Reviews of Roslyn's latest book

At the end of Caren Neile's evocative introduction, she writes, "You're going to love Roslyn." When you read Roslyn Bresnick-Perry's stories in her book, I Loved My Mother on Saturdays: and other tales from the shtetl and beyond, you not only love Roslyn, but you also become part of her family as you experience her life's journeys - may she live to 120! You get to know her many sides, her family, especially her cousin Zisl, the details of their adventures and the sounds and smells of the shtetl, including the foods they prepared, and then growing up in New York. Through these many-splendored multi-layered Technicolor personal stories, filled with humor and poignant moments, Roslyn's voice enters your heart! She carries you with her to deeper truths of the human spirit, Roslyn is truly a beloved storyteller! 

Peninnah Schram, New York, N.Y

Roslyn Bresnick-Perry is a national treasure. Her work reflects what is at the very heart of storytelling: culture, memory, relationship and artistry. And like all the best stories, hers are universal, reminding us what it means to be human. You certainly don't have to be Jewish to love Roslyn's storytelling.

Jimmy Neil Smith, Founder and President,
International Storytelling Center

 

As an immigrant who arrived in America in the 1920's, and a storyteller with a prodigious memory, Roz Perry is one of this nation's finest teller of tales. Weaving her memories of the tiny town of Wysokie Litewskie into stories, she has created a priceless resource both for understanding the lifeways in the shtetlach of Belarus and other areas of Eastern Europe, as well as the American immigrant experience. The Holocaust destroyed the communities that Roz describes, making her descriptions all the more poignant and valuable. The lost world of Eastern Europe has been extensively discussed and described, but never so vividly brought to life. I cannot imagine a reader who would not find I Loved My Mother on Saturdays a gift and a delight

Steve Zeitlin
Founding Director
City Lore
New York, N.Y

The seeds for the Jewish future are contained in these stories of the Jewish past. In a voice of shrewd innocence, Roslyn Bresnick-Perry describes the hardships, fears and community bonds that shaped Jewish life in the Old Country and the courage, determination and love that allowed Jewish life to bloom in American soil. She has recreated the shtetl from memory, and made a wonderful, unsentimental fairytale out of real-life yiddishkayt.                                                                                                                      
Lawrence Bush
Editor, Jewish Currents