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kolakubez07's review against another edition
1.0
I’ve read various stories about Auschwitz and the concentration camps (also visited!) and this was another on my list to read
Sadly it’s not the best I’ve read, a little confusing along the way especially towards the end
Was expecting it to be an emotional story as most are of this nature but I’ve been left feeling disappointed
Sadly can’t give it any more than one star!
colleenlovestoread's review against another edition
4.0
I received this book as an ARC copy from Goodreads.com.
A short but poignant book about the terrors of the Holocaust and how one man survived the atrocities of the camps by building a thing of beauty.
Daniel is a prisoner in the Three Rivers Camp, a sub camp of Auschwitz. Like all the devastated prisoners, he does what he can day in and day out to survive. He is working as a carpenter in the camps (having not confessed to being a violin maker)and, after repairing a small crack in a violin, he is ordered to build a violin for the Commander in line with a Stadivarius. This task gives him a small glimmer of joy in his terror-stricken days and he can almost imagine he is back in his own workshop even if for only a few hours a day. Daniel soon learns that this project he has been given is actually a bet between the Commander and the sadistic doctor of the camp who uses prisoners to test his own sick experiments: if Daniel is able to build a perfect violin in the secret timeline established between the two monsters then the doctor must give the Commander a box of French wine...and if Daniel does not he will be handed over to the doctor. This violin now becomes more important that before, and becomes a true testament to the talent, love and determination that still lives within Daniel.
This was a wonderful book to read and my only complaint was that it was so short. I would have loved to learn more backstory about the many characters we get the chance to glimpse. In my opinion this book sits right up there with The Reader and Sophie's Choice.
A short but poignant book about the terrors of the Holocaust and how one man survived the atrocities of the camps by building a thing of beauty.
Daniel is a prisoner in the Three Rivers Camp, a sub camp of Auschwitz. Like all the devastated prisoners, he does what he can day in and day out to survive. He is working as a carpenter in the camps (having not confessed to being a violin maker)and, after repairing a small crack in a violin, he is ordered to build a violin for the Commander in line with a Stadivarius. This task gives him a small glimmer of joy in his terror-stricken days and he can almost imagine he is back in his own workshop even if for only a few hours a day. Daniel soon learns that this project he has been given is actually a bet between the Commander and the sadistic doctor of the camp who uses prisoners to test his own sick experiments: if Daniel is able to build a perfect violin in the secret timeline established between the two monsters then the doctor must give the Commander a box of French wine...and if Daniel does not he will be handed over to the doctor. This violin now becomes more important that before, and becomes a true testament to the talent, love and determination that still lives within Daniel.
This was a wonderful book to read and my only complaint was that it was so short. I would have loved to learn more backstory about the many characters we get the chance to glimpse. In my opinion this book sits right up there with The Reader and Sophie's Choice.
eating_or_reading's review against another edition
4.0
In 2008, Boyfriend and I went to Krakow (and the photos scattered around this review are ones that I took while there). I was continuously surprised by the city. It was architecturally beautiful, because World War II was over before it could be invaded and destroyed (unlike, say, Warsaw). It was kooky and fun with adorable boutique-style restaurants and bars (we spent one evening drinking in a bar where all the tables were renovated Singer sewing machines, for example). We had already decided that we would visit Auschwitz Birkenau and I thought that would be at least one part of the trip where I knew what to expect. I knew it would be an emotional day and I knew it would be humbling and would put all of our "problems" into perspective; I just didn't know how emotional and humbling it would turn out to be.
The scale of the site and the associated horror was for me almost incomprehensible; almost as though it is simply too much to process. The part that had the biggest impact on me (and that made me cry) was a corridor filled with framed photographs. Each photograph was a simply shot picture of a woman/man/child in a blue-and-white outfit looking straight at the camera. To this day, recalling the haunted/terrified/devastated looks in the hundreds of sets of eyes can bring me to tears.
This book is the literary equivalent of those photographs.
It's a snapshot of a tragedy that allows you to forget the statistics and remember that those catastrophic numbers were made out of individuals and families who had their own worries, their own battles and their own hopes. Daniel's story is a tiny part of a huge attrocity. I think that too often authors attempt to convey the magnitude of the Holocaust and try to impress their readers with the horrifying numbers. In the end, though, most of us can't really imagine it or understand it. Or at least, I can't. What we can understand, however, is Daniel's sense of loss and hope, his physical and emotional torment and his daily fight to survive.
The story is told very simply, as you would expect for a book narrated by a prisoner in a concentration camp. Daniel is a wonderful character and I'm sure there's something in him for most readers to identify with, which I took to be part of the point. And in case you were concerned that this would be too introspective, his fictional endeavours are painted against a backdrop of fact. Indeed, on one of the first pages of the book is the statement:
"Author's Note: The documents at the beginnings
of the chapters are authentic"
These excerpts are extremely well chosen and timed and the balance of Daniel's emotional narrative with terrifyingly clinical documents is perfect. Because of this elements, I think that it would be nigh impossible to read this book without having at least one moment where you flinch/look away/sneak away to guiltily remind yourself how lucky you are - I know that I did and it was part of what made the book such a powerful one for me.
In a way, because of the strengths of the book, I was disappointed by the ending. I know that sounds strange given the subject matter so I won't say any more than that. I wouldn't want to ruin it for anybody that wants to pick this up and it could well just be me. Don't let it put you off and do let me know if you read this and have any particular thoughts on the matter.
Overall: There isn't much more to say; only that, despite the vocabulary and sentence structure being relatively basic, this book is obviously not an "easy read". It is a short book that I think will stick with me for a long time and one I would certainly recommend.
