Sign in with Facebook
Loading...
63rd out of 248 books
—
36 voters
Lovely Green Eyes
She has hair of ginger and lovely green eyes, and she has just been transported with her family from Terezin to Auschwitz. In short order, her father commits suicide, and her mother and younger brother are dispatched to the gas chambers, but 15 year old Hanka Kaudersova is still alive. Faced with the choice of certain death in the camp or working in a German military broth...more
Paperback, 248 pages
Published
by Arcade Publishing
(first published 2000)
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
452)
I picked this book up in Prague after visiting Terezin, the concentration camp about an hour from the city mentioned in the novel. WWII and Holocaust history has always both interested and horrified me. In reading Lovely Green Eyes, I was asked to consider another part of this history: what happens to the survivors, the ones who live with the memories of the time, the horrors they have seen? "Skinny" - the nickname she earns at the field brothel - passes as an Aryan, and after the deaths of her...more
Skinny is fifteen years old, Jewish and alone in Auschwitz. When faced with a decision between the gas chambers and working in a brothel, she chooses to hide her Jewishness and becomes a prostitute, servicing upwards of twelve soldiers each and every day.
Told in flashes of life before Auschwitz and her days in the brothel, Skinny manages to distance herself from being completely overwhelmed by her situation and instead focuses on keeping her clients happy by anticipating their every move. That d...more
Told in flashes of life before Auschwitz and her days in the brothel, Skinny manages to distance herself from being completely overwhelmed by her situation and instead focuses on keeping her clients happy by anticipating their every move. That d...more
This story is told in these vivid flashes and pieces -- so beautiful and sad and frightening. Skinny (the nickname she earns) is a Czech Jew who gets mistaken for a Gentile, and becomes a prostitute in a German field brothel. She must now sleep with the very soldiers and men who are persecuting her people. You read this novel breathlessly -- you worry what will happen to Skinny at every turn. The story has so many beautiful passages and images, though, that it's enough to carry you through the s...more
Just finished this very powerful thought-provoking novel. It told the story of 15-year old Jewish “skinny” Hanka Kaudersova who with her family was deported to Auschwitz during WWII. Her mother, father, and younger brother are sent to the gas chamber but skinny survives by claiming to be 18 and by chance being sent to an SS brothel behind the eastern front where her Aryan looks allowed her to disguise the fact she was Jewish. She has to service 12 or more German soldiers per day while at the bro...more
I'm always drawn in by accounts or stories of what people went through at the hands of the Nazi mindset. I appreciated this book because it discussed two sides I'd not really read anything on before. On one hand there were the survivors, those who managed to drag themselves through right to the end of the war & face the no doubt near impossible task of trying to move on. And then there was the side of those who fought for the Nazi side, & believed strongly in everything that side fought...more
Lustig takes you back to the origins of human nature, through the almost inocent look of those lovely green eyes; Skinny (Hanka Kaudersová) makes you wonder time after time, thought after thought and movement after movement, of our human "borders", our inescapable limmited conditions, sometimes even, reminding us of not only our sure mortality but the "trap" our bodies represent. Finally, Lustig and Skinny reminded me that there are no answers, just a bunch of hard questions...
I found this book quite hard to get into, mainly because the chronology jumps around and isn't fully explained. It is a very difficult testimony of a harrowing time, but I actually felt there could have been more depth to it. Perhaps the author felt a light touch was more appropriate. Personally I prefer 'And the Violins stopped playing' (about the Gypsies and Auschwitz).
Jul 17, 2011
Andrew
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommended to Andrew by:
alena
Shelves:
2011
good book. very insightful into the thoughts and emotions of someone in a terrible situation in the holocaust.
this book was originally written in czech and much like reading other translated works, i could feel that i was missing bits and pieces throughout. the translation was good, it all made sense and painted a graphic, disturbing, and masterful picture of the character, but something was missing.
this book was originally written in czech and much like reading other translated works, i could feel that i was missing bits and pieces throughout. the translation was good, it all made sense and painted a graphic, disturbing, and masterful picture of the character, but something was missing.
A shocking story of Nazi evil perpetrated on a young Czech woman of Jewish descent. There are scenes that are so full of emotion that you will be unable to sit still in your chair. I need not say anymore for fear of taking away the surprise.
view 1 comment
War brings out the evil in human being. This is the story of a young woman Hanka Kaudersova Czech Jew, because of her Aryan look, she avoided the gas chamber and worked in an SS brothel. Here she will experience hell on earth.
Not flawless, but a masterpiece nonetheless. The story of a 15-year-old Jewish girl who is able to survive World War II under the Nazis by passing as non-Jewish and serving as an official prostitute for soldiers. Heartbreaking, but not maudlin.
