TOW #16: In My Brother's Image, Eugene L. Pogany (IRB)

As I continued with the book, In My Brother's Image, by Eugene L. Pogany, I became much more invested in the story. The way the book is structured; there are snapshot stories from the past, mixed in with events in the present. Due to the fact that this is a secondary source, rather than a primary source, the narrator of the book did not experience the events. Pogany chose to create two different story lines (past and present), to show the connection between his actions, and those of his father and his uncle. One moment, Pogany is telling the story of his uncle and father visiting a church as children, and the next moment, he is visiting a different place of worship himself. The parallels throughout are all very interesting, and readers can feel as though they are going on two separate journeys. One, with the young boys, and one with the adult narrator. It gives the book a truly authentic feel. Also structurally, Pogany chose to split the book into chapters, similar to the layout of a novel. I really liked this, especially because the author gave each chapter a name. Rather than naming them after subtopics that he would talk about, the titles of the chapters were very simple, while still extremely meaningful. Chapter 1, the Prologue, was titled "Sorrow in Search of Memory" (1). In contrast, Chapter 6 was titled "Exile" (93). I think these chapters set a tone for the book that would not be there otherwise. When you begin reading a chapter called, "Exile" or "Flight" it creates emotions for the readers. These simple words connect with some memory that every reader has, so it causes them to connect more to the story as well. Beneath the chapter names, the author placed allusions to other texts. One that stuck with me the most was the quote before the last chapter. "'Go, summon Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses...They know how to mourn.' Louis Ginzberg, 'The Great Lament' in Legends of the Jews" (305). The title of the chapter was "Remembrance." I thought the allusions definitely added to the tone that Pogany was aspiring towards, and with all the pieces together, I truly think he accomplished that tone. I enjoyed this book, especially because it was written like a story, similar to my last IRB. I also liked it because it held a lot of history and culture. I would recommend this book to all audiences. 

http://compellingjewishstories.blogspot.com/2010/11/in-my-brothers-image-twin-brothers.html