Mar 08, 2001 07:07 AM
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I was surprised to find Keaneally's novel read a lot more like a biography--filled with facts, but not much of a plot. Most of the book is written in the narrative and there is very little dialogue. Though the facts are interesting and have valuable historical content, they do not read, at least for me, like a novel.
Also, the first 1/3 to 1/2 of the book is laden with German terms and words, which are in themselves educational and undoubtfully helpful for anyone who wishes to deny their ethnocentricity. However, I found the terms to be obtrusive to the flow of my read and found myself straining a little as the book got underway.
If you had the choice of reading the book or watching the movie, I would definitely recommend the book....the effort is worth your time. However, don't expect a light read. The book will flesh out the atrocity with greater detail and paint a picture of Schindler which is not quite matched by the movie.. Schindler is a bragging, boozing opportunist who makes a fortune in Poland during the second-world-war German occupation, buying up the businesses of dispossessed Jews.
We read about his black market deals, his backslapping relationship with the authorities, his parties and his mistresses - and gradually discover that his lifestyle is a façade, that his true activity is saving thousands of Jews from the gas-chambers. A remarkable man and a testament that we should never forget the terror that the Jewish people were subjected to during world-war-two.
