Gabriele’s Comments (group member since Jul 20, 2011)

Gabriele’s comments from the Q&A with Eliot Pattison group.

I think that our psychological make-up and the way we look at the present and future comes from the past. It's interesting because I practice Yoga, precisely because the idea to just exist in the present without drawing from either past or future is so difficult for me. I guess that's a Western thing. So in regards to your question, I think that our past defines us but it's up to us to act on the past or to, as you say, make hard decisions that are not necessarily a reaction to what happened in the past - as difficult as that seems.

Hi Eliot -

A friend of mine recommended Ashes of the Earth to me and I loved it. I was particularly fascinated with the resistance of first generation survivors to share their experiences about the old world and the new generation's fascination with that world. Their attempt to "move on" and to hide the old world seemed to futile because after all this time, their present was still so steeped in the past. It made me wonder if that would ever change in a world that has experienced a holocaust like it. Do you believe that in the future of your book's world, your characters will ever live in an untainted present and really make a fresh start?