A major Holocaust novel, hailed internationally as 'vast and magnificent' and named Book of the Year by the Financial Times.
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Surely one of the most powerful Holocaust novels we have seen to date, Hungarian author Nyiri's story of a young Jewish boy who lives through WWII in Budapest is a wrenching exploration of a childhood torn apart by persecution and war. Yet, for all its descriptions of brutality, violence and death, the narrative is lively and often humorous, propelled by the voice of its narrator, Janos Sondor. Six years old when we first meet him in 1938, Janos is incorrigibly irreverent (sometimes impudent), mischievous, feisty, stubborn and often recklessly daring. In the village of Oszu, where Janos has been sent to live with his grandfather because his father, an elegant, philandering playwright, refuses to provide money for his support, Janos experiences the ingrained anti-Semitism of country people. When war breaks out, he returns to join his mother and older brother in Budapest; there they endure the menace of Nazi roundups, risk arrest in not wearing the yellow star and find themselves chronically short of money, food and shelter. Their peril increases as the Germans become more desperate, the vicious Hungarian Arrow Cross partisans round up and murder thousands of Jews, and the Russian army closes in. Like any preadolescent, Janos is preoccupied with games and sports, daydreams and friends. Nyiri maintains a perfect tone in detailing Janos's schoolboy adventures while tracing his maturation in the crucible of war. The youngster becomes a shrewd judge of human nature, even as he questions the existence of God and the value of his religion in a world where prejudice escalates to extermination. In this hellish environment, some Jews are guilty of greed and arrogance; there are also rare, merciful Christians who provide shelter and succor, in spite of their own mortal danger. The novel won several prizes in England, but the one jarring element in the commendably matter-of-fact prose is the pervasive use of British colloquialisms (bloke, swot, sod off!, etc.). Overall, however, this is a gripping narrative, undoubtedly destined to be regarded as a classic picture of war, seen through the eyes of a bright, courageous child.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Library Journal
Jozsef Sondor, the fictional counterpart of Hungarian author Nyiri, gives an impassioned first-person account of life beginning in prewar Hungary, where he spent his early childhood with his grandparents; through the war years in Budapest, where he hid with his mother to avoid deportation to Auschwitz; to the Russian liberation in 1945, when he was reunited with his entire family. A spunky, defiant youth, Jozsef foils the attempts of the rabbi to teach him Hebrew and Jewish studies in the country and later sets up a more sophisticated rebellion at school in Budapest. Dramatically and skillfully, Nyiri guides the reader through the cruelty and inhumanity of war as seen through the eyes of his young narrator. Jozsef emerges from the horrors of the war with a sense of political consciousness well beyond his tender age of 12. This fictional memoir is at once a coming-of-age novel, a family saga, and an extraordinary testament to European life in the 1940s and what the human spirit is capable of. Recommended for most collections.?Molly Abramowitz, Silver Spring, Md.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Last Word,
By A Customer
This review is from: Battlefields and Playgrounds (Hardcover)
Battlefields and Playgrounds is the last word on humanity's darkest hour. A masterpiece of modern fiction, this novel is more than a novel, more than a chronicle, a memoir, a tribute to victims of persecution, holocaust and genocide. It is a celebration of life in all its glory and vulnerability, a portrait of childhood, human suffering and divine redemption. The exquisite prose, even in English translation is like a latter-day Gray's Elegy, sounding the curfew of Europe's vastest graveyard, with angels' trumpets echoing in the shadow of Death, heralding a last chance for humanity. This book restored my faith in literature, humanity and God. An unmitigated triumph of modern writing. Janos Nyiri's authorial voice rings true in a world ravaged by cruelty, bitterness and injustice. His genius lies in recording the greatest agony and evil, while reaffirming beauty, humor and innocence at the same time. By this life-affirming masterpiece, the author of Battlefields and Playgrounds restores Love, Beauty and Hope as only a child-survivor of the Holocaust can. Battlefields and Playgrounds should be required reading in every home, school, government and religion. An unforgettable book.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Unusual Fictional Perspective,
By Emily Ellis Hoffman (Apopka, FL United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Battlefields and Playgrounds (Tauber Institute Series for the Study of European Jewry) (Paperback)
Fast, entertaining read. Focused entirely on a young boy and his family. More a narrative than a fact filled historical fiction but worth reading. Seeing WWII through the sometimes limited, sometimes seeing larger than life, view of a 8-12 year old child is interesting. Characters are fascinating, realistic and far from perfect. Jozsef fluctuates between innate maturity and the ability to see clearly through situations and adults to childish desire and emotions in a dangerous and desperate time. All facets of people during war are demonstrated here- the villains, saviors and the apathetic. Jozsef's many friends and teachers are hysterical but you sometimes flinch at Jozsef's cruelty.
4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A BITTERSWEET CHILDHOOD IN WAR TORN EUROPE,
By A Customer
This review is from: Battlefields and Playgrounds (Tauber Institute Series for the Study of European Jewry) (Paperback)
The self-indulgent, narcisistic nature of the protagonist is the undisguised and tragic ego of the writer laid bare, both pathetic and heroic, in this brilliant if flawed Hungarian novel. An at times gripping, and always informative work, which rightly earned its place in PW's Best Fiction of 1995. An uneven masterpiece which would most probably benefit from a more literate and professional English translation. Nonetheless, the author's distinctively Hungarian, tragicomic voice is still audible despite a rather cumbersome and precious English rendition.
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