The First and Final Nightmare of Sonia Reich
A Son's Memoir
Howard Reich(Author)
PublicAffairs,U.S. (Publisher)
Published on 13. June 2006
Book
Hardback
224 pages
978-1-58648-362-3 (ISBN)
Description
This work takes us on a son's journey to understand his mother's illness uncovers the long-hidden secrets of her past, and a little-known phenomenon called late-onset Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. On the evening of February 15th 2001, Howard Reich's mother, Sonia, packed some clothes into two brown shopping bags, put on her grey winter coat, locked the door to her home in Skokie, Illinois, and fled. Someone was trying to kill her, "to put a bullet in my head", Sonia told anyone who would listen. Polish and Jewish, Sonia Reich had survived the Holocaust by staying always on the run. She and Howard's father Robert, also a Holocaust survivor, had fled to America, moved to Chicago and raised their young son to tell no-one that they were Jewish. It was only after moving to Skokie, a town filled with Holocaust survivors, that his family would live as Jews. Still, his parents told Howard almost nothing about their past.
"The First and Final Nightmare of Sonia Reich" is Howard Reich's moving and bittersweet memoir of growing up in Skokie, discovering an odd and personal American freedom in jazz, and his riveting, revealing investigation into his family's past and the nature of his mother's illness - late-onset Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. This is a poignant story of a mother and a son, a haunted past, and the irony of what may happen when that often repeated admonition to "never forget" becomes a curse.
"The First and Final Nightmare of Sonia Reich" is Howard Reich's moving and bittersweet memoir of growing up in Skokie, discovering an odd and personal American freedom in jazz, and his riveting, revealing investigation into his family's past and the nature of his mother's illness - late-onset Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. This is a poignant story of a mother and a son, a haunted past, and the irony of what may happen when that often repeated admonition to "never forget" becomes a curse.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
United States
Target group
Interest Age: From 14 to 18 years
Illustrations
Illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 210 mm
Width: 140 mm
ISBN-13
978-1-58648-362-3 (9781586483623)
Copyright in bibliographic data is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or its licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
04/2009
PublicAffairs
€12.99
Available for download
Person
Howard Reich is the jazz critic on the Chicago Tribune. The winner of many awards, he is the co-author of Jelly's Blues (Da Capo). He lives in Chicago.