Customer Reviews

The Violin of Auschwitz: A Novel

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(19)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

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!

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.

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.

The Violin of Auschwitz, Maria Angels Anglada
Let me preface my review by stating that I have a particular interest in translated novels, and I'm always excited to see a novel by a Catalan author. I was really excited to read this title, as I've found stories about the Holocaust to be inspiring, especially in that I am able to better evaluate my own attitudes in life towards loyalty and inner strength.

In any case, I found this novel to be disappointing, although its premise is original. The story proceeds through the imprisonment of a violin maker who gets marginally better treatment than other prisoners because he is able to repair the Commander's violin, as well as make a new one for the man. He artfully designs the new violin, but is under constant tension because he knows any flaws will mean his death. Eventually, in a flashforward, we find that his niece now owns the violin and plays artfully in a symphony in Krakow. The violin understandably is her greatest treasure.

I've read many books about the Holocaust, and the pain is visceral. At times, I had to put Schindler's List down, for days, because of the devastating content. Elie Wiesel's Night affected me similarly (don't even get me started on Sophie's Choice). It's probably unfair to compare, but Anglada's novel lacks something of the humanity of the other titles. I didn't feel any pull from the main character, there was simply nothing to hook me into the book. His behavior as a prisoner never seemed to change or alter throughout various trials in the camp, and he spoke of little other than overwhelming hunger. There was no insight in to what motivated him or how he felt about the others, except from an almost clinical distance. The character speaks of some of the horrors of Auschwitz, but they come off almost as if read from an encyclopedia; they lack a human element. It's almost as if the author was trying to downplay the tragedy to the point that it's impact was lost.

The novel is filled with references to composers, cities, and Schindler himself, but somehow it still felt small and too contained. Possibly because there are only three significant characters, and possibly because they were never fully revealed. Another awkward detail was that the dialogue felt stilted. People don't normally speak with semi-colons, and the way even the smallest portions of speech were written, in complete sentences (not fragmented as in typical conversation), didn't ring true.

The book is very short, almost novella sized, as was Wiesel's Night. But Night is exponentially more powerful and moving.

Maria Angels Anglada's "Auschwitz Violin" was written in the Catalan language and translated by Martha Tennent. Ms. Tennant is an experienced translator with numerous credits to her name. In this instance, I believe she translates the words but not the poetry.

Alas, I don't read Catalan and even if I did, I don't have access to the original version, so I can only speculate as to the quality of the translation. It just seems to me that the resultant English prose is stiff and lacks life, which is too bad, because the story, brief though it is, could have been very compelling and moving.

"Auschwitz Vioin" is hardly a novel; it's perhaps an extended novella, and can be read easily in a single sitting. It's about a violin, made by a luthier in a World War II German concentration camp, who focused his energy on this creative act as a means of survival. The story starts in the present, with a first-person musician character who doesn't return later except as a sort of walk-on. He is intrigued by a "special" violin, which of course turns out to be the Auschwitz violin (and it's hardly a spoiler to say this), played by a female violinist. The author makes a sort of feint at starting up a romantic relation between the two but inexplicably drops the attempt.

The middle part of the story then goes back to the war years and third-person narrative, describing the creation of the violin. Finally, the story returns to the present to wrap things up and fill in, very quickly, events of the intervening years.

On one level, the story is a moving account of survival of the spirit under unspeakably horrible conditions, and the survival of art, which makes us more than just mammals and lifts us above squalid reality. On this level, the story succeeds very well. But it could have had so much more impact if the translated prose would have been less sterile, more emotional, and more fluid. Perhaps the translator was striving for an accurate rendition of the original words. But too much of the spirit seems to have been lost.

I should disclose that I am Jewish and that I lost an uncle at Auschwitz, so I am very sensitive to this topic, and in all fairness, the story does full justice to the memory of the victims. But it could have been more than it is.

I did not find this story engaging on any level. I have read quite a few books on the Holocaust and I have only read one other one that was able to make the Holocaust seem dull. I didn't think it was possible for one person to achieve that, let alone two but this book is the proof. Was there something important lost in the translation? It is possible, but in my honest opinion, not likely.

There was an overall lack of realism to the story and the author just didn't seem to have a very good knowledge base to draw from when creating the exchanges between the characters. She repeatedly mentions them fearing the worst and instead of referencing a horribly painful death, she is referring to a whipping as the "worst".

At one point in the story the main character is talking to another prisoner in his bunk at night and then she has a third prisoner say to him "Hey, how about letting me get some sleep." Here's another passage that just didn't seem to ring true; 'His body still ached from the whipping, but his sleep was deep and free from nightmares --- maybe because he felt the comforting presence of those around him.' I'm not saying it isn't possible for him to feel comforted by the people around him, but if he is then perhaps the author could show us just a hint of a relationship with them.

