I recently finished reading "The Lost: A Search for Six of the Six Million" by Daniel Mendolsohn.  It's a fascinating story about finding one's lost roots, even if it means traveling the globe - several times, hiring interpreters and tour guides, and reconciling with ones most immediate family members.

I mentioned to my rabbi that I was reading the book and he said he heard an interview with the author on NPR, something which I actually waited to hear until after I finished the book.  We wondered whether Mendelsohn does any public speaking on the subject and I suggested that the "voice" of the author in the book seemed to be one of a relatively shy, sensitive man, who might not be comfortable doing a lot of public speaking.

Oddly enough, when I started listening to the interview, I couldn't help but think to myself - "he does sound, well, not just soft-spoken, but gay" (not that there's anything wrong with that).  I did a little more online research, and he seems to have received much critical acclaim for writing about his experiences coming out, and living openly as, a gay man in New York, so no secret there.  It was only then that I realized that he didn't mention any romantic interests although the book is extremely personal and takes place over a period of several years.

It also made me wonder - considering the strict German upbringing of much of his family - wouldn't his open homosexuality have had some bearing on the feelings towards his family, or theirs to him?  When he talks about strains between he and his brothers, does his sexual orientation have anything to do with it at all?  If so, he doesn't say.  Was he perhaps even looking for some sign of homosexuality in his search for his great-uncle?  The one who looked so similar to him that survivors would cry just because of his resemblance?  I think I would have wanted to know, assuming I had written a book openly describing my sexual history as a sort of biography.  But I digress - I'm just curious, really.

This book is a must read for anyone, like myself, who has family that perished in the Holocaust - many of whom we know nothing about.  Mendelsohn frequently brings up a salient point - shouldn't we be just as interested in how these people lived as how they died?

It took me awhile to find the time to get through the first half of this 500-page book.  However, as you get closer and closer  to finding the truth of his family's history, there's no putting the book down.  I read the second half in one long sitting that ended at 12:30AM.

More on the author's work can be found here.