers," by Harry Bernstein

I've been thinking lately that I've been reading too much fiction. Not solely fiction, but mostly fiction. I'm a grown-up. I should change it up more often and make myself a bit smarter. So when I was at the library a week or two ago, I decided to see if there was anything in the biographies that sounded interesting. Nothing jumped out at me in the 'A's, but when I got to Bernstein and found this book, I decided it sounded good.

And it was. Bernstein grew up in England during WWI. His family was very poor, and the little money his father made he spent drinking and gambling. His mother worked hard to raise Harry and his brothers and sisters, trying to give them better lives.

On the street where they lived, the Jews were on one side and the Christians on the other. They didn't really ever cross over, unless the Jews needed something at the Christian store or it was the Sabbath and the Christians went to the Jewish homes to stoke their fires. Or if a nice Jewish girl wanted help with her homework from a nice Christian boy. Except that that last one wasn't supposed to happen.

The book was mostly about Bernstein growing up and what his neighborhood was like, though a big part of that was shown through his sister's relationship with a Christian boy across the street. It was a sweet story and fast reading (actually, it read like a novel). Bernstein apparently has an amazing memory, considering he started writing this when he was 93. He wrote a sequel, too, which I want to read sometime. Because I very much enjoyed this one.