Another thing that didn't have the ring of truth was that the main character has a very low number but the year the events being described are taking place is 1943. That is if the chapter documents are supposed to indicate the date the events in the following chapter are happening. If that is the case a prisoner with a low number would have been incarcerated for a very long time and would have a much greater knowledge of the way things work in the camp than our main character here seems to have. Someone please correct me if I am mistaken.

I didn't find the story, the characters or the story telling at all interesting or engaging. There is no emotion in this story and this is in my opinion one of the most moving topics an author can write about. I find it hard to believe that this was published at all, let alone translated for a greater market.

I expected a lot from this book. The title was intriguing, the reviews spoke of a haunting reading experience, of it being an international sensation. So maybe I expected too much, but for me this book didn't quite live up to the descriptions. I thought for a long time about why I wasn't captivated, why it didn't work for me - the setting alone should have made for a page-turning read, let alone the juxtaposition of something as delicate as a violin and a place like Auschwitz.

What I finally came up with is that throughout the novel, Auschwitz and its horrors remain strangely in the background, and scenes such as when Daniel, the luthier, and Bronislaw, the violinist, both prisoners at the camp, go for a walk after Daniel loses control and screams out his anguish ("Bronislaw suggested that walking would calm them...") conjures up an image of a place where inmates were allowed and free to do just that: stroll leisurely. For all I have read about Auschwitz, this was just not the case. The only time when Auschwitz comes alive as the hell that it was in this book is at the beginning of each chapter when original documents such as cold, brutal statistics or orders are cited. But the novel itself somehow fails to capture the essence and absolute evilness of the place.

Secondly, every pivotal scene in the novel is either implied or recounted in hindsight. This was most disappointing to me because it meant that the story never really came to life, never reached a real climax, there is simply not enough suspense being built up. For example, not mentioned is how Daniel actually gets the order to make the violin. I found myself turning back pages to see if I missed something, the scene change was so abrupt but I hadn't. The same occurs yet again when the last chapter set in Auschwitz (chapter VI) ends with Daniel not having finished the violin but "he reminded himself that he would need every gram of food he could encounter if he wanted to have the stamina to finish the violin". The conclusion of the story, however, is not something the reader is allowed to experience in "real-time" but it is told in quite general terms from the perspective of Bronislaw the violinist in the early 1990s. I couldn't help but feel cheated out of my fear for Daniel, whether he would make it, what the outcome would be, etc.

It is with some regret that I must conclude that this story was not executed well, and that the language was never able to captivate me nor to sufficiently convey the horrors of the Auschwitz concentration camp.

In all fairness, this book is doomed by its own subject matter. The holocaust is such a tragedy and depraved time in human history, it is almost as if to fictionalize it were to trivialize it. That isn't the case with this novel, by any means, but it just doesn't have the emotional impact that survivor tales have and first-hand accounts carry.

I know that it is a work of fiction, and I get this. The writing is clipped and sterile- but as another review pointed out- this novel is a translation, and so we are really only getting on persons interpretation of the original work. The novel is short and moved speedily thought the plot- played out agains the backdrop of the concentration camps and modern-day concert halls.

While the story is beautiful and mournful, it just did not resonate with me or have the powerful impact that one would expect out of a novel of this nature. That isn't to say that the book is bad- in fact, it is not. It is a good story that moves along fluidly and is easy to follow- but it could have been told anywhere and been titled as openly. It could have been the violin of Rwanda, or the Violin of Sarajevo. It could have been a book set in any locale, any backdrop, any city, and with any number of players.

I think that what makes it so difficult to grasp is the fictionalized account of the horrors visited upon the Jewish population during WW2. The holocaust holds a special, painful, sad, tragic, and revered place in human history- and as such it is very difficult to "get it right" when writing fiction. I felt as if the book used the holocaust as a backdrop- this caused it to fall flat and not resonate with me on an emotional level. The story is good, the overall structure is done well, the setting is what fails to resonate. It felt too neat, too sterile, and too "false" in order for it to have the punch I was desperately hoping it would.

I believe some of the negative comments I've read probably have more to do with the translation of this short, moving novel (almost a parable in ways) than with the story itself. As Americans, many of us are not used to the style(s) of other cultures - it's one of the reasons foreign movies are not universally loved in this country. There is a sobriety (or dryness, if you will) to the story that will be (and clearly has been) off putting to a number of readers. Having said that, I believe many - maybe most - who will allow themselves to be a bit more open to this little read, will be deeply moved.

Possible Spoilers!

I sort of feel guilty for giving a holocaust narrative only 3 stars due to the heaviness and importance of the historical subject matter. There is no question that the victims' voices of the holocaust deserve to be heard and commemorated in our literature. However, if you've read other literary portrayals of this horrible event in our history, you'll soon recognize (at least for me, it was like this...) that the tragedy of the historical period seems a bit forced and the novel never fully embraces its potential. I like short novels as much as anyone but I prefer long, rich novels and I think this idea needed a longer and steadier character development so that the final emotional meeting up of survivors near the end of the book could be a more powerful moment for the reader. I really needed to know more about the woman who had acquired the violin. Recommended with reservation.