Review: All That I Am

I find so many books take me a while to embrace; All That I Am is not one of those. How could I not be immediately invested with an opening line: “When Hitler came to power I was in the bath.” Come on people, what a cracker!
I felt humbled by Ruth, and Dora and Toller and their friends and allies. Ordinary people living in extraordinary times, who didn’t travel the safe road. Would I have been as brave in similar circumstances? I think not.
Funder has nailed the passion, both personal and political shared by these very real people. This book is all about love, in all its messy, complicated beauty: “At the end of our lives it is our loves we remember most, because they are what shaped us. We have grown to be who we are around them, as around a stake. And when the stake is gone?” She continues this imagery 150 pages on “It is only when your beloved leaves you that you realize the stake is gone, and where they were there is only cold air, with nothing to hold you up.” - Perfect!
This story, based on real people, will break your heart.

• Review
• Anna Funder