Take a photo of a barcode or cover
flatmtns 's review for:
The Painted Bird
by Jerzy Kosiński
This book should probably be covered with trigger warnings, caveats, and apologies, shooing away any reader without a strong constitution and a significant critical distance. It was gross, it was gratuitous, it was honestly brutal, and reading it in public I found myself grimacing in pain and looking around to make sure no one was reading over my shoulder. That said, I don't recall ever feeling like Kosinski was on the wrong side of his foul episodes - he never indulged in victim blaming, or even implied that anyone deserved the pain that came to them. I found myself comparing the book to Grass's "Tin Drum", and it came out very favorably - Kosinski's unnamed protagonist is much more empathetic than Grass's Oskar, and while Kosinski's depictions are gut-wrenchingly graphic, he never implies, as Grass disgustingly does, that rape is something lonely women enjoy. It may not have all of "Drum"'s supposed symbolic portent, but "The Painted Bird" communicates far more about the human experience and the cruelty so many of us are capable of. But please, STAY AWAY if you are in any state of emotional vulnerability.