Imre Kertesz
1975
Around 265 pages
There are quite a few famous novels that take place in concentration camps, and I definitely have to space out my readings. It's such an emotional experience, because you know it's going to be incredibly upsetting, powerful, and also strangely inspirational. It's a lot to go through when you are a sensitive lass like me.
Gyorgy Koves is a young Hungarian Jew who is sent away to concentration camps (first Auschwitz, then Buchenwald, and finally Zeitz). It's really a mind fuck how ordinary it all seems. Based on modern depictions, we see families getting ripped apart and this immediate understanding of what's going on. And while I am sure that often was the case, in Kertesz's story, most everybody is in denial or at least acting like they are, because what choice do you have? The guards aren't cartoonishly evil, and joke with the young Jewish boys. It's just not how you imagine hell.
Gyorgy provides a fascinating perspective, even referring to the concentration camp as beautiful, because human beings can adapt and cope with anything. I also appreciated his reaction to people who didn't experience the camps. They wanted horrifying details and you could feel Gyorgy reluctance for his experience to be dramatized or consumed in that way.
An incredibly moving and essential read. Now to pick up the pieces of my soul.
RATING: *****
Interesting Facts:
Interesting Facts:
Winner of the 2002 Nobel Prize for literature.
Adapted into a film in 2005.
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1 comment:
I just checked the library and they do not have this book. Even though it sounds sad, it sounds compelling. I may have to read it.
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