To Life

Following The Cage , Sender's memoir of her time spent in Grafenort, the Nazi camp, this recollection chronicles the author's early 20s. Riva describes liberation by Russian troops, a fearful time of wandering, the return to her family home in Poland, and years of waiting in camps for displaced persons for permission to emigrate. Her marriage to another survivor, Moniek, produces two sons. But can she start to live normally again? ``As long as there is life, there is hope,'' her mother, who perished in the Holocaust, would say. Riva clings to this idea and to the restorative power of family. Even autobiography needs a narrative thread for readers, but because much of the story involves waiting, it becomes repetitive and is not as compelling as it might have been. Actions are skimmed over, Riva's feelings are generalized and the other characters remain shadowy. But as testament to the human spirit, this memoir shines. The material is so striking that it demands a close reading. Each time Riva sees compassion in ``the survivors of horror, degradation, death,'' she is awed. And readers will be, too. Ages 12-up. (Oct.)