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juushikaTitle: Schindler's List
Author: Thomas Keneally
Published: New York: Touchstone, 1993 (1982)
Page Count: 397
Total Page Count: 15,835
Text Number: 43
Read For: My own enjoyment
Short review: Schindler's List is the story of Oskar Schindler, a German business man that saved the lives of "his" Jews (those that worked in his factory) during World War II. The book is, in large part, nonfiction: some dialogue comes from the author's brain, but the events and characters are generally based in well-researched fact. As a result, the text is informative but lacks emotion, gets bogged down in numbers and reports but still managing to introduce and discuss one small aspect of the war: a man who saved lives. To be honest, I only appreciated the book for its historical and educational value. As a novel, it's lacking in humanity and overfilled with detail. It didn't live up to my expectations.
There's something about being a Jew, in my experience, that makes stories about the Holocaust fascinating and a little too personal. My father's family escaped Germany and came here, to my knowledge our connection to the Holocaust is limited, yet I feel like I need to read more books on the subject—what I know is limited, and even if there's no direct connection, I can still sense one that's indirect. I read Schindler's List for that reason. In terms of information and learning more about the Holocaust, I'm mildly satisfied by the text. It is very well researched and doesn't stray far from fact even when telling a story, and so the data is there. To that extent, it's an interesting, informative read, especially because it presents a smaller side of a large story by concentrating on a man that saved lives rather than a man who ended them or the people that died.
What the book lacks, however, is storytelling, and where the narrative fails the contents becomes much less interesting and much harder to absorb. Keneally becomes absorbed in his research, quoting numbers, dates, and full names as often as possible in order to base the story in fact. No doubt he is trying to maintain fidelity to the events and to Schindler himself; the result, however, betrays him. The book reads like a somewhat creative textbook and the facts have the same limited impact. Although the text claims to do otherwise, the focus on numbers and data detracts from the human element. The reader can't connect and so loses interest. As it is a novel, the book is disappointing, and because the novel fails the facts lose their impact.
I don't mean to say that the text is without merit. The research is there and the story is interesting and, needless to say, admirable. However, I expected a lot more, and was disappointed by my lack of emotional attachment to any part—plot, characters, ending. My holding back some of the data while still keeping to the truth, Keneally could have written a much more emotional, and therefore more effective, text.
Review posted here on Amazon.com.
Author: Thomas Keneally
Published: New York: Touchstone, 1993 (1982)
Page Count: 397
Total Page Count: 15,835
Text Number: 43
Read For: My own enjoyment
Short review: Schindler's List is the story of Oskar Schindler, a German business man that saved the lives of "his" Jews (those that worked in his factory) during World War II. The book is, in large part, nonfiction: some dialogue comes from the author's brain, but the events and characters are generally based in well-researched fact. As a result, the text is informative but lacks emotion, gets bogged down in numbers and reports but still managing to introduce and discuss one small aspect of the war: a man who saved lives. To be honest, I only appreciated the book for its historical and educational value. As a novel, it's lacking in humanity and overfilled with detail. It didn't live up to my expectations.
There's something about being a Jew, in my experience, that makes stories about the Holocaust fascinating and a little too personal. My father's family escaped Germany and came here, to my knowledge our connection to the Holocaust is limited, yet I feel like I need to read more books on the subject—what I know is limited, and even if there's no direct connection, I can still sense one that's indirect. I read Schindler's List for that reason. In terms of information and learning more about the Holocaust, I'm mildly satisfied by the text. It is very well researched and doesn't stray far from fact even when telling a story, and so the data is there. To that extent, it's an interesting, informative read, especially because it presents a smaller side of a large story by concentrating on a man that saved lives rather than a man who ended them or the people that died.
What the book lacks, however, is storytelling, and where the narrative fails the contents becomes much less interesting and much harder to absorb. Keneally becomes absorbed in his research, quoting numbers, dates, and full names as often as possible in order to base the story in fact. No doubt he is trying to maintain fidelity to the events and to Schindler himself; the result, however, betrays him. The book reads like a somewhat creative textbook and the facts have the same limited impact. Although the text claims to do otherwise, the focus on numbers and data detracts from the human element. The reader can't connect and so loses interest. As it is a novel, the book is disappointing, and because the novel fails the facts lose their impact.
I don't mean to say that the text is without merit. The research is there and the story is interesting and, needless to say, admirable. However, I expected a lot more, and was disappointed by my lack of emotional attachment to any part—plot, characters, ending. My holding back some of the data while still keeping to the truth, Keneally could have written a much more emotional, and therefore more effective, text.
Review posted here on Amazon.com.