Beautifully written book about a young Jewish woman hiding her identity in a brothel for Nazi soldiers. Very powerful story, written by Arnost Lustig, who spent part of his childhood in concentration camps.
This was one of the 2003 RUSA Notable Books winners. For the complete list, go to http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/rus...
I read this book for the first time while I had the privilege of taking a writing workshop led by its author. An unforgettable novel, by an extraordinary man.
I was introduced to this wonderful writer by a friend who knew of my interest in the Holocaust experience of the human mind, through history, interpretations, memoirs and the creative arts. The book added to the texture of my understanding.
More than this, it added yet more to my treasure of literary experience. Here is a unique voice: sparse, consistent and controlled, and immensely powerful.
You are unlikely ever to come across such a chilling description of the broken mind of a psycopathic ki...more
More than this, it added yet more to my treasure of literary experience. Here is a unique voice: sparse, consistent and controlled, and immensely powerful.
You are unlikely ever to come across such a chilling description of the broken mind of a psycopathic ki...more
I found this hard to read because of the misery some women had to go through to survive, the only reason I've given it 4 stars.
Faced with a choice of working in a brothel or being executed, Hanka - or Skinny as she becomes known - chooses to live. Because of her Aryan looks she is not recognised as Jewish and is therefore sent to the Russian front and begins work as a prostitute. She has to tolerate some difficult treatment by some of the German soldiers, but others treat her well.
Her story is dealt with sympathetically and despite the subject-matter is not graphic. Ultimately it is a novel about survival. Although well...more
Her story is dealt with sympathetically and despite the subject-matter is not graphic. Ultimately it is a novel about survival. Although well...more
Graphic novel about a young girl who escaped the concentration camp by spending months at a Nazi brothel.
A very moving read. As a young teenager, Hanka Kaudersova is deported to Auschwitz with her Jewish family but her Aryan appearance might save her life.
Jan 03, 2009
Jennifer
marked it as to-read
Jewish Czech girl survives WWII
Didn't finish this. It was okay but maybe a lot is lost in translation because half-way through I just decided it wasn't worth it.
incredibly painful, incredibly moving
Powerful story.
Very sad, but it's written in such a sparse way that you actually feel completely disconnected to the characters. I suppose it's supposed to mirror the depressing life of the main character, but it actually makes it hard to feel for her because it seems like nothing is virtually known about her by the time the book is finished--especially since the majority of her dialogue is "I don't know."
Incredible. INcredible book. From this book alone, I now want to learn more of the horrors from inside the concentration camps. Though it was grim and makes you cringe and maybe even cry, it will soften you and make you really hope that humans will one day stop being so damned stupid.
Amazing. I loved every second of it and fell in love with the main character and felt all of her pain and eventual hollowness as she did what she had to to make it out alive.
Amazing. I loved every second of it and fell in love with the main character and felt all of her pain and eventual hollowness as she did what she had to to make it out alive.
This is an incredibly harrowing read and yet it is beautifully written. I know I am always going to admire anything published by Harvill Press. 15 year old Hanka is deported to Auschwitz and manages to stay alive by becoming a prostitute for the German soldiers. I have just read it again and given it to my daughter to read.
I wanted to like this book much more than I did - I found the style of writing hard to engage with.
A- Fantastic story (even if the chronology and flashbacks become a bit confusing at times) about a Jewish teenager who conceals her age and religion to survive during the Holocaust, where she works as a prostitute for the Germany army
This is a powerful story by this Czech author. Holocaust fiction with a ring of truth. Good v. evil. Lots of redemption. The usual themes but the characters come alive in a unique way. I'll read more of this author.
Jan 30, 2008
Debra
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
those intrested in the holocaust
Recommended to Debra by:
VINCE
It has the same theme most books do that are about Auschwitz survivers.
The story tells of women who chose to work in brothels instead of going to death camps.I never got tired of the book and it keep my intrest.
The story tells of women who chose to work in brothels instead of going to death camps.I never got tired of the book and it keep my intrest.
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
Arnošt Lustig (born 21 December 1926 in Prague) is a renowned Czech Jewish author of novels, short stories, plays, and screenplays whose works have often involved the Holocaust.
As a Jewish boy in Czechoslovakia during World War II, he was sent in 1942 to the Theresienstadt concentration camp, from where he was later transported to the Auschwitz concentration camp, followed by time in the Buchenwal...more
More about Arnošt Lustig...
As a Jewish boy in Czechoslovakia during World War II, he was sent in 1942 to the Theresienstadt concentration camp, from where he was later transported to the Auschwitz concentration camp, followed by time in the Buchenwal...more
Share This Book
No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »
