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The Pianist

By Wladyslaw Szpilman

(47)

| eBook | 9781780222684

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Book Description

We are drawn in to share his surprise and then disbelief at the horrifying progress of events, all conveyed with an understated intimacy and dailiness that render them painfully close... riveting' OBSERVER

On September 23, 1939, Wladyslaw Szpilman played Chopin's Nocturne in C-sharp minor live on t Continue

We are drawn in to share his surprise and then disbelief at the horrifying progress of events, all conveyed with an understated intimacy and dailiness that render them painfully close... riveting' OBSERVER

On September 23, 1939, Wladyslaw Szpilman played Chopin's Nocturne in C-sharp minor live on the radio as shells exploded outside - so loudly that he couldn't hear his piano. It was the last live music broadcast from Warsaw: That day, a German bomb hit the station, and Polish Radio went off the air.

Though he lost his entire family, Szpilman survived in hiding. In the end, his life was saved by a German officer who heard him play the same Chopin Nocturne on a piano found among the rubble. Written immediately after the war and suppressed for decades, THE PIANIST is a stunning testament to human endurance and the redemptive power of fellow feeling.

'The images drawn are unusually sharp and clear... but its moral tone is even more striking: Szpilman refuses to make a hero or a demon out of anyone' LITERARY REVIEW

5 Reviews

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  • The Pianist is an amazing book! I read it at school some years ago and then we also saw the movie. The movie is faithful to the book, but i think that reading the pianist you can get messages that in the movie are not so evident. After reading this book, anybody would hate nazism and have sympathy f ... (continue)

    The Pianist is an amazing book! I read it at school some years ago and then we also saw the movie. The movie is faithful to the book, but i think that reading the pianist you can get messages that in the movie are not so evident. After reading this book, anybody would hate nazism and have sympathy for Jews .

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    Ilarietta93 said on Apr 12, 2011 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

  • Compulsory reading

    Shocking and traumatic, this text reminds us of the trauma and catastrophe that was the Jewish experience in central Europe before, during and after the Second World War. Close to Primo Levi's texts for the value of a personal view, perhaps the most desperately sad thing about reading this book is t ... (continue)

    Shocking and traumatic, this text reminds us of the trauma and catastrophe that was the Jewish experience in central Europe before, during and after the Second World War. Close to Primo Levi's texts for the value of a personal view, perhaps the most desperately sad thing about reading this book is that we're reminded nothing really has changed. Genocides continue, whole cultures face the threat of extinction, and the dark side of our human nature seems resistant to all attempts at promoting any kind of universal filiality.

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    Ian Hodgson said on Apr 2, 2011 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

  • I like War, and specially the WWII. From F.4, I study history and fall in love with history. I read books on the WWII history, on Hitler and its army, and this time I read the history of a place suffering from the Hitler rule.
    I think most of us have watched the movie of the same name, this boo ... (continue)

    I like War, and specially the WWII. From F.4, I study history and fall in love with history. I read books on the WWII history, on Hitler and its army, and this time I read the history of a place suffering from the Hitler rule.
    I think most of us have watched the movie of the same name, this books bring us even more feelings on how the Jews, the Polish face the war. It's not easy, the story bring you through the years where Nazi occupy the land. How human being live and die in this special period on Earth. It's not a easy time to live, and it's not a easy days to read this book, if you are passion enough to feel like you are in war too.
    Anyway, this book is well-written, bring the time back to the 40s.

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    Billykomh said on Sep 10, 2009 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

  • sad story

    It is a sad story. I can not look at Germans the same way as before. It is also surprising human`s capability to cast cruelty to other people as long as they can find the justifiable cause. There are three highlights of this story: 1. the death of his family, 2. how he helped with the undergroun ... (continue)

    It is a sad story. I can not look at Germans the same way as before. It is also surprising human`s capability to cast cruelty to other people as long as they can find the justifiable cause. There are three highlights of this story: 1. the death of his family, 2. how he helped with the underground to fight back the Germans 3. his encounter of the emery and how his emery saved him near the end of the war. I think this book can be more moving if the writer can be more expressive. Unfortunately, it is not, it is only cold facts and his recalls of what happens during the war.

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    Mangafish said on Feb 23, 2009 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

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