"The Violin of Auschwitz"

Author: Maria Angels Anglada
Genre: Historical/Fiction
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Pages: 128

My Rating: Recommend

The Violin of Auschwitz is moving, but the ending can only be described as anticlimatic.

Synopsis (book jacket): An international sensation now available in English for the first time, The Violin of Auschwitz is the unforgettable story of one man’s refusal to surrender his dignity in the face of history’s greatest atrocity.

In the winter of 1991, at a concert in Krakow, an older woman with a marvelously pitched violin meets a fellow musician who is instantly captivated by her instrument. When he asks her how she obtained it, she reveals the remarkable story behind its origin. . . .

Imprisoned at Auschwitz, the notorious concentration camp, Daniel feels his humanity slipping away. Treasured memories of the young woman he loved and the prayers that once lingered on his lips become hazier with each passing day. Then a visit from a mysterious stranger changes everything, as Daniel’s former identity as a crafter of fine violins is revealed to all. The camp’s two most dangerous men use this information to make a cruel wager: If Daniel can build a successful violin within a certain number of days, the Kommandant wins a case of the finest burgundy. If not, the camp doctor, a torturer, gets hold of Daniel. And so, battling exhaustion, Daniel tries to recapture his lost art, knowing all too well the likely cost of failureWritten with lyrical simplicity and haunting beauty—and interspersed with chilling, actual Nazi documentation—The Violin of Auschwitz is more than just a novel: It is a testament to the strength of the human spirit and the power of beauty, art, and hope to triumph over the darkest adversity.

Review: This particular time period is a blemish in world history. Hitler never should have been given the opportunity to rise to power. The Nazi Party's treatment of fellow human beings is disgusting. It never ceases to amaze me that the we are capable of such horrors - to not only perform such atrocities, but to survive them as well. This is a story of survival. The reader is drawn into Daniel's world as well as to Daniel himself. But, as you come to find out in a rather anticlimatic ending, this novel is less about Daniel and more about, as the synopsis states, "the strength of the human spirit and the power of beauty, art, and hope to triumph. . ."