Rating: 
Summary: Very Good
Review: Irene was actually my best friend's grandmother (she was adopted into his family). He has pictures of her and has a signed copy of this book. His mom suggested I read this book and I'm in the midst of reading it and am amazed at the detail in her writing. A definite reccomendation!
Rating:
Summary: In my hand
Review: It is the most powerfull book, but I think a 9 years old is a little too young to fully understand this amazing book. I think every high school student should read it.
Rating: 
Summary: Compelling narrative, less-than-stellar delivery
Review: Not to undermine the accomplishments and bravery of Ms. Gut, but I found the tone of her memoir a little self-congratulatory in places, yet delivered in a "What, little old me, a hero?" voice that didn't feel authentic.I am certainly a cynic, but the story didn't read as though Ms. Gut felt simply compelled to share it, rather, I felt as though she is searching for recognition for all that she has done. She certainly deserves it, but that kind of gratitude shouldn't have to be asked for. I haven't read many holocaust narratives, and it may be that I am more familiar with stories by the "rescued" than the "rescuer" perspective, but I feel sure that there must be other stories that are equally important, yet more elegantly written.
Rating:
Summary: A must read
Review: Of all of the Holocaust books out there, this is one that should not be missed. Reading it gives new perspectives to everything, from saving lives to working for NAZI's. It also shows how in the midst of inhumane situations, compassion can shine through. It is truly inspiring, and everyone should read it.
Rating:
Summary: A World of War
Review: Reading this Holocaust book made me feel, more than see. The description was that good. Vividly described events and scenes drew me in and made me interact with it. The feelings coursed through the book but could only be felt, not seen. The lead, with its great writing, intrigued me. An excerpt from the book, it was a prologue that captivated my attention. Dangerous situations and my hope for the best kept me turning the pages. Irene's courage lit up the situations. The scary part was it was all true. I would recommend this five star book to persons of age 16 and older and anybody interested in historical accounts. I feel that there are some events in the auto-biography that happened to Irene that may shock younger readers. If you do want your younger child to read this true story, please read it to them, editing out parts as you go. However, without the full story, I don't think that it can be felt. Younger children might be frightened by the all-to-realistic war scenes and shocked at some other events. It might be too slow-paced for their attention span and they won't understand her motives. I believe that teenagers who know, or knew, someone who lived through the Holocaust would find this extremly informative and helpful, especially if that person won't, or wouldn't, talk about it, which I don't blame them for. Lastly, the shock value of the war won't surprise as many teenagers as it will little kids. Overall, I enjoyed this book, not the things that happened to the victims, but how it made me experience and live through the Holocaust, though my experience can never come close to the pain, emotionally and physically, the victims, and survivors, felt.
Rating:
Summary: courageous, defiant Holocaust rescuer serves as moral model
Review: Set in the howling abyss of the Holocaust, Irene Gut Opdyke's stirring memoir, "In My Hands," serves as a beacon of light when the world's moral compass pointed to darkness. When the history of the twentieth century is fully comprehended, I have little doubt that this remarkable woman will emerge as one of the most signficant models of honor, decency, morality and personal responsibility. Ripped from her family and her own personal innocence, Irene Gut never flinched from her private outrage over the evil of genocide; instead, despite the most profound personal outrages committed against her (cruelties which would cause most of us to withdraw from social contact and the ability to feel tenderness), Irene elected to become a savior, personally shouldering the enormous responsibility of hiding Jews, the intended victims of Nazi brutality. Told in a quiet, unassuming voice, "In My Hands" chronicles Irene's "lilac time," a near idyllic childhood spent in the embrace of a loving, supportive family. World War II shattered not only her family's coherence, but it irrevocably altered Irene's perception of humanity. Never wavering in her astounding faith, Irene refused fatalism as a personal philosophy. Recovering from the most brutal sexual assault imaginable, Irene observes Nazi depradations against Polish Jewry and resolves to stand against it. Her defiance began, as she reminds us, with "small steps." Smuggling food through a fence into a ghetto evolves into secreting Jews in a forest. This action emboldens Irene to risk both personal autonomy and safety into actually hiding twelve Jews in the basement of a German major's villa. Never seeking praise or affirmation for her work, cut off from both friends and family, Irene Gut operated in a moral universe solely of her own doing. Her moral code, "I must take the right path, or I would no longer be myself," stands as an affirmation of what it means to be human -- even more crucial to the understanding of this noble human being is that so few, so very few people adopted her tenacious will to assist the brutalized. Capably assisted by the children's author Jennifer Armstrong, Irene Gut Opdyke reaches the widest audience with "In My Hands." Recognized by Israel as one of the "Righteous Among the Nations" and honored by our United States Holocaust Memorial Museum as a permanent contributor to the study of the Holocaust, Irene Gut Opdyke stands as a moral model. Her wrenching but deeply instructive memoir tells much more than a life's story; it educates our heart and inspires moral vision.
