This engrossing novel tells the story of four men, inmates in a Nazi concentration camp, who survive their nightmarish ordeal by taking on the roles of jesters, amusing their tormentors.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
In this short, deeply moving novel by a former Israeli ambassador (his first book to appear in English), four prisoners in a Nazi concentration camp are kept alive as "court jesters" to entertain the camp commandant. They are juggler Adam Wahn, studious astrologer Max Himmelfarb, Kahana, a hunchbacked ex-judge, and a quick-witted, talkative dwarf named Leo Risenberg. A Nazi soldier shoots Wahn's naked wife to death as he stands before her juggling, looking on helplessly. Over 20 years later, Kahana and Himmelfarb meet in Jerusalem; the dwarf is dead, but the two survivors track down Wahn, now crippled from a terrorist bomb, who relates the gripping story of how he avenged his wife's death in a remote corner of Buenos Aires. A story that might have been allegorical or contrived in the hands of a less gifted novelist is here an utterly realistic tale, pellucid and poetic, which asks an overriding question: Is there a just God? Despite the narrator's closing epiphany, no final answers are given. This is a poignant, extraordinary book. Film rights to Milos Forman.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A beautiful Holocoust story which goes beyond the others.,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Court Jesters (Hardcover)
The most powerful aspect of the tale is the viewpoint in which the characters share the inevitable guilt of the reader for watching the suffering without really experiencing it. The jesters are in the concentration camp for being gypsy, dwarfed and hunch-backed, but they are spared to entertain the General's guests. Through their experiences they learn that one can survive most anything for the sake of living another day.
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