A review by amolotkov
The Painted Bird by Jerzy Kosiński

5.0

A fascinating and stark novel in which a child's naivete crashes with the extreme viciousness of the war and the prejudices and antiquated mores of the countryfolk twisted by that war, The Painted Bird places no filter between the cruelties of the world at one of its worst moments, and the reader. The author caught a lot of flak over the line between fiction and memoir, even though, as far as I know, he never claimed the book to be limited to his own experiences. Some of the metaphors deployed here are unforgettable, including the one referenced in the title.