Rating:
Summary: A Holocaust Hero
Review: The book IN MY HANDS, is about a woman named Irene Gut. She is a strong-willed and intelligent girl. When the book starts, it is the beginning of World War II. Irene is seventeen at the time and is going to nursing school in Radom. When the German's attack Poland, Radom is bombed. She escapes and lives in the woods with others that are on the run. One night some soldiers saw her and raped her then left Irene in the snow to die. Thankfully, some other soldiers come and found her. Taking her to the hospital, was the best thing for Irene. She met a doctor that helped her escape. From then on she was on her on. She went on to serve German officials food and learned of what horrible things were being done to the Jews. She felt that this was wrong and Irene had to do something about it. The beginning of her rescue mission was leaving buckets of food underneath the fence of one of the ghetto's. It progressed into harboring Jews in the basement of a German major that Irene was a house-keeper to. She has to become the major's mistress because he walked in and saw what Irene was doing. It took unbelievable strength for her to make it through all that had been done to her. She was one of those people that the worse things get the stronger Irene got. The book was put together very well. It told the story of Irene Gut very vividly that you could actually hear and see it happening. The another good thing was the vocabulary was very extensive. This book is a solid book that everyone needs to read because it is a first hand experience of the Holocaust.
Rating:
Summary: from a summer nightmare to a dream
Review: The reason I ever picked this book up was because I had to read it for my school summer reading. I had read other Holocaust books before and liked them, but didn't really want to read this one. After my friend who'd read it urged me to, I finally picked it up. I ended up loving it. The book tells the story of Irene Gut, who was a nursing student, turned Polish military nurse, turned worker in a German officers' dining room/saving grace for so many people. Throughout the course of the Holocaust, Irene saved so many lives, by doing things as simple as warning of a raid, and as challenging as hiding 12 people in a Nazi major's home. The real reason I loved this book was not exactly because of everything Irene did. Irene was a only a girl, practically my own age, and yet she was extremely brave and helped so many. She shows that even small things can help in a big way and that one person really can make a difference.
Rating:
Summary: from a summer nightmare to a dream
Review: The reason I ever picked this book up was because I had to read it for my school summer reading. I had read other Holocaust books before and liked them, but didn't really want to read this one. After my friend who'd read it urged me to, I finally picked it up. I ended up loving it. The book tells the story of Irene Gut, who was a nursing student, turned Polish military nurse, turned worker in a German officers' dining room/saving grace for so many people. Throughout the course of the Holocaust, Irene saved so many lives, by doing things as simple as warning of a raid, and as challenging as hiding 12 people in a Nazi major's home. The real reason I loved this book was not exactly because of everything Irene did. Irene was a only a girl, practically my own age, and yet she was extremely brave and helped so many. She shows that even small things can help in a big way and that one person really can make a difference.
Rating:
Summary: Almost Unbelievable
Review: There have been so many accounts of life during the Holocaust that it may be hard to distinguish one person's experience from that of another's. However, "In My Hands" is a noticeable exception. It is a harrowing memoir of one young woman, who finds herself drawn to helping the less fortunate Jews, even if it means death.
"In My Hands" tells the story of Irene Gut Opdyke, a displaced Polish Catholic, who experiences life and death during World War II. When Poland is split between both Germany and Russia, she finds herself without a home, and far away from her family at the age of seventeen. She hides in the forest with the remnants of the Polish army, is suspected of being a spy, and endures numerous tortures, but always miraculously survives. God has a purpose for her, even if that keeps her from finding the family that she desperately misses. She finds herself working for the Germans, and because of her Aryan looks, holds substantial sway with her employers. When she witnesses the German's "solution" to the "Jewish problem" she is outraged and takes extreme measures to protect them, even hiding them in the basement of the house of her German employer, an officer of the Wehrmacht.
"In My Hands" is an incredible story. It was written with Jennifer Armstrong, who has placed herself into Irene's story in order to breathe new life into a remarkable account of courage that never quit. It's amazing how many more stories like this must exist that no one ever has heard.
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