Never underestimate the power of friendship at any stage in life. That’s one of the lessons from Michael Frank’s beautiful portrait of the wise and charming nonagenarian, Stella Levi, one of the last remaining Holocaust survivors from the vanished Sephardic community of Juderia on the Greek island of Rhodes. In relaying her life story, Mr. Frank has pulled off something special: One Hundred Saturdays is a sobering yet heartening book about how friendship, remembrance, and being heard can help assuage profound dislocation and loss. It is also a reminder that the ability to listen thoughtfully is a rare and significant gift ... Complemented by Maira Kalman’s vibrant illustrations, One Hundred Saturdays re-creates the world of Stella’s youth in the tight-knit Juderia ... More than seven decades after liberation, Ms. Levi’s detailed recall is chilling ... Mr. Frank, a beautifully unobtrusive interlocutor, reminds us that 'memory is not history.' One Hundred Saturdays, however subjective, evokes a lost world that deserves not to be forgotten. It is a deeply affecting addition to the literature of the Holocaust.
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