Skeletons at the Feast: A Novel (Paperback)

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In his 12th novel, Bohjalian (The Double Bind) paints the brutal landscape of Nazi Germany as German refugees struggle westward ahead of the advancing Russian army. Inspired by the unpublished diary of a Prussian woman who fled west in 1945, the novel exhumes the ruin of spirit, flesh and faith that accompanied thousands of such desperate journeys. Prussian aristocrat Rolf Emmerich and his two elder sons are sent into battle, while his wife flees with their other children and a Scottish POW who has been working on their estate. Before long, they meet up with Uri Singer, a Jewish escapee from an Auschwitz-bound train, who becomes the group's protector. In a parallel story line, hundreds of Jewish women shuffle west on a gruesome death march from a concentration camp. Bohjalian presents the difficulties confronting both sets of travelers with carefully researched detail and an unflinching eye, but he blinks when creating the Emmerichs, painting them as untainted by either their privileged status, their indoctrination by the Nazi Party or their adoration of Hitler. Although most of the characters lack complexity, Bohjalian's well-chosen descriptions capture the anguish of a tragic era and the dehumanizing desolation wrought by war. (May)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

"The perfect novel for a book club. . .this book sucked me right in. It’s vivid and heart-wrenching."
—John Searles, The Today Show

"Reading Bohjalian's descriptions of terror and tragedy on the road has just as much impact as seeing newsreels from the end of World War II....While creating suspense, Bohjalian agilely balances the moral ambiguities of war....Right and wrong shift depending on the situation. Ignorance is tolerated and murder is justified. But Bohjalian does posit that one absolute exists: No one wins at war."
—Dennis Moore, USA Today

"Harrowing. . .ingenious. . .compelling. . .Judging who's right or wrong is difficult in Skeletons at the Feast, and one senses that's just the way Bohjalian wants it. . .A tightly woven, moving story for anyone who thinks there's nothing left to learn, or feel, about the Second World War. That Bohjalian can extract greater truths about faith, hope and compassion from something as mundane as a diary is testament not only to his skill as a writer but also to the enduring ability of well-written war fiction to stir our deepest emotions."
—Paula L. Woods, The Los Angeles Times

"Harrowing. . .Bohjalian spins a suspenseful tale in which the plot triumphs over any single sorrow. . .[His] sense of character and place, his skillful plotting and his clear grasp of this confusing period of history make for a deeply satisfying novel, one that asks readers to consider, and reconsider, how they would rise to the challenge of terrible deprivation and agonizing moral choices."
-- Margot Livesey, The Washington Post Book World

"A poignant account of the conflict's last year. . .Harrowing. . .In creating the Emmerichs and their relationship to Uri, Bohjalian has given us something new and disturbing. He has also created a wonderful character in the protected child, Theo, whose gradual underst... --This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Three Rivers Press (February 10, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0307394964
• ISBN-13: 978-0307394965
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (118 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #8,917 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

41 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Haunting, June 8, 2008

By	Theresa W (mi, usa) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Skeletons at the Feast (Hardcover)

I am a huge fan of Christopher Bohjalian, I can't say enough good things about his novels. What I enjoy most is his ability to find unique and controversial topics to write about and explore. I was a little surprised to hear he was writing a book that was placed during WWII in Germany. I was leary to see if he could pull this off, to take a topic that has been written about over and over and movies have been made- could he do something new? The answer is yes.

This isn't the average holocaust novel, featuring mainly Jews in a concentration camp. This book takes a look at how this horrific time in Germany affected many different people. The main characters are a Prussian family who is on the run to find security in another country- a wealthy family who never thought the war would touch them and who did not believe in the autrocities that they were told were going on. Also on the run with them is a Scottish POW, which gives us the perspective of how this war affected those who weren't even citizens of Germany and yet they gave their lives. Lastly there is Uri who is a Jew who escaped from a concentration camp, and two women who did not escape a prison camp, where we see that sickening side of the war. I really loved how these characters were all sort of thrown together and we saw all of these different perspectives.

The tale is haunting, but what else can you say about the holocaust? More than the holocaust, this novel explores the darkside of human nature, but also the part in all of us that is a survivalist and preservere's. I read Cormack McCarthy's novel The Road last year and as I was reading this book I just couldn't stop thinking about the similarities. Maybe this book will reach those heights, it surely deserves it, as does Bohjalian's talents.

30 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I Couldn't Put it Down, May 13, 2008

By	Mary Lins (Houston, TX USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Skeletons at the Feast (Hardcover)

Chris Bohjalian's latest novel, "Skeletons at the Feast" might be his best novel to date, and it can't be a coincidence that it comes out just as Israel celebrates its 60th anniversary.

I couldn't turn the pages quickly enough in this absorbing tale of flight during the end of WWII. Each character becomes important to the reader and each of their fates matter to us. Mr. Bohjalian presents the stories of a variety of players, and through them we see the horrors of war, as well as the horrors of denial; there are Germans, Jews, women from a concentration camp, a Scottish POW, and an innocent child. Questions that these characters would have asked themselves and each other: "How did this happen?" "What were they thinking?" "Why does the world hate us so much?" and "Where did all those Jewish and Polish people we used to know go to?" are asked and answered in this gripping and suspenseful tale.

(Note to the editor: the use of em dashes to set apart long parenthetical clauses was very distracting and interrupted the flow of the narrative. Semi-colons or parentheses would have served better, in my opinion. If this is a specific style of Mr. Bohjalian's I never noticed it being so distracting before.)

29 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Chris Bohjalian's Masterpiece, May 7, 2008

By	Marvin Minkler "North Star Monthly" (St. Johnsbury, VT United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Skeletons at the Feast (Hardcover)

Chris Bohjalian has written his finest novel to date, set against the brutal, waning days of World War II in Eastern Germany. The Soviet Army is advancing through Poland, and ahead of it a small, thrown-together group of refugees, begin a long, arduous trek ahead of the Russians, trugging across the devastation of the smoldering Third Reich. Concentration camps, death marches, brutal Nazis, POWs, broken families, rampaging Russian soldiers, and terrified refugees. Ordinary people doing extraordinary things, all humbled by the bitter January cold. Yet, in the midst of this gutwrenching carnage, the author writes of new-found love, tender family moments, bonding friendships, resiliency, and hope. Above all - hope. Skeletons at the Feast, is Bohjalian's masterpiece. The power of the narrative will stay with the reader long after this book is put on the shelf. Inspired by an actual World War II diary the author read, it will stand as one of the best novels ever written about one of the most brutal periods in history.