The Choice: Embrace the possible

A deeply personal and professionally enlightening account of survival and liberation. A book anybody troubled with sorrow and/or anger, an overly critical and negative self image can learn from. It’s honest and compelling with a lot to teach us all how to be better human beings.

If Dr. Eger can forgive, so can I. Her incredible story is a page turner from cover to cover. I had the honor of hearing Dr. Eger speak once, and she absolutely radiates the hope that comes through in this book. Everyone should read the The Choice: Embrace the Possible. In fact, I will be giving The Choice to many for Christmas. Now...I am going to listen to it so I can reinforce her message in my heart.

I have had the pleasure of knowing and working with Dr. Eger for over a decade now. I have heard parts of her story over those years but not until this book have I been able to have it all put together at once.

Dr. Eger has an amazing outlook on life and human nature. To give back is her mission and her gift. To me she represents the pinnacle of forgiveness.

My favorite line in her book is "The irony of freedom is that it is harder to find hope and purpose." This is deeply profound to me and can be applied to many aspects of life. I could not put this book down, and when I finished it I did not want it to end.

I saw Dr. Eger speak at the Albuquerque VA Medical Center (combined AF Hospital and VA at the time) back around 1996. She is a remarkable woman and survivor. I'm so glad I got to hear her story. I also got a chance to speak to her afterwards after she spoke and shake her hand. You won't regret hearing her story.

To read any story about the holocaust is always painful. How can a country under the leadership of a dictator perpetuate such horrendous crimes against fellow human beings in the name of a misconceived ideology; the creation of a master Aryan race.

Edith Eger lived with her mother, father and two sisters Magda and Klara in Kosice Slovakia. One morning in May 1944 she and her family (minus Klara who successfully managed to hide from the jack booted thugs) together with a great number of fellow Slovak residents were arrested and bundled into animal transporters then taken to Auschwitz birkenau extermination camp. What followed was one of the greatest acts of mass genocide ever committed. On arrival at Auschwitz the new residents would be greeted by the quietly spoken Dr. Mengele...."I recognize the uniformed officer from the selection line. I know it's him, the way he smiles with his lips parted, the gap between his front teeth. Dr. Mengele, we learn. He is a refined killer and a lover of the arts".......The good doctor gives directions either to the left or right. Those who went left, children and those over 40 received an immediate death sentence under the guise of a communal shower. This was the last time that Edith ever saw her parents again. Edith and Magda survived, Edith being discovered discarded and naked barely alive hidden beneath a pile of bodies.

The Choice is a story of survival. It is the account of a woman badly traumatized by inhuman treatment yet able to use this terror and in a positive way help others address their own issues and grief...."Just remember, no one can take away from you, what you've put in your mind. We can't choose to vanish the dark, but we can choose to kindle the light.".......In life there is always a choice and by sharing openly our greatest fear, and with the help and guidance of professional psychologists living can be worthwhile and meaningful again. Many thanks to the good people of netgalley for a gratis copy in exchange for an honest review and that is what I have written.

The Choice by Edith Eger is a free NetGalley ebook that I read in early September.

Ahh, Dr. Eger, if I could be half as capable as her during the work I plan to do in counseling, I would have a fine career, indeed. Her personal story (as well as that of her parents, sisters, husband, daughters, and son) of triumph and strength by choosing to live beyond the traumatic experiences in her life and choosing to enrich her future over living to avenge her past is, at times, difficult to read, but so very worth it in the light of the lives she has been able to improve and the quality of care, concern, and pin-point precise questioning that she is able to offer.

"The Choice," by Edith Eva Eger and Esme Schwall Weigand, is a searing memoir of loss, survival, and rebirth. Edie, who was born in Hungary, was a talented gymnast and ballet dancer who looked forward to a bright future. Tragically, she, her sister Magda, and their parents were deported to Auschwitz in 1944. From that time, until she was liberated in May 1945, Edie clung to Magda and fantasized about the boy she loved and hoped to marry after the war. Edie, Magda, and their fellow inmates were starved, forced to work at grueling tasks, sent on death marches, and were ordered to sit on top of train cars in order to discourage aerial bombardment by the Allies.

Where did Edie find the strength to keep going when it would have been so much easier to give up? She believes that her mother's words helped keep her sane: "No one can take away from you what you put in your own mind." This remains Edie's mantra, and it has sustained her to this day. Eger has a Phd in clinical psychology, is a consultant for the United States Army and Navy (she specializes in treating PTSD and teaches soldiers "how to deal with the adversity, trauma, and chaos of war"), has a private practice, and is an accomplished public speaker. At ninety, she is still going strong and has no intention of retiring.

Dr. Eger candidly shares details of her sometimes troubled marriage, celebrates the joys of motherhood, and amazes us with her determination to pursue a doctorate. She admits that she has suffered from depression, anxiety, and survivor's guilt. In addition, she shares anecdotes (details are changed to insure confidentiality) about her interactions with patients who are so emotionally distraught that they can barely function. Like a mother speaking to her children, she comforts and reassures us. We can use the tools we all have to deal with feelings of hurt, rage, and sorrow constructively, or we can live in the past and wallow in misery. "The Choice" is an unforgettable memoir--cogent, compassionate, and beautifully written--by a remarkable woman who continues to impart a powerful message of resilience, love, and hope.

