“Haunting … It would be incorrect to see this as a minor pendant to the story of Anne Frank, who was killed at the same age as Lasnik. The Norwegian girl did not leave a diary like that of her now celebrated Dutch contemporary, yet Søbye makes us care about her no less deeply … Earlier in his career, Søbye worked as a statistician for the Norwegian state, which gave him expertise with census, school, and other public records that he uses to painstakingly flesh out a portrait of the lost child, whose parents had emigrated from the Russian province of Lithuania in 1908. His laconic tone can seem puzzling at first, given the gravity of what he is describing, but his masterful restraint heightens one’s sense of despair and impending doom.”
The New York Review of Books, US

“A shocking, important and thorough story of investigation, where the most powerful story is the one that is written in the reader’s mind as she book moves from everyday life towards catastrophe.”
Aftenposten

“The undisputed masterpiece on the subject: Espen Søbye’s small Kathe. I’ve Always Been in Norway (2003). It’s not only one of the best books written in Norway the past decade, it’s also the only Norwegian book about the persecution of the Jews which is on the same level as the greatest peaks of international Holocaust literature”
Dagbladet

“Outstanding … As the gifted literary pedagogue he is, he manages to portray the many by telling the story of the individual. Kathe’s story becomes the Norwegian Jews’ story. It’s a gripping read … Søbye’s book is a valuable addition to our war literature”
6/6 stars, VG

“The reader is gripped by this excellent book, where the strict demands of biographic writing to sources can also be used to describe “normal” people, and not only celebrities”
6/6 stars, Sarpsborg Arbeiderblad

“Søbye [has] wanted to make the 15 year old into something more than a victim, an unknown who just disappeared. He manages to do that, in addition to reinforcing the tragedy by making it more human … careful, muted, critical to its sources … It’s a powerful read”
5/6 stars, Haugesunds avis

“A hearbreaking, but absolutely sober documentation”
Dagbladet

«All in all the book is a unique documentation of a person’s life, a person who was only allowed to live for 15 years”
Morgenbladet

“Søbye’s portrait of Kathe Lasnik [is] not only a powerful book, it is also a kind of necessity”
Klassekampen

“A literary scream of pain … the monstrouos story of the extermination of the Jews has another powerful chapter”
Dagsavisen

“One of the smallest figures of statistics, contains the greatest drama of our history … One of the most disturbing books published in 2003 … a convincing demonstration of what a statistics historian can achieve … Kathe Lasnik, who had always been in Norway, did not stay long in the concentration camp. She was taken straight from the train and into the gas chamber. Now there is a memorial for her»
Stavanger Aftenblad