The scale of the site and the associated horror was for me almost incomprehensible; almost as though it is simply too much to process. The part that had the biggest impact on me (and that made me cry) was a corridor filled with framed photographs. Each photograph was a simply shot picture of a woman/man/child in a blue-and-white outfit looking straight at the camera. To this day, recalling the haunted/terrified/devastated looks in the hundreds of sets of eyes can bring me to tears.
This book is the literary equivalent of those photographs.
It's a snapshot of a tragedy that allows you to forget the statistics and remember that those catastrophic numbers were made out of individuals and families who had their own worries, their own battles and their own hopes. Daniel's story is a tiny part of a huge attrocity. I think that too often authors attempt to convey the magnitude of the Holocaust and try to impress their readers with the horrifying numbers. In the end, though, most of us can't really imagine it or understand it. Or at least, I can't. What we can understand, however, is Daniel's sense of loss and hope, his physical and emotional torment and his daily fight to survive.
The story is told very simply, as you would expect for a book narrated by a prisoner in a concentration camp. Daniel is a wonderful character and I'm sure there's something in him for most readers to identify with, which I took to be part of the point. And in case you were concerned that this would be too introspective, his fictional endeavours are painted against a backdrop of fact. Indeed, on one of the first pages of the book is the statement:
"Author's Note: The documents at the beginnings
of the chapters are authentic"
These excerpts are extremely well chosen and timed and the balance of Daniel's emotional narrative with terrifyingly clinical documents is perfect. Because of this elements, I think that it would be nigh impossible to read this book without having at least one moment where you flinch/look away/sneak away to guiltily remind yourself how lucky you are - I know that I did and it was part of what made the book such a powerful one for me.
In a way, because of the strengths of the book, I was disappointed by the ending. I know that sounds strange given the subject matter so I won't say any more than that. I wouldn't want to ruin it for anybody that wants to pick this up and it could well just be me. Don't let it put you off and do let me know if you read this and have any particular thoughts on the matter.
Overall: There isn't much more to say; only that, despite the vocabulary and sentence structure being relatively basic, this book is obviously not an "easy read". It is a short book that I think will stick with me for a long time and one I would certainly recommend.
alexsbooksandsocks's review against another edition
3.0
Beautiful story that left me teary in the eyes
hevleary's review against another edition
5.0
A very powerful short story about the difficult life living in concentration camps as a Nazi Germany. Even though it is short, the characters are well developed and I really felt, as I read, the turmoil, anxiety and anguish in the every day lives. Brilliant
spinesinaline's review against another edition
4.0
Find more of my reviews at https://spinesinaline.wordpress.com
This was surprisingly the second book I read this month about WWII that had 'violin' in the title. I chose this one mainly because it started with V for the alphabet challenge but it was a really beautiful and powerfully-written book and the translation is excellent so I'd recommend it to anyone looking for books on WWII.
As the blurb hints at, the story is kind of told in a series of flashbacks. We’re introduced to our present (1990s) characters but very quickly switch to 1942 to focus on one man in particular, Daniel, who is interned in a prisoner camp. I much preferred the flashback portion to the present story; the beginning and introductions felt very awkward, and later in the book when we start to flip back into the present, it was sudden and disconnected, and didn’t really separate itself clearly from the past.
What I found both moving and quite startling was that each chapter claimed to begin with a real document from the camps (I say claim because I don’t know whether these were actually real; there were no notes as to where they were acquired from) – such as an incident report when a prisoner was shot or a detailed procedure on how to administer punishment for various offences.
It’s not an easy read. Daniel has his violin-making, which starts to give him hope again in spite of his surroundings, but this hope is in stark contrast to the horrors occurring in the camp and the author doesn’t shy away from these, though nothing is detailed explicitly. The author pays particular attention to the use of experiments involving prisoners, as the threat hanging over Daniel is that if his violin repairs are unsuccessful, he’ll be the doctor’s next subject.
WWII novels will always need to deal with heavy content, especially those that focus on Jewish people, but I think the author’s pairing of this past with the power of music and the beauty of these violins really highlights the human experience, of these survivors’ endurance and hope through it all.
This was surprisingly the second book I read this month about WWII that had 'violin' in the title. I chose this one mainly because it started with V for the alphabet challenge but it was a really beautiful and powerfully-written book and the translation is excellent so I'd recommend it to anyone looking for books on WWII.
As the blurb hints at, the story is kind of told in a series of flashbacks. We’re introduced to our present (1990s) characters but very quickly switch to 1942 to focus on one man in particular, Daniel, who is interned in a prisoner camp. I much preferred the flashback portion to the present story; the beginning and introductions felt very awkward, and later in the book when we start to flip back into the present, it was sudden and disconnected, and didn’t really separate itself clearly from the past.
What I found both moving and quite startling was that each chapter claimed to begin with a real document from the camps (I say claim because I don’t know whether these were actually real; there were no notes as to where they were acquired from) – such as an incident report when a prisoner was shot or a detailed procedure on how to administer punishment for various offences.
It’s not an easy read. Daniel has his violin-making, which starts to give him hope again in spite of his surroundings, but this hope is in stark contrast to the horrors occurring in the camp and the author doesn’t shy away from these, though nothing is detailed explicitly. The author pays particular attention to the use of experiments involving prisoners, as the threat hanging over Daniel is that if his violin repairs are unsuccessful, he’ll be the doctor’s next subject.
WWII novels will always need to deal with heavy content, especially those that focus on Jewish people, but I think the author’s pairing of this past with the power of music and the beauty of these violins really highlights the human experience, of these survivors’ endurance and hope through it all.
baiel14's review against another edition
5.0
M'ha sorprès. Sobretot per la forma d'escriure de la M. Àngels Anglada. Una lectura molt detallada i interesant. Si t'interesa aquest tema te'l recomano.