Schindler's Ark (book review)

Thomas Keneally, 1982.

A work of outstanding, thorough research and scholarship.
A novel, but steeped in truth and accuracy and detail.
Not an easy read, emotionally, but an essential one.

Keneally's portrayal of the character of Oskar Schindler, a Sudetenland German entrepreneur who manages to save the lives of 1100 Polish Jews in the 2nd World War, is a spectacular achievement.
Although Schindler is the central character, and by the end of the book we know him and his flaws and strengths very well indeed, the book also follows the lives and miraculous rescue of a multitude of Jews (who, to this day, are still referred to as the Schindlerjuden - Schindler Jews), and the sadistic, sordid and unredeemed descent of the Commandant Amon Goeth.
The tales are in turn tragic, cruel, hopeful, even humorous, and always captivating.

Many of us will be well acquainted with the Spielberg film, "Schindler's List", which, having now read the book, I reckon was a very faithful cinematic realisation (remember the girl in red? - she's described in the book, and this makes the whole subplot make sense - even the haunting John Williams Yiddischer violin tune's significance is revealed through reading the book).
As is often the difficulty with making movies, however, not all the book can be put into cinematographic representation.

So, if you want a closer experience with the whole, sad but ultimately, in a modest, human way, triumphant story of how one man can battle the forces of Evil and win, read this book.

You have to!

10/10