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152nd out of 386 books
—
1,412 voters
Auschwitz: True Tales from a Grotesque Land
"From the moment I got to Auschwitz I was completely detached. I disconnected my heart and intellect in an act of self-defense, despair, and hopelessness."
With these words Sara Nomberg-Przytyk begins this painful and compelling account of her experiences while imprisoned for two years in the infamous death camp. Writing twenty years after her liberation, she recreates the...more
With these words Sara Nomberg-Przytyk begins this painful and compelling account of her experiences while imprisoned for two years in the infamous death camp. Writing twenty years after her liberation, she recreates the...more
Paperback, 197 pages
Published
August 30th 1986
by University of North Carolina Press
(first published June 30th 1985)
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This may be the best book I have read on the subject. She brings the characters to life. As she tells each person's story- you do not know what their fate will be. Some disappear and we never know, some are killed and some miraculously make it through the war. This book shares so many people's different experiences- it is both heartbreaking and astounding. It is a must read if you want to know the ins and outs of how they survived (or didn't) camp life during this horrific period. Almost unbelie...more
This book by Sara Nomberg-Przytyk is definitely not for the squeamish or easily upset. But I for one think it’s very important to read about the Holocaust.
We need to read about the people who died, and the people who were left behind, we need to remember the concentration camps and the horrible things that happened there.
The author, Sara Nomberg-Przytyk spent a number of years in Auschwitz, the worst concentration camp of all. In the end, she was liberated and survived her ordeal. However, she w...more
We need to read about the people who died, and the people who were left behind, we need to remember the concentration camps and the horrible things that happened there.
The author, Sara Nomberg-Przytyk spent a number of years in Auschwitz, the worst concentration camp of all. In the end, she was liberated and survived her ordeal. However, she w...more
Auschwitz: True Tales From a Grotesque Land by Sara Nomberg-Przytyk is a astonishingly powerful book, that takes you into the world of one of the most brutal concentration camps of all time. Sara writes how the cruel and deceitful life in the camp was truly more inflicting then anyone could imagine, considering that the people were whipped and gathered into gas chambers. In one of the chapters, a girl was put inside one of the gas chamber except she jumped out of the window before the gas was r...more
The author cleverly weaves fiction into the non-fiction account of some of her experiences at Auschwitz. While some of the events are more folk tale that historical fact, that hardly matters against the backdrop of the Holocaust's most notorious death camp where, even if an event didn't happen exactly like Ms. Nomberg-Przytzk relates it, or at all, the moments being shown exist like ghosts - a palimpsest with reality. They're believable because they easily could have happened that way, with no s...more
When you're a kid, you read books like The Devil's Arithmetic, and you're horrified at all those things that happened SOOOO long ago. After all, when you're a kid, forty years ago is an eternity.
And then you grow up, and you realize that WWII wasn't all that long ago. The people who were in the concentration camps weren't so different from us. I cannot imagine being loaded onto a train and taken to a camp. The humility. The dehumanization. How on earth did any of those people survive? How do you...more
And then you grow up, and you realize that WWII wasn't all that long ago. The people who were in the concentration camps weren't so different from us. I cannot imagine being loaded onto a train and taken to a camp. The humility. The dehumanization. How on earth did any of those people survive? How do you...more
Again, seeing that this is apparently targeting the YA audience, I just can't agree. He/She would have to be a very mature young adult before I handed them this book. Maybe I'm not giving young people enough credit but the stories included here I wouldn't want my daughter reading at a young age. I'm 100% for knowledge, most especially of anything like this, but one has to be able to process the information being learned or no good will come from it, only pain, if anything.
That being said, this...more
That being said, this...more
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Nov 28, 2007
Laurie
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
those who are interested in reading about the Holocaust from a slightly sociological perspective.
It took me a while to finish this book because the (true) stories within it can, of course, be difficult to read. Nonetheless, this book is different than the other personal account I read of being in a concentration camp, Night, because this book asks a lot of questions of human nature in a sociological manner...especially towards the last 1/3 of the book.
For the most part, I appreciated these questions because I majored in sociology. These questions and Sara's stories made me feel really close...more
For the most part, I appreciated these questions because I majored in sociology. These questions and Sara's stories made me feel really close...more
If you are only going to read one book about Auschwitz, let this be the one. Sara Nomberg-Przytyk did an excellent job of conveying the atmosphere of the place, all those people trying to live surrounded by death and the deepest despair imaginable. It's the stuff of nightmares. I could see everything she wrote about, like on a grainy black and white film (for how can there be color in Auschwitz?) in my head.
I do, however, dearly wish it had been subject to fact-checking before publishing. I am s...more
I do, however, dearly wish it had been subject to fact-checking before publishing. I am s...more
5 likes · like · see review
Very strong and hard book to read. Auschwitz: True Tales from a Grotesque Land is written from the perspective of a nurse working in the hospital at Auschwitz. It provides context to many of the horrific things that occurred At Auschwitz. Very powerful book.
This was a hard book to read!!! Gruesome and graphic deathly details of this death camp in Germany during WWII! It's so sick to hear of the mass murder of millions! A very good, interesting, well-written book written by a survivor! Age 18+!
Truly amazing; I've read it twice. A book that never leaves you; becomes part of you. Anyone who wants to know about the Auschwitz experience, which is an entity in and of itself - it's own twisted, inexplicably dimented civilization, must read it.
This book was VERY hard to read! It is good and educational but what these people went through was hell and no one should ever have to endure what they did.
After having visited Auschwitz, I get tears just thinking about it. Very emotional.
Very hard reading and there is language in it but a good book.
This is a wonderful autobiography, very insightful and mind-opening!
This was a great book. I would recommend this to anyone.
This account of the Holocaust will always stand out to me among all of the others due to the author's intense appreciation of beauty. The fact that she was able to perceive any beauty at all in a concentration camp is mindblowing to begin with, but that she remembers it with such detail shows that it wasn't an afterthought. Admist all the horrific events that she describes, the author was able to pick out moments of intense adoration for her fellow prisoners. These moments make the majority of u...more
Probably tied for my favorite book ever...
Fantastic!
The most descriptive character-driven holocaust book I've read. Recommended for the story, not so much for it's truthfulness. I understand there were some plot and character details taken for granted, but it is difficult to critique a book such as this. As always, quite a disturbing read.
Loved it
This was another exceptional book written by a survivor of the horrors of the holocaust. The insight into fellow prisoner's experiences and feelings was revealing and heart-breaking.
How awful we can be to each other. This book just reinforces the terrible price many faced for life.
Right now the translation is quite good. And i love the flow to it, I lost track of time while reading one night.
Great book that tells the narrator's experiences through short stories about other prisoners. A MUST READ.
eyeopening account of the tragic memoirs of life in a concentration camp
It's intense and heartbreaking, just like all Holocaust books...
consummate artistry brought to hell on earth
May 20, 2013
Mela Martinez
marked it as to-read
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