by Jerzy Kosiński
Opening: In the first weeks of World War II, in the fall of 1939, a six-year-old boy from a large city in Eastern Europe was sent by his parents, like thousands of other children, to the shelter of a distant village. A man traveling eastward agreed for a substantial payment to find temporary foster ...
Is this worthy of five stars? Yes. Will I concur with that rating? No.This is a five star book I refuse to ever speak of again. It ripped my soul and I choose not to revisit that exquisite experience - ever.Damage yourself at your own risk.
Every few pages brings another basic question of life as observed through the eyes of a child rapidly gaining life experiences without enough life experiences to put them in perspective. Fundamental questions of purpose, existence, reason, are brought to the forefront with each new act of brutality...
Warning: I talk about a really gross and disturbing scene from the book in this review, please do not read if you're going to be upset and/or offended by talk of graphic sexual violence.This book is one of my dad's favourite books of all time, I don't know how many years he's been telling me to read...
Harrowing is probably the only word to describe it. I don't think the context-placing introduction is necessary. It would be totally fine if he, like many other authors, plunged us up to the ears in his world without explaining what the world is. Other authors do this all the time. I think it mi...
The remarkable thing about this catalog of horrors is the naive, straightforward tone it's told in, especially at the start, when the narrator is believably very young. There were a few moments during the story that pulled me away from the narrator's perspective because they were blatantly metaphori...
The main problem of this book is the banalization of evil. At first I was impressed by the style used by Kosinski.It was exactly what I was searching for when I decided to read this book.No need to hide the disgusting actions human beings are able to do in many circumstances. Then, chapter after cha...
A deeply disturbing novel about a young boy's experiences during the Holocaust. My main problem was the matter-of-fact manner in which the lead character describes the tragedies he witnesses, participates in, and endures. The descriptions are horrifying and graphic, and, because it is semi-autobiog...
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