Regina's Closet: Finding My Grandmother's Secret Journal

This story was sad and it touched a little bit on war, immigration and depression I think this book was meant for the family to pass down to all the descendants.

Wow What an incredible story It s rare for this reviewer to rave or to liter my opinions with complimentary adjectives and yet, I have been exposed to a book that absolutely demands both Regina s Closet finding my grandmother s secret journal is a hauntingly beautiful story of two women, Diana Raab and her beloved Grandmother, Regina Klein You will smile and cry You will be shocked and astounded, the narrative is filled with such raw emotion that it reaches out from the pages and touches the rea [...]

A closet is a curious space A place for storing clothes, shoes and who knows what else, it quickly becomes a wonderful place to hide One can curl up inside a closet and snuggle into the racks of clothes, often laced with perfume A closet is also a place to keep precious documents One can tuck away birth certificates, marriage certificates, all kinds of certificates that identify an individual into a shoebox and stuff it in a corner of a closet Indeed, a closet is a treasure trove of secrets and [...]

When her aging mother throws a stack of yellowed papers onto her kitchen table, Diana has no idea of the treasure she s just been given These papers end up being a retrospective journal, written by Diana s late grandmother who lived in Europe previous to World War I Within the book Regina s Closet, Diana uses the journal as a framework for understanding her Grandmother s past and as well as her decision to take her own life We experience war torn Poland and Vienna through the eyes of a child tha [...]

I liked this book, but it took me forever to read because, well, I kept forgetting I was reading it Hmmmm But really, I liked it while I was reading it The subject matter was very sad Lots of pre WWI stuff and the various occupations and raids and Regina was caught in the middle of it A hard life and very sad childhood Some people bear such tremendous burdens However, Regina s journal entries are very matter of fact which lessened the sadness a little Written by Regina s granddaughter, Diana Raa [...]

I m not giving anything away by saying that when the author was ten years old she found her grandmother dead of a drug overdose This is how the memoir begins For years, Raab had no clue as to why her grandmothe ended her life Later, when Raab was an adult, her mother came across a journal, which the grandmother had stored on a shelf in her closet The rest of the book tells of Regina s the grandmother early life in Poland, her devastating hardships during the first world war, and her escape from [...]

A true life book based on the discovered journal of the author s grandmother The grandmother lived a truly remarkable life in pre WWI Poland, surviving several military attacks, then WWI, which took her to an orphanage in Vienna She finally flees Europe during WWII, but cannot escape some of the tragedy that she has already endured.I really loved this book for the perspective it provides on the generations that have gone before us and how those who love us leave such a mark on our own lives.

I really enjoyed this book it went fast once I started The weaving in and out of her grandmother s words and her own particularly interests me since I am working on a similar project about my grandfather I also liked how she incorporated historical research and larger world events It is a deceptively simple book Meaning it s complicated than it seems But it flows well, so you don t notice The writing was awkward in a few places, but it was easy for a reader to forgive given the urgency of the s [...]

Regina s story is fascinating She could ve excelled at so many things, but the world wars tore apart her family and derailed her plans Regina planned to be a doctor and was well on her way to meeting that goal despite being essentially orphaned Her reflections reveal her to be a very determined young woman who didn t let the hardships she faced get her down So what circumstances caused her to take her own life after all those years of survival While Regina s Closet doesn t provide that answer, i [...]

This book was a wonderful read but I didn t enjoy the times the author put her two cents in She would add obvious things like the story continues or things not interesting I think she should have written it just from the grand mothers point of view It was sad to read the negative things she said about her mother It seemed unnecessary and done in a way to try to compare to what the grandmother went through.

I thought I would really like this book, and yet I was quite disappointed What wrecks the book is that everything is so dam depressing Even acts of courage and bravery are expressed in a depressing tone You NEVER chuckle At anything What, is depression inherited in this family Sorry, am I bgeing too brutal Or maybe it was an interesting life but the book is not well written It certainly lacks something.

This was a quick read, I started it early yesterday and was up late reading, so only had a few chapters to finish this morning I liked this book, a nice memoir of the authors grandmother and what she meant to her.

I think I would have enjoyed this book if it had been written by another person, rather than the author herself She was too close to the story or maybe her writing style dampened it regardless, I wanted to love this book but didn t.

This was one of the most amazing,insightful books I have ever readtion to a garage sale Feel very lucky to have run into this book

It s a little hard to rate memoirs because you can t say things like that plot is too predictable or I don t believe that character arc since, you know, it all actually happened What I will say is that Regina s life was amazing and full of tough choices, but her granddaughter, Diana wasn t the best archivist to sum up her life I don t doubt she connected deeply with her grandmother s story, but I couldn t get interested in the bits she wrote about her own reaction to it Something about the writi [...]