Wrath Becomes Her is set in WWII during the Nazi occupation of Lithuania. This fast-paced story follows Vera, a golem who has been created by Ezra, a Jewish scholar, in the image of his daughter Chaya who was killed fighting the Nazis. Vera has been imbued with the purpose of avenging Chaya's death and protecting Jews from the Nazis and carries with her many of Chaya's memories.
Beautiful and brutal, this book offers a unique and original perspective on the Holocaust. It is thought provoking, in that it makes us think about what makes us human, what defines a monster, and what remains of us after we are gone. The writing was lyrical and poetic, the story highly emotional with an emphasis on grief, loss, despair and anger, not only anger directed against the Nazis, but also those who collaborated with them and those whose silence aided and abetted their monstrous agenda. Wrath Becomes Her was compelling and vivid, I just would have appreciated more wrath and rage. ( )

What an original story. I haven’t encountered anything quite like it. There’s a little bit of Frankenstein in it - the pursuit of vengeance and the question of what makes a being “human” or “monster.” It’s part WWII horror - the gruesome Nazi experiments as well as the bloody struggle to survive and fight. And the book also has a tentative and heartbreaking second chance romance.

The story follows Vera, who was created as a golem in the image of Chaya, a girl killed by Nazis. Vera joins forces with Akiva - the boy who loved Chaya when she was still alive. Together they seek vengeance and fight against the forces occupying their home.

I loved that Vera was trying to find her place in the shadow of the living girl she replaced in everyone’s eyes. She has Chaya’s memories but is a different person and that exploration was super interesting.

I also appreciated the writing style. It was quite fast paced and I kept thinking about it even when I wasn’t reading it. The action was intense and sometimes a bit gruesome for me (just to warn readers) but I think it was important for the setting and plot - I mean, they’re people being brutally hunted and eliminated - it can’t really be anything but horrific.

All of that being said and while I enjoyed the book and liked the characters, I didn’t really connect with any of them. Which is fine because it was a good book in general. Would have liked to learn more about Jewish mythology and golem lore. ( )

I started reading Wrath Becomes Her by Aden Polydoros the day after Hamas led that surprise attack on Israel. That attack and the subsequent counterattacks impacted my approach to Ms. Polydoros' novel. Suddenly, Vera's ideas about humanity and what it means to be human carry more weight.

While Wrath Becomes Her occurs during World War II and Latvia's fight to oust Nazi Germany from its borders, Vera's story could occur during today's ongoing tragedy. While she is a golem and the story is from a Jewish perspective, what she sees and experiences applies to any people facing genocide.

Since Vera is not human, she is uniquely qualified to observe human behavior. Her criticisms of those who choose hate rather than love and destruction rather than creation are powerful and, sadly, timely. It is a powerful statement against the insanity that is the destruction of any life for any reason.

There are people who will read Wrath Becomes Her and form certain opinions about what it means to be Jewish and what the Jewish people deserve after all the atrocities done to them over the centuries. However, to do so, I feel, is to miss Ms. Polydoros's point. Vera speaks out about all human behavior, not limiting her observations to the Nazis and Soviets. All life is beautiful, and no one deserves to have their life cut short by someone else. ( )

I enjoyed Vera's character -- her position as human-like, but fundamentally different physically, mentally, and emotionally was compelling. She, of course, had the struggle of wanting to be more human while also having a certain disdain for humanity that comes from seeing it from the outside. But more interesting was her desire to be part of a community and culture that she feels inherently connected to, but is cut off from because her existence is profane to them and because they have been decimated by the genocide and war that inspired her creation. She had no chance. The story captures that loss of what should have been well. The more fantastical parts of her identity struggles were compelling as well -- trying to separate her identity from other people's memories placed within her and the directive her creator made her with.

The plot wasn't always the smoothest or the most well-developed, though. The goal of the Nazi research and the existence of the other 'golem' seemed like they should have been more obvious characters and also treated with more urgency. The tension was lower than it should have been and I think more could have been done with the Nazi's creation. ( )

Eerie timing of this book, coming at the moment of horrific violence in Israel and Gaza. The darkness of war and terror permeates this book, pulling one into a world difficult to envision unless you've been there. Vera had no say in her creation, nor in the use of body parts from her creator's murdered daughter.
Where the story goes once she's completed, mirrors the path many Jews had to take during World War Two, but she's able to do things her compatriots cannot. When you get very deep into the story, you truly get a sense for the horror of war and how those who are persecuted sometimes must do things that would otherwise be unthinkable. Despite the ongoing grimness, I found this a most satisfying and addictive tale. ( )