Somehow, the first pages didn't encourage me. The extremely simple voice made me wonder whether his writing style was going to become tedious. The opening paragraphs made me think "uh oh, another 300 page whine about oppression." I don't know why...just my mood, perhaps.

It didn't really matter. Within a few pages more those thoughts had flown and I was simply reading. The simple writing style did not become tedious. The whines about oppression never appeared—in fact, there was never any whining about anything in a life that held more than its share of hardship.

At age 95, Harry Bernstein wrote his first book, a memoir of his life in a poor Lancashire mill town. Part of the story is about poverty, about a family with so little money that buying any food was, sometimes, a major problem. Part of it is about the trap of too little education and opportunity. More of the story is about the invisible wall—the divide that stretched up the middle of his street: all the houses on one side rented by Christians, all the houses on his side rented by Jews.

What I liked most about this book was that he simply recounted the stories, not particularly taking sides or drawing "larger meaning" from things. We see that, yes, there was a lot of anti-Semitism in the neighborhood but, at the same time, we see bigotry directed against the Christians with equal clarity and force.

The subtitle of the book is "A Love Story that Broke Barriers" and the much of the story focuses on a romance that crossed that wall. The author doesn't try to create a lot of suspense in the story; the reader can predict much of what will happen long before it actually occurs. However, I didn't find this objectionable—he simply tells the story in the chronology that his young self was able to understand or realize things and allows the adult reader to see ahead.

I understand there is a sequel picking up the next phase of his life after his family came to America. I don't know if I'll read it or not; it might be better to just leave things where they ended, allowing the epilogue of the book to let us know how everything turned out.

Definitely recommended. I'm waffling between 3½ stars and a "strongly recommended" 4 stars. I'll start conservatively but may change my mind later. ( )

The Story

This is the first part of Harry Bernstein’s life story. It starts with his earliest childhood memories in a small English mill town, just prior to World War I. Harry lives on a street in which one side of it is occupied with Christian families while the other side houses Jewish residents. In the middle of the street is the “invisible wall” that separates the two “communities” that all reside together on this little street. Like many families at the time, they are faced with extreme poverty thus living a life with meals of bread and butter with tea.

Harry’s father works at a tailor’s shop and makes meager money. Of what he does earn, he spends most of it on drinks in a local pub. He is a ghost of a presence in the family home and, when he is there, his presence is ominous and scary for the family members. Harry describes his mother as the glue that held the family together and maintains enormous respect for her. He lives with several siblings in this little home including two sisters and three brothers. Of his siblings, he writes most about his older sister, Lily, who falls in love with a Christian boy from the opposite side of the “invisible wall.” Their love story is tragic as Harry’s family refuses to allow her to have any type of a romantic relationship with him. In fact, it is made known to her that if she pursues the relationship, that she will be considered dead to the family.

Admist their great poverty, lack of proper education, and sufferance of prejudice, they remain hopeful that relatives in America will eventually send them tickets for passage to America. The readers watch the small triumphs and great misfortunes to this family with a sense of being “a fly on the wall” to this story.

The Review

Harry Bernstein was 96 years old when this book was published and I believe now he is either 99 or nearing it. He has also written a sequel to The Invisible Wall entitled The Dream which details their eventual passage to and life in America. I am very interested in reading on to hear the outcome of their immigration and how their lives turned out. Thankfully, at the end of this book, the reader does get an understanding of Harry’s outcome when they are able to read about his travel back to England with his beloved wife, Ruby.

I read this book immediately after reading Angela’s Ashes. I’m not sure that this was a positive thing because the books are quite similar in nature, although completely different stories. But, the effect of the poverty, the diet, and the alcoholic father was repetitious to the prior read so I don’t think that it gave me the same impact that it would have if I had read them months apart. But, that’s not Harry’s fault… it was mine because I had no idea that the content of the two books were so similar. What sets them apart? The second half of this book (my favorite part, by the way) is focused on the tragic love story of Lily and Arthur as seen through the eyes of Harry. How all parties dealt with this “taboo” love was riveting and thought-provoking.

I think that Harry did a lovely job with the prose of this book. Not only was the book well written, but it kept me involved emotionally in the story. I can’t imagine accomplishing such a tremendous dream of publishing not one, but two books, in my ninties. That completely amazes me! Even more remarkable is its international acclaim and the accomplishment of being a New York Times Bestseller. After reading this book, which includes a chapter of The Dream at the end, I have found enormous respect for Harry Bernstein and thank him for sharing his remarkable tale.

Favorite Quotes:


This book had some memorable quotes that I’d love to share:

“I think of the slaughters that have taken place in the wars throughout history, the one that is being fought now in France, and I ask myself, why does God countenance all this? If God is our creator, the supreme, kind and benevolent being whom we all worship, why does he permit us to destroy one another? And why does he permit one religion to persecute another when both are his children? And so there came that terrible question - supposing, supposing it is all fantasy - is there really a God?”

“The war, it seemed, had almost completely destroyed the invisible wall that had separated us, bringing the two sides together.”

“…They’ve got us fooled with words like patriotism and duty and honor, and they’ve got us divided up into classes and religions so that each one of us figures he’s better than the other. But it’ll all change, ‘arry. Believe me, it will. People get smarter. The human brain has a potential for development. Someday it will grow big enough so that everybody will see and understand the truth, and then we won’t act like a bunch of sheep, and then that wall that separates the two sides of our street will crumble, just like the Wall of Jericho. Maybe Lily and I gave it a little push today. But one day you’ll hear a trumpet blow, and then it will be all gone. Oh yes, ‘arry, we’re going to have a better world. Things won’t always be the way they are now. I promise you, there’ll be a better world than the one we’re living in today.”

On Sher’s “Out of Ten Scale:”

This is a book club read for me and I went into reading this book with a completely open mind. However, like I said in the review, being on the heels of Angela’s Ashes really made the timing of this read a little “off” for me. It’s like watching two World War II movies in a row… you’re going to have your favorite of the two. In addition, the second movie may not have the same impact as the first. I still have to give this my honest opinion in my rating and for the genre Non-Fiction:Memoir, I am going to rate this book an 8.5 OUT OF 10. ( )

Unfiltered or shaped into story; too like Angela’s Ashes but not nearly as well done. Strays off theme, though many interesting anecdotes, especially around British poor experience of WWI.

My Book Club liked it better than I did, insisted on my finishing, and refused to "spoil" the ending, but in part and whole it failed to live up. ( )

This is a heart-rending memoir, set in the early 1900s, near Manchester England. A young Jewish boy growing up in a tough working class neighborhood, dealing with poverty, a brutal father, and antisemitism. It's a strong memoir, in a similar style and subject matter as [Angela's Ashes]. ( )

Bittersweet, vivid. Memoir of life in a northern town in the early twentieth century. I think it was Stockport! ( )