Full of beauty and pain… a chilling allegory that attains a satisfying force

- John Self, Observer

Read this book . . . Think what a gift of lyric language and style, of emotion purified by pain this is

- Anne Roiphe, Los Angeles Times

Appelfeld reimagines the place of his own origins through a perspective that in its generosity of feeling recalls Tolstoy and Chekhov

- Judith Grossman, The New York Times Book Review

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With piercing clarity, Israeli novelist Appelfeld tells the profoundly moving story of Katerina, a Polish housekeeper who works for a succession of Jewish families in the years before WWII... A theme that might be didactic in the hands of a lesser novelist is here conveyed with moving, unpreachy simplicity. This masterful novel is a powerful study of the poison of prejudice, a poignant meditation on life's horrors, beauty and God's inscrutable ways. Appelfeld imbues every scene with deep humanity in a riveting tale of universal appeal.

Publisher's Weekly

An astounding achievement, among the best pages Appelfeld has ever written.. intense, disturbing.

Kirkus Reviews

‘Read this book . . . what a gift of lyric language and style, of emotion purified by pain this is’ Los Angeles TimesFleeing an abusive home, Katerina, a teenager in 1880s Ukraine, is taken in by a Jewish family, finding safety in their warmth and rituals. When a pogrom is wrought upon the family, she is alone again. Decades later, having suffered and retaliated for that suffering, an elderly Katerina is released from prison at the end of World War Two, and is devastated to find a world emptied of its Jews. Ever the outsider, she realizes that she has survived only to bear witness to the fact they ever existed at all. Described by Aharon Appelfeld as being ‘about what is inseparable from me’, this extraordinary novel tells, with moving simplicity, the story of a people; of life’s horror and beauty.‘Appelfeld reimagines the place of his own origins through a perspective that in its generosity of feeling recalls Tolstoy and Chekhov’ The New York Times Book ReviewTranslated by Jeffrey M. Green
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Produktdetaljer

ISBN
9780241681190
Publisert
2024-08-15
Utgiver
Vendor
Penguin Classics
Vekt
147 gr
Høyde
198 mm
Bredde
130 mm
Dybde
11 mm
Aldersnivå
01, G, 01
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Heftet
Antall sider
192

Forfatter
Oversetter

Biographical note

Aharon Appelfeld (Author)
Aharon Appelfeld authored more than 45 acclaimed works of fiction and nonfiction and received many international awards including the MLA Commonwealth Award, the Independent Foreign Fiction prize, the prix Médicis étranger, the Israel prize, and the Nelly Sachs prize. Born in Czernowitz, Bukovina (now part of Ukraine) in 1932, he survived the Holocaust and passed away in Israel in 2018.