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A review by hieronymusbotched
Der Nazi & der Friseur by Edgar Hilsenrath
5.0
What a book, what a book, what a book.
So, not only the first book I‘ve read entirely in German but a masterpiece at that. Lucky me.
As someone says in one of the novel‘s many accolades somewhere, Hilsenrath does the impossible: a dark, dark satire of post-war Judaism and the SS in Nazi Germany. There must have been a thousand intersections at which this book could have failed but almost danced past any and all collisions, becoming a wonderfully humane and deeply, deeply troubling look at the Second World War and what it cost, including how thoughtlessly it was wagered.
I don‘t know how to describe the book any further, other than to say that if you don‘t at least smile reading the first paragraph, perhaps it isn‘t for you, and its dangerous discussion of one of the darkest chapters in human history will disturb more than it does console.
However, if you do smile, even that little bit, I think you will find here what must have been painfully, dearly earned wisdom from an author I cannot wait to read more of.
TLDR; Kind of like Vonnegut, except he actually wrote a book named “Fuck America”
So, not only the first book I‘ve read entirely in German but a masterpiece at that. Lucky me.
As someone says in one of the novel‘s many accolades somewhere, Hilsenrath does the impossible: a dark, dark satire of post-war Judaism and the SS in Nazi Germany. There must have been a thousand intersections at which this book could have failed but almost danced past any and all collisions, becoming a wonderfully humane and deeply, deeply troubling look at the Second World War and what it cost, including how thoughtlessly it was wagered.
I don‘t know how to describe the book any further, other than to say that if you don‘t at least smile reading the first paragraph, perhaps it isn‘t for you, and its dangerous discussion of one of the darkest chapters in human history will disturb more than it does console.
However, if you do smile, even that little bit, I think you will find here what must have been painfully, dearly earned wisdom from an author I cannot wait to read more of.
TLDR; Kind of like Vonnegut, except he actually wrote a book named “Fuck America”