Take a photo of a barcode or cover
challenging
dark
informative
slow-paced
The Golden Maze is a triumphant epic of a book. Spanning over 500 pages, author Richard Fidler covers over one thousand years in the life of a city - Prague, one of the best-known capital cities in Europe.
I spent over two months reading this book and I don't regret it at all, even though it wasn't perfect - there were times when the pace dragged and some of it was a bit dry (hence why I didn't give this a full five stars). But overall, this is a vivid, highly engaging portrait of a city and its people - both those who have lived there and those who were merely passing through.
And what people! Artists, composers, scientists, philosophers, musicians, monarchs, and many, many more played a role in the history of Prague. From homegrown figures such as Jan Zizek, Jan Hus and Vaclav Havel (and even Good King Wenceslas [yes, the character in the Christmas carol was actually a real person!]) to Mozart, Maria Theresa and John Dee, they all get at least a cameo appearance.
But strangely enough, it wasn't the famous people of this history that interested me most. The way Richard Fidler describes the spirit of the ordinary citizens of Prague was awe-inspiring to read about. Exchanging gunfire with Nazi troops before kicking them out of the city. Defying their Soviet oppressors during the Communist era, in ways both tragic and absurd. I cheered. I gasped. I held back tears. It's rare for me to react to a book so viscerally, but this one did it to me not just once, but several times.
Speaking of the tragedy I mentioned earlier, sensitive readers - particularly Jewish readers - should pay particular attention to the content warnings I discuss below. The history of oppression against Prague's Jewish citizens is dealt with in-depth here, particularly in regard to the horrors of the Holocaust. These parts of the book are incredibly difficult to read, so if you are at all triggered by such things, you may want to give this a miss.
A wonderful, heart-stopping read.
I spent over two months reading this book and I don't regret it at all, even though it wasn't perfect - there were times when the pace dragged and some of it was a bit dry (hence why I didn't give this a full five stars). But overall, this is a vivid, highly engaging portrait of a city and its people - both those who have lived there and those who were merely passing through.
And what people! Artists, composers, scientists, philosophers, musicians, monarchs, and many, many more played a role in the history of Prague. From homegrown figures such as Jan Zizek, Jan Hus and Vaclav Havel (and even Good King Wenceslas [yes, the character in the Christmas carol was actually a real person!]) to Mozart, Maria Theresa and John Dee, they all get at least a cameo appearance.
But strangely enough, it wasn't the famous people of this history that interested me most. The way Richard Fidler describes the spirit of the ordinary citizens of Prague was awe-inspiring to read about. Exchanging gunfire with Nazi troops before kicking them out of the city. Defying their Soviet oppressors during the Communist era, in ways both tragic and absurd. I cheered. I gasped. I held back tears. It's rare for me to react to a book so viscerally, but this one did it to me not just once, but several times.
Speaking of the tragedy I mentioned earlier, sensitive readers - particularly Jewish readers - should pay particular attention to the content warnings I discuss below. The history of oppression against Prague's Jewish citizens is dealt with in-depth here, particularly in regard to the horrors of the Holocaust. These parts of the book are incredibly difficult to read, so if you are at all triggered by such things, you may want to give this a miss.
A wonderful, heart-stopping read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Genocide, Physical abuse, Racism, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Religious bigotry, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War
Moderate: Gun violence, Medical content, Deportation
This book describes life in Prague under both the Nazi (1938-1945) and Soviet Communist (1948-1989) regimes, and during both World Wars (as well as other historical wars).
Graphic depictions of antisemitism, including massacres and blood libel, as well as descriptions of the treatment of inmates at the Theresienstadt/Terezin concentration camp during WWII. Some anti-German and anti-Slovak racism is discussed. Description of wars and tensions between various Christian groups are discussed
There are descriptions of battles and people who are violently attacked and/or murdered. During the 1960s, several students, most prominently Jan Palach