I met Dr Edie Eger in 2009 when she was the key-note speaker for a federal law enforcement conference to train officers to provide peer support during and after traumatic incidents. Her discussion on trauma and survival were riveting and everyone present was impacted by her resilience, mental stamina, and forgiveness. Her path to healing and her choice of life's work was to use her experience to benefit others. In The Choice, Eger shares her personal story of suffering and loss during the Holocaust and then how she transformed her life by her choices. Dr. Edith Eger is a treasure, a dedicated therapist, an evolved healer whose wisdom emanates from true compassion and love. After reading The Choice, I felt uplifted by and grateful for the deep humanity of Dr. Edith Eger.

This is a book about resilience, personal honesty, and deep courage. As a psychotherapist, I also appreciated her clinical stories, but they stand on their own and support the theme of the book. I highly recommend it. The parts about being in Auschwitz were told so that the truth of it was present, but with the framework that she did survive. I found her struggles to regain her own identity aside from the compensations for the trauma to be very moving, and something that anyone with a history of trauma could learn from. Thank you Dr. Eger..

An incredible companion book to Viktor Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning. Like Frankl's book, an incredible story of despair, redemption, choice -- and ultimately love -- plus the added perspective of a Dr. Eger's incredible career after the Holocaust.

The detailed story of her own journey to forgiveness and then how the lessons became gifts to her patients in later years are the real gems of this book. So many practical lessons that every human being will benefit from.

If you read one book this year, let it be this one.

I checked this book out from my local library, just happening to see it on the newly-released shelf. Whoa. I’m going into my last semester of social work graduate school, and believe this book should be a recommended textbook for every helping professional. Dr. Edith Eger’s story is told with such honesty, coupled with grace and insight. Finally, you end the book feeling like she has just taken your hand to guide you along your own journey as well. This is a must-read. I am purchasing a hard-copy of this book so I can highlight and ‘tab’ all the pages I will be referring to in the future. Highly recommend. .

The lesson from Dr. Eger's mother -- "No one can take away from you what you put in your own mind."

The lesson from Victor Frankl -- "Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms -- to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way."

The lesson from Dr. Eger -- "You can't change what happened, you can't change what you did or what was done to you. But you can choose how you live NOW."

Buy this book! Read it! Absorb it! What a wonderful, uplifting story Dr. Eger writes. Not only to survive the Holocaust, but to finally be able to heal and then help others to learn how to heal makes the reader exam themselves. On the family's way to Auschwitz, Dr. Eger's mother gives her this advice "We don't know where we're going. We don't know what's is going to happen. Just remember, no one can take away for you what you've put in your mind."

I am reading The Choice, Embrace the Possible - a memoir by Dr. Edith Eva Eger. Edie came to an Integrative Coaching Training several years ago. She told part of her story about being requested to dance for Josef Mengele at Auschwitz. She told herself many times that in order to keep herself alive inside, she chanted in her head: "I survived today. Tomorrow I will be free." She survived Auschwitz and came to USA, settling later in Califormia. I hear her voice telling her story the whole time I am reading. I don't want to put it down. She keeps me spell-bound. The book just came out this fall, and someone is brilliant at the Culpeper Library chose it for our shelves. 'I know this woman' I excitedly told the library staff last week when I found it. I am so glad to have read it. You read it too. Remarkable.

I couldn't stop reading. Reading normally puts me to sleep within 10-15 minutes, so I gave up reading books shortly after college. I would have to put this book down after reading 1-2 hrs each night, because I was staying up too late. Forget being tired. I was engrossed.

At several points throughout the book, I waited to the hero to arrive, to save Edith and her family. I had to remind myself that this story is not historical fiction, but a true story of an amazing woman. The truth is, the hero is Dr. Eger. Thank you, Dr. Eger for sharing your story and courage. You are a true inspiration.

This is the first book I ever reviewed but I felt compelled to. This book could have been another horrible holocaust memoir, but you come away with light and hope. Dr. Eger writes with such expression that you feel you're experiencing everything with her. She is very courageous and pulls herself out of such deep pain and emerges as an inspiring survivor. Beautifully written, haunting, and brave. I applaud her.

"....the biggest prison is in your own mind, and in your pocket you already hold the key: the willingness to take absolute responsibility for your life; the willingness to risk; the willingness to release yourself from judgement and reclaim your innocence, accepting and loving yourself for who you really are -- human, imperfect, and whole."

I feel this book should be required reading for everyone from middle school to the elderly. The book flows well. It's not only intelligent and meaningful, it's also written by a masterful storyteller. I will recommend it to anyone who will listen!

POINT BLANK-up front and honest. No sugar coating here. Also covers the post Holocaust for this one woman and her family. I learned a lot about the Holocaust and its history...I was actually assigned to read this book and I am glad I did. I was coming at it from the trauma based factor entangled into the story. The fact that this woman(now a doctor) is still alive today is amazing.