The Pianist: The Extraordinary True Story of One Man's Survival in Warsaw, 1939-1945

It's not easy for me to escape into books, even though I would love to. It takes a really good book for me to get caught in and this book definitely did just that. I was hooked with the first couple pages and now I can say this book is on my top 5!! Must Read!!

In his book The Pianist: The Extraordinary True Story of One Man's Survival in Warsaw, Wladyslaw Szpilman writes, "A number of people escaped with their lives during the war because of the cowardice of the Germans, who liked to show courage only when they felt they greatly outnumbered their enemies." Truly and luckily, Szpilman is one among the number. From almost a million Jews population in the city of Warsaw, through "resettlement", human-hunting, and unreasonable decrees; the Germans trimmed the Jewish descent to its bone of merely twenty-five thousand in just 5 years. It is the very cowardice of the Germans, and more importantly the undying will of living that makes Szpilman's survival possible. I'm not in a position to judge the manner of which this book was written, simply because it was Mr. Szpilman's real life story and to whom I shall pay my highest tribute and regard. The prose is written in a very calm voice which somewhat surprises me at the beginning. Later I realize that no sooner had the war ended and the Germans surrendered than Mr. Szpilman wrote this account fresh from memory. It seems to be that Mr. Szpilman was emotionally detached during the writing as he probably had not come back to his senses after the inferno. That also explained why he could accurately recall and date the incidents accordingly. The book itself is emotionally difficult to read and at some points I have to put it down, close my eyes and meditate for a minute. Few of the incidents still capture my mind and bother me after I finish reading: Mr. Szpilman's parting from his family as his parents, brother and sisters were taken away to concentration camp; the clearing of a Jewish orphanage founded by his friend Janusz who stayed his children on their final journey, the Germans (fabricated) video-clipping of Jewish men and women shower naked in public bathhouse to show how immoral and despicable the Jews were; and Mr. Szpilman's fugitive life after his escape from the Germans. Mr. Szpilman attempted suicide but the will for survival overcame the idea. His life took a dramatic turn when Captain Hosenfeld found him in the ruined city of Warsaw and spared his life. Though he never found the man, as Mr. Szpilman reminisced, Hosenfeld was the angel without whom, Mr. Szpilman, a Polish Jew, would probably not have survived at all. During his hiding days, Mr. Szpilman meditated on the music pieces and arduously maintained the hope of playing piano for the Poles again. Mr. Szpilman's account is a stunning tale of endurance, faith, and hope.

I rarely read a book after I have seen the movie it was based on because it seems almost akin to reading the final pages of the book first. Why start reading a book when you already know how it ends? When the movie already gives you a mental picture of what the characters are like? When it would be impossible to read the description of a scene, a conversation, an expression, or a mood without thinking first of the director's and screenwriter's interpretation of those things?I stand by that view, but I also suggest throwing it out the window when it comes to The Pianist.I was so moved by the film that when I saw this book in a store, I could not help but pick it up. Once in my hands, I could not help but read the first few lines. Once I read them, I could not help but buy the book. And once I bought it, the next day and a half of my life was dominated by the chilling, horrible, graphic and compelling story.I won't go into an overview of the plot, since my fellow reviewers have covered that territory very accurately. But I will say that this is a rare case where the value of a book is not compromised by the movie -- the story is so well told and the details (most of which the movie screenwriter was forced to leave out) are so evocative and potent that they flow over and around any preconceived notions.The film is well done, and by all means it should be seen. But don't let seeing the movie deprive you of the pleasure of this powerful book, which illustrates once again what we have known all along -- that great literature succeeds where other art forms fall short.

J'ai beaucoup aimé ce livre qui démontre comment un artiste de grand talent a su, malgré la guerre, malgré la perte de sa famille et de ses amis a réussi a passé au travers de tous ces malheurs en se rappellant les compositions qu'il interpretaitet qu'il souhaitait interpreter de nouveau apres la guerre.Le destin tragique de cet homme qui a su s'accrocher a la vie dans des conditions difficiles a un explemple de tenacité et de courage.Comme ce roman est une histoire vrai il est encore plus appréciable tout en souhaitant que des évenements de ce genre ne se reproduisent jamais.

The Pianist is a moving eye-witness account of one man's survival in Nazi-occupied Warsaw. Wladyslaw Szpilman--a Jew and famed pianist for Polish Radio--relates his memories of the unutterable and unrelenting horrors of the Holocaust in Warsaw--the random executions, starving children, mass deportations--with a sober, almost uncanny detachment. And though the machinery of extermination is all around him, he somehow evades his pursuers through friends willing to risk their lives to hide him. His father, mother, two sisters and a brother are all deported and sent to their deaths in concentration camp. And, when it appears, near war's end, that he is at the end of luck, trying to still keep himself concealed in a part of Warsaw that his been systematically destroyed by the Germans, he finds an unexpected saviour: Wilm Hosenfeld, a German Army captain who, rather than kill Szpilman, provides him with a hiding place and necessities to kept him alive until the Soviet Army finally liberates the city. This slim volume written with in a kind of terse, no-nonsense style that will keep the reader riveted to each episode in Szpilman's incredible Odyssey, is probably one of the best books I have read in the area of Holocaust literature.