The Kindly Ones

Critics

• The exoticism of evil

  One approaches the fictionalisation of any aspect of the Holocaust with suspicion. Art is always at some level entertainment, and the idea of being entertained, however skilfully, by this particular set of horrors seems inherently objectionable. Jona ... (read full critics)

  guardian.co.uk published on Fri, 24 Sep 2010

• The evil that ordinary men can do

  This remarkable book was first published in France in 2006, as Les Bienveillantes. The first significant work of Jonathan Littell, Francophone son of American spy author Robert, it was an entirely unexpected success. Gallimard, the publisher, origina ... (read full critics)

  guardian.co.uk published on Fri, 24 Sep 2010

3 Reviews

• *** This comment contains spoilers! ***

  Not an easy book to read and it is a slow read but my god what a book. I loved it, with all its shocking details. The first book I read written from the perspective of the Germans, or I should say a German. It made me think about a lot of things about the war I never thought of before (the problem h ... (continue)

  Not an easy book to read and it is a slow read but my god what a book. I loved it, with all its shocking details. The first book I read written from the perspective of the Germans, or I should say a German. It made me think about a lot of things about the war I never thought of before (the problem how to destroy large groups of people?)Shockingly beautifull.

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  Ericast said on Oct 21, 2011 | Add your feedback

• 

  Wu Ming 1 on The Kindly Ones

  The winner of the Prix Goncourt in 2006. A monumental debut novel* written in French by an American. A publishing sensation in several countries. A subject of surprise, shock and admiration. A cause of immense uproar on the right and on the left, by historians and critics, gentiles and jews. Why?
  Be ... (continue)

  The winner of the Prix Goncourt in 2006. A monumental debut novel* written in French by an American. A publishing sensation in several countries. A subject of surprise, shock and admiration. A cause of immense uproar on the right and on the left, by historians and critics, gentiles and jews. Why?
  Because it is clear since the beginning (i.e. since the long prologue titled "Toccata") that Jonathan Littell's The Kindly Ones aims to be the supreme and definitive novel on Nazi Germany and the extermination of Jews.
  Of this ambition -this hubris that defies all previous literary works on the subject- I have had a direct experience lasted many days. To read The Kindly Ones is to become the stunned witness of an overflow: drop after drop, trickle by trickle, the river gets swollen with data, anecdotes, memories, dreams and citations - the water rises on the sides until it breaks out. We arrive on the Russian front pushed by the current, the enormous wave wipes out whole cultures and countless lives until it impacts with the unpredicted, inexplicable resistance at Stalingrad. The stalemate hollows out a hole in the life of the main character, SS officer Maximilien Aue...
  The complete review is here:
  http://www.wumingfoundation.com/english/outtakes/the_ki…

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  Wu Ming Foundation said on Jan 5, 2010 | Add your feedback

• It's a MUST.

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  Claire Guerrera said on Apr 16, 2009 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

Book Details

• Rating:
  (16)
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• English Books
• Others 992 Pages
• ISBN-10: 0061353450
• ISBN-13: 9780061353451
• Publisher: Harper
• Pub date: Mar 01, 2009
• Also available as: Mass Market Paperback, Paperback and eBook
• In other languages: other languages Livres Français, Deutsche Bücher, Libros en Español, Livros em Português, llibres en català, Libri Italiani, Svenska böcker

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