Members with This Book
Most Helpful Reviews
see all reviews
Liked It “Fascinating read. The movie/book both follow each other very closely. I saw the movie first and it was just as described in the book.” see full review » see other reviews » |
Newest Reviews
see all reviews-
“Fascinating read. The movie/book both follow each other very closely. I saw the movie first and it was just as described in the book. ”
Laura Stiller wrote this review Tuesday, November 24 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“This book was amazing, a true story too! The descriptive words Spilzman uses are incredible, you feel like you are there with him.”
Christina C wrote this review Monday, October 5 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“I bought this book in my favorite bookstore in Lincoln, UK six years ago. I have not been able to read it until now. A thought provoking and heartbreaking account of survival during WWII that was well worth the wait. Mr. Szpilman is pointed and matter of fact in his writing, something I found to break my heart even more deeply as I read about each passing month and year. The lack of vengeance in his voice, which sounded natural and unforced, startled me each time I found myself seething with anger at the events he described. ”
Veronica B wrote this review Wednesday, September 30 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“http://thebookwormslibrary.com/?p=92”
Lisa A wrote this review Friday, September 18 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Synopsis: The true story of Wladyslaw Szpilman, a Jewish pianist who survives the German invasion of Poland, the Warsaw ghetto and the ultimate destruction of the city.
Tim W wrote this review Wednesday, September 16 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
My Take: It’s sad to say but at a certain point, first hand accounts of holocaust survival start to have a numbing affect. It’s hard to know whether it’s better to read books like this to try to maintain the fires of outrage or whether you need to draw the line at a certain point to preserve a sense of innocence or humanity that is able to be outraged. Hmmm. An amazing and well written story regardless.
Highlight: The edition I read had an epilogue with diary entries from the German soldier who protected Szpilman in the final days of the war. To be honest I found the internal moral angst of someone struggling to do good against overwhelming evil more compelling than Szpilman’s struggle for survival. Fighting to survive can be almost instinctive at times, fighting to do right in the face of enormous personal danger requires genuine courage.”
“"I just can't make the Germans out...they were so extremely musical" - Wladyslaw Szpilman”
Shamanth H wrote this review Wednesday, August 19 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“It was a delight to find that the movie adaptation of The Pianist was true to Szpilman's story. I am in wonder at Szpilman's survival against all odds, and enjoyed reading a Holocaust story that did not involve the camps. Easy and straightforward to read without being boring. Highly recommended.”
Vyrubova wrote this review Friday, July 10 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Piano and the Holocaust...it sounds really good to me.”
Angelika wrote this review Thursday, June 11 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“This is another movie tie-in, this time for Roman Polanski's "The Pianist" starring Adrian Brody. It is also the autobiography of polish jew Wladyslaw Szpilman and his account of the holocaust in Warsaw, Poland.
Laila wrote this review Saturday, May 23 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
Szpilman is a radio pianist and has some popularity in Warsaw before the war. His story starts with the German occupation of Poland and how Warsaw changed under them. How jews were first being discrimiated againt with laws and rules and later cooped up in Warsaw ghetto. He discribes the purges and the muder and the carnage that was his everyday life for years, how he by luck survived but saw his family be transported off to certain death.
He survives the ghetto, hides in empty flats, almost dies of starvation - and in the end only survives by the hand of a German Officer, Wilm Hosenfeld, who has grown to know that on his watch Germany perpetuated one of the greatest evils in the history of the world.
The work is sub-titled "The Extraordinary Story of One Man's Survival in Warsaw, 1939-45" and that is exactly what it is. Chance and luck work together to keep this man alive it almost feels like a miracle - A miraculous survival.
The narrative is well strung, well written and, maybe because the author wrote it just after the war, full of horrible realism. I cried a couple of times because its so horrible and written without any palliation or clemency. There are pictures of him and his family, and you look this man in the eyes and its almost physically painful to know what horrible sufferings he has gone through and on who's hands.
The edition I read also featured excerpts of Wilm Hoselfelds diary, the man who helped Szpilman survive the last weeks and who later died in a Russian prison camp. He writes of how he comes to realize that nothing good can ever come from the evil perpetuated by the Germans and his feeling and thoughts.
The accounts of both men are incredibly moving and well-worth a read. For about two weeks I kept thinking of some of the scenes described and I hated my nationality again. But then its important to know these things and to think about them. To be aware and to make sure you can read the signs early should anything like this happen again in an environment where you can do something to help keeping it from happening.
Its moving, and good and terrible and maybe not necessarily for the faint of heart.”
