After reading his first few books, I grew tired of Appelfeld’s intentionally clear and precise language couple with ultimately fantastic and opaque stories. They are rich with metaphor and never quite directly about the one subject that united them all: the Holocaust. Many of his books purposely have no resolution and eventually this drove me away despite the easy, straightforward writing and the complete accessibility of his work. This later work is far more realistically grounded, a “conventional” story that I found more suited to my tastes and, unlike his other works, almost “enjoyable,” were the tone, the theme, and the writing not so dark. Recommended. ( )

Any recounting of this book will always pale in comparison to the text itself. Even the English translation (it was originally written in Hebrew) is studded with beautiful and evocative language that makes it less of a narrative and more of a cautionary fable. Paul’s interaction with the world around him amidst the pain and beauty of pre-Holocaust Ukraine is almost always palpably sad. Even so, there is beauty in the sadness. If it weren’t for all the other books I have to read, I would immediately read the rest of Appelfeld’s works. This is a wonderful book. ( )

***this review contains spoilers!***

Having been blown away by Appelfeld's The Conversion, I bought a few more of his books - All Whom I Have Loved being one of them. It's similar to The Conversion in some ways: a pre-Holocaust Europe setting, anti-Semitism, and a great deal of sadness and death. However, there are many differences between the two stories, so I didn't feel like I was reading the same book.

Paul, a young Jewish boy, lives with his parents until their divorce. His mother obtains a teaching position in another city, and Paul moves there with her. He is taken care of by a local girl, Halina, whom he at first doesn't like but grows quite fond of rather quickly. Halina, unfortunately, is murdered by her fiance, and her death shakes Paul. Meanwhile, Paul's mother is having a relationship with a Gentile named Andre, whom she eventually marries. Paul's father, a distant, alcoholic, rather tortured artist-turned-schoolteacher, visits him only sporadically, but eventually comes to retrieve Paul from his mother. Paul lives with him for a while, traveling to Bucharest when his father attempts to become an artist again. But, due to anti-Semitism and his "decadent" (and provocative) style, the father's art exhibit does not go well. Coupled with Paul's mother's desertion by her new husband and death of typhus, and Paul's father's world falls apart. The father falls deeper and deeper into despair, loses all of the money he has, and is eventually killed. Paul, whose parents were both orphans, is now orphaned himself, and must go to live in an orphanage. And though nothing is said of Paul's fate, one can't help but think that a poor, young, Jewish boy on the brink of the Holocaust is not going to fare well in the years to come.

The book, as a previous reviewer mentioned, is very sad, but considering the time frame in which this book is set, I would be surprised not to have it be relentlessly sad. And I love Appelfeld's writing style; I read somewhere (and I wish I remembered where) that Appelfeld chose to write in Hebrew (the language in which this book was originally published) because it necessitates being sharp, without relying on flowery language to get your point across. Every sentence must mean something or convey something, and that is very true of his work. No sentence is wasted.

I will definitely be reading more of his works, although I am giving myself a break of at least a few months before starting another of his novels. They're quite emotionally charged. ( )

Told from a young boy's point of view, we see the growing Anti-Semitism in Germany and other Eastern European countries in the 1930's. Paul also witnesses the divorce and eventual death of each parent. Not a happy, feel-good type of book, but it is compelling. There is little dialogue, but Appelfeld certainly captures the mood. ( )

I couldn't finish this book. It is relentlessly sad, told from the eyes of a child with only moderately functioning, and separated, parents. Short, simple chapters, each with a vignette or description of a day or an event. As they progress, they create a series of deep memories-- I just knew that the end of of the book was going to be devastating. ( )