Orphan #8: A Novel

Kim van Alkemade has written several articles in magazines that have been described as "creative non-fiction", whatever that may be. While researching her family genealogy, she came across a reference to a Medical Journal article that shocked her and she felt compelled to tell the story, but in a fictionalized novel. Some of the people in this book are actually real. Some are actually her relatives. While the girl, Rachel Rabinowitz and her brother Sam are works of fiction, what happens to Rachel, is not. This is an important book that raises questions about science and its practice, and whether you can forsake justified vengeance and forgive the unforgivable. In 1919 the Jewish family, the Rabinowitzs, which consists of Harry, the father who works in a shirtwaist factory, who is saving for the chance to have his own contractor business, goes to Society meetings to make contacts, and is hoping to move his family up to the nicer neighborhood of Harlem; Visha, his wife, who wants another child and dreams of moving out of their three room tenement, where she looks after two borders and the two children, Rachel, four (who is known for her temper tantrums that only her brother can seem to stop) and Sam, six, who just started school. When Harry forgets his lunch, Visha and Rachel go to the factory, which Harry has forbidden them to do. When they return home, an angry Italian mother and her eighteen-year-old daughter show up at her house telling her that Harry, who met the girl at…

Orphan # 8 was Rachel Rabinowitz, but she didn't start out as an orphan. This story follows Rachel's life, through all of the ugly twists and turns at the beginning, to the kindness of strangers who helped her along the way and eventually to Rachel herself as she must come to terms with her own past in order to face her uncertain future. Rachel's story exposes some of the ugly truths about our society, including medical experiments on groups of orphans, to the exclusion and negative societal attitudes about homosexuals, but her story also inspires hope through the kindest of strangers or even the hopeful advice from a holocaust survivor. Ultimately Rachel must decide for herself how to deal with the woman who inflicted cruel and unnecessary experiments on her as a child, when that same doctor is admitted to her ward in the hospital. In her treatment of this doctor, Rachel must confront the ghosts of her past and find the courage to deal with her own health issues that she has been neglecting. The writing was well done, but felt somewhat repetitive at times. The story switched easily from past to present with great historical details. Rachel's story is all the more tragic when considering that while the novel is fiction, according to the author's website, medical research on children in orphanages was a common practice, and that there really are children who grew up like Rachel. I really enjoyed this story and would recommend it to any fans of historical fiction. Orphan #8 is…

The story was captivating and interesting and the author did a great a great job at conveying emotion. I would have absolutely lived this book if not for the unnecessary sexual situations. Many of them. From the beginning of the book. I was not offended that it's because the main character was a lesbian. I was offended by the heterosexual sex scenes described in the beginning of the book as well. I was looking forward to an interesting book based on actual historically accurate events and that part of the book was fabulous. Including her relationship with a woman would have been fine, it was the fact that so many sexual situations were described and not only didn't add to the story, but completely took away from it. Very disappointing. Many people have criticized the ending as being abrupt. I thought it was perfect and beautiful and nothing more needed to be said.

I don't ever review the books I read, as enough other people give details of the story and I don't like to be redundant. What I prefer is to give my opinion of the books. That said, I found this novel to be a very interesting read that is based on the author's family's accounts of their experiences in the orphanage, in combination with her own diligent research, plus a gift for writing. Historical fiction is one of my favorite genres and this book provided information that I had not known about how the children were treated in this orphanage and, I imagine in so many others. The experiments done on these children, treated as research creatures instead of the needy and trusting young human beings they were, truly discounted their feelings and the long-term effects the experiments had on them. Their being isolated, unloved and touched as little as possible would also have long-term consequences for them emotionally and mentally. I believe that the author took all of the information and created a very readable and educational novel full of human emotions. I found it very fitting that she included a theme of love between two young adolescent girls that gave the novel meat, as these were two human beings who needed to love and be loved. For me, that flowed from the regimentation and strictness that was so necessary for their caretakers in order to manage such a great number of children. Slapping the children for their unsuccessful attempts to follow the rules was more than…

Inspired by true events of the well-respected NYC Hebrew Orphans Home in 1919, this historical fiction is deeply personal to the author, who spent 8 years writing and researching ORPHAN #8. Rachel and her brother Sam are orphaned when their mother dies (perhaps at the hands of their own father), and is essentially abandoned by their father. Rachel is 4 and her brother 6 when they enter the Hebrew Infants Home. Told in alternating POVs--a young Rachel and an older Rachel, past and present are equally represented, dovetailing the chilling medical experiments that occurred at the home in which doctors strapped down the children, force-fed their patients (disturbingly referred to as "material") barium, and then administered chloroform to gain access to their bodies via x-ray, leaving them bald from radiation. As an adult, Rachel is a nurse and the tables have turned: one of her terminal patients happens to be one of the doctors from her past. Ultimately, the story is one of redemption, ethics, and women's independence/sexuality. One should note that there is a lesbian sub-plot; and for me I found it a bit distracting from the issues at hand, a little tacked-on, thus not a full five-star rating. However, in light of today's Supreme Court ruling of same-sex marriage, the plotline is quite timely and topical. I was so impressed with the research poured into this haunting tale of the crimes committed against innocent children, as well as the "stories behind the story," and the…