13 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Beauty can be found even in the worst of conditions, August 25, 2010
This review is from: The Violin of Auschwitz: A Novel (Hardcover)
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This short story is a translation of a Catalan novel by Maria Angels Anglada. It is the first time her work has been presented in English. I am grateful for the opportunity to be able to receive a copy and review it before it's publication date.
There have been many stories written about the Holocaust and the devastation it brought on the Jewish community. This particular short story gives a haunting description of the fortitude and resilience of the human spirit. Daniel, a Jewish prisoner of Auschwitz, is a luthier, a violin maker. But when asked his occupation by the camp intake guard he quickly states he is a carpenter. His fear being that a violin maker would not be of much use in a prison camp.
Through several circumstances it becomes apparent that he is a gifted craftsman and the commandant of the camp happens to love violin music and collecting instruments. Daniel is given the task of making a violin for the commandant. Little does he know that his life hangs in the balance dependent on the quality and timeliness of his work.
Throughout the story we are given glimpses of life in the prison camp. The author does a good job of helping us feel the despair of the prisoners as they are beaten for no reason, the despair they feel when some are singled out at roll call and never return, and the complete devastation of watching children being walked off to the gas chambers.
But while all this despair is in the air our violin craftsman battles with the depression of his situation but the joy of being able to work with his hands and craft an instrument of true quality. We are given glimpses into how the mind can loose itself in memories of the past and provide inspiration for building a violin in the midst of inhuman treatment.
Given the same situation would you be willing to use your artistry to produce an instrument for a brutal murderous barbarian of a human?
One question that Daniel raises is, why would Christians (the Germans) be so cruel and heartless to the Jewish people if they truly believe the Bible is the word of God? Shouldn't they instead show love and compassion? It is a cruel irony that is pointed out and caused me to stop and reflect on my own attitudes towards others. I believe in God's word, but do I completely follow His teachings and treat others as more important than myself?
This is a short quick read that you won't be able to put down once you start it. I hope it brings you as much enjoyment as it brought me and I hope that it also gives you pause to reflect on the gifts that God gives us and how we can use them even in the worst of circumstances.
Enjoy!
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A short but powerful story of survival, November 15, 2010
This review is from: The Violin of Auschwitz: A Novel (Hardcover)
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When I received this book, I was surprised by how thin it was. I wondered how such a thin volume could possibly do justice to a story about the horrors of Auschwitz. As it turns out, this is a truly powerful tale of hope and the struggle for survival in the worst hell ever inflicted by man upon man. The violin of the title is the product of a bet, made by the Nazi officers, whether a prisoner could build a quality violin in the camp. In the uncertain chaos of the camp, Daniel, who was a violin maker in his previous life, finds hope and escape in the building of the violin, though he is uncertain of his future beyond its completion.
This story is a reminder that even when confronted by the most extreme examples of evil, people are capable of finding a spark of hope, of continuing to believe that there might be a way to survive. It is that belief that keeps them from giving up, of continuing to live in spite of every effort to crush their spirit and will. It is also a reminder that we need to celebrate such stories to preserve the memory of those who weren't able to survive.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Holocaust fiction worthy of respect, September 2, 2010
This review is from: The Violin of Auschwitz: A Novel (Hardcover)
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
I am very appreciative of works of English translation in world literature ~ translations that expose me to more great literature which, in the original language, would otherwise be unavailable to me.
The Violin of Auschwitz: A Novel is one such fine rendering.
Knowing only English makes it difficult for me to judge a translation for its technical style or use of poetic device, but for its content alone I must give this short but intense novel my highest rating. With the greatest economy of words Maria Angels Anglada still delivers the impact necessary to capture the depths of horror, fear and despair suffered by the Jews in the Nazi death camps of the Holocaust.
Anglada's description of Auschwitz is so haunting, so chilling, I was often uncomfortable reading it. Although I could have easily read this short novel in one sitting, I had to put it down at least twice because I was so disturbed by what I was reading.
To feel forsaken by a silent God, as the Jews of the Holocaust surely did, moved me to tears. Their suffering was so palpable in the telling of
The Violin of Auschwitz: A Novel! Such description of despair imparts an intense and lasting effect on me. One such passage that effected me so deeply is from page 23 ~
"Dark dawn was breaking, like an old blanket thrown across the shabby bed of suffering, a harbinger of the gray, faltering daylight that awaited them. No nightmare, he thought, could possibly be worse than the cruelty that surrounded them, pervaded them, as inescapable as the air they breathed. He felt powerless, defenseless as a newborn child. He had been consigned into the hands of incomprehensible hatred, forsaken by everyone. Even God."
The story of the violin is a fiction yet the quality of descriptive detail makes
The Violin of Auschwitz: A Novel feel real and authentic. The exacting detail of the violin is exquisite, as is the passion in the violin maker's crafting of it. It is his desperate passion for his art, together with the tender love he feels for the violin his hands are crafting, that keep the Jewish violin maker alive, give him the will to survive Auschwitz when otherwise ~ "He was tempted to curse the determination that had kept him alive and in this hell."
Inasmuch as this precious instrument becomes a life saving symbol, so does the heavenly music it produces. It is the powerful and rich, the deep and full music of the Auschwitz violin that tells this unique and moving story and gives structure to this extraordinary and original novel.
I believe that any chronicle of the Holocaust, be it an actual rendering or a fiction, is above common criticism and should be cherished and respected for all it represents in human history.
The Violin of Auschwitz: A Novel is one such testimony of the Holocaust, as well as a beautifully written story of resilience, love and the will to survive. Without any hesitation I give this moving novel my highest rating.
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