First Impression Friday will be a meme where you talk about a book that you JUST STARTED! Maybe you’re only a chapter or two in, maybe a little farther. Based on this sampling of your current read, give a few impressions and predict what you’ll think by the end.

Synopsis:

A masterful novel that was a huge bestseller in Europe, The Beautiful Mrs. Seidenman is a testament to the power of literature. Now with an introduction by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, who named it her “favorite book no one else has heard of” in the New York Times, the novel follows Irma Seidenman, a young Jewish widow in Nazi-occupied Warsaw in 1943m who possesses two attributes that can spell the difference between life and death: blue eyes and blond hair. With these features, and a set of false papers, she slips out of the ghetto, passing as the wife of a Polish officer, until one day an informer spots her on the street and drags her off to the Gestapo. At times a dark lament, at others a sly and sardonic thriller, The Beautiful Mrs. Seidenman is the story of the thirty-six hours that follow Irma’s arrest and the events that lead to her dramatic rescue as the last of Warsaw’s Jews are about to meet their deaths in the burning ghetto.

Happy weekend everyone! We were able to make it through yet another long week at the office. It is time to ditch those office clothes and don more comfortable articles of clothing. I hope that the week went well for everyone and that we are all diving into the weekend with a carefree spirit. I hope that you ended the work week on a high note. If the week went the other way around, I hope that the weekend will provide you a badly needed, albeit brief reprieve. I hope the weekend will give you the time to refill your manna. I hope that it will refuel you for yet another week. Apart from recuperating, I hope we get to spend the weekend catching up with our loved ones and pursuing things that we are passionate about.

I just realized that we have already entered August, the eighth month of the year and the feared ghost month. This means that my birthday month has also passed. Woah. How time flies. I do hope that the first seven months of the year have been kind to everyone. I hope that the remainder of the year will shower everyone with good news, blessings, and most importantly, great health, in body, mind, and spirit. Reading-wise, July was an extension of my foray into the works of European literature, a journey that has enthralled me, transporting me to various parts of the continent, and making me experience and appreciate diverse cultures. Despite supposedly transitioning to a different part of the world, there are still some works of European literature I wanted to read so I am extending my European literature reading journey for a couple of days.

As such, I am extending my foray into European literature for a couple of days, until I can cross out all the titles I wanted to read. Among these titles is a book I recently acquired, Andrzej Szczypiorski’s The Beautiful Mrs. Seidenman, a writer and a book I first encountered during the recently concluded Big Bad Wolf Sale Manila. It was sheer curiosity that made me add the book to my cart. I have to admit that the introduction by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie also convinced me to explore what the book has in store; don’t get me wrong, I am not a fan of the Nigerian writer’s politics. I wasn’t really planning on reading the book this year – I have several unread books on my bookshelf – but the lack of Polish writers in my reading list finally persuaded me to read the book this year.

Originally published in 1988 in Polish as Początek, the novel is listed as one of the 1,001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. Set in German-occupied Poland during the Second World War, the novel charted the fortune of the eponymous Mrs. Seidenman. Before the occupation of Poland by the Germans in September 1939, Irma Seidenman lost her husband Ignacy, a radiologist. Following her husband’s demise, Mrs. Seidenman dedicated her life to his work. Already in her thirties, Irma was the quintessence of the model Aryan envisioned by Adolf Hitler. She had fair hair, blue eyes, and regular features. However, underneath these physical attributes is a sad truth flowing through her veins, something that would mean life or death for her. Mrs. Seidenman is a Jew. Her legacy places her in immediate danger.  

Nevertheless, Irma was able to escape Nazi persecution. By passing as the widow of a Polish officer, she was able to fly under the radar; she adopted the alias, Maria Magdalena Gostomska. As a further precaution, she moved houses. Her falsified papers were also excellent. However, the novel does not revolve only around the titular Mrs. Seidenman. Orbiting around her is an eclectic cast of characters. Among them is the young man Pawelek who, as a young boy, fervently desired Mrs. Seidenman. However, his yearning for the older woman is not the same as the love he has for his best friend. From the introduction, it seems that he will play a pivotal role in the life of the woman he yearned for.

Other characters include Sister Weronika. She is a nun who helped convert Jewish children to Catholicism. Her mission was noble but it entailed forcibly converting innocent children. As these characters are introduced, Szczypiorski was painting the atrocities of the Nazis during the occupation. Through Pawelek, Mrs. Seidenman, and the other characters who occupied the streets of Warsaw, he vividly captured the horrors everyone had to live with. They were all living on eggshells. It begs the question, how long will Mrs. Seidenman be able to skirt around the dangers surrounding her? Persecution is a clear and persistent presence. I am under a hundred pages away from finishing the book. I can’t wait to see how it all pans out.

How about you fellow reader? What book or books have you read over the weekend? I hope you get to enjoy whatever you are reading right now. Happy weekend!