Book Review: Little Boy, I Know Your Name

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May 1

Little Boy, I Know Your Name

by Mitchell Raff

Genre: Nonfiction / Memoir

ISBN: 9781632997630

Print Length: 236 pages

Publisher: River Grove Books

Reviewed by Susan Morris

Mitchell Raff's Little Boy, I Know Your Name takes its title from a memorable scene in the memoir's first chapter that will stick with me for years. His mother said those words to him from the other side of a fence at pre-school, introducing herself to her son and starting him on a journey that would alter the course of his life.

Raff spends some time on how the Holocaust survivors in his family believed suppression of their horrific memories would insulate future generations from what they had survived. The choice is understandable, and things might have worked out differently for Raff if his mother had not come calling that day in the playground when he was four years old.

"And I can draw a direct line between that day and the day my inheritance came calling for me. "Little boy, I know your name," she said. Her accented English was soft. I stopped pedaling my beat-up little red tricycle."

Culture introduces children to an idealized version of the family: parents who love unconditionally and atomic family units that make dreams seem more accessible, and perhaps biology instills in us a need to know our parents. I don't know, but I can relate to the feeling Raff eloquently describes.