if i should die before i wake

This is novel that I've had kicking around for years, and I just decided to give it a shot. The main reason I'm posting about it at all is because it's another story about the Holocaust and I was interested how it would compare to novels, such as The Book Thief, that we've been talking about in class. It follows Hilary, a young girl who is part of a neo-Nazi gang in her town. She ends up in a Jewish hospital after a serious motorcycle accident. While there, she lucidly fades in and out of visits with her religious mother and neo-Nazi boyfriend. As she fades away, she ends up living this dream alternate reality as a Jewish girl, Chana. This ends up being her roommate in the hospital and they are sharing memories of their opposing lives through some sort of telepathic communication. Have I said enough yet?

I really can't even continue summarizing the plot because it is too obvious and predictable to waste time on. I have to say, as a completely unrealistic story, it wasn't that painful to read. However, it doesn't work at all as a reading of the holocaust and as many critics have said, it's almost insulting to novels such as The Diary of Anne Frank and The Devil's Arithmetic. It's very readable, and I would never discourage a student from choosing this book because it is challenging enough to have value as literature, but it could never be a part of a Holocaust unit, at least not for me.

The front of the novel has a quote from Voice of Youth Advocates which states that the book is, "Page-turning." However, I'm thinking that this is only because of the subject matter. It is an imaginative way to deal with the Holocaust, and I did get into it, wanting to hear more about Hilary's experience as Chana, but the plot fell apart as she became Hilary again. It was a frustrating experience at best and in the end I decided there are much better resources for this particular historical event than this weak novel.