Schindler's Ark - Thomas Keneally
What a book to end the year with! Schindler's Ark is the book that inspired the movie Schindler's List (and is known by the latter name in some countries). It is also a Booker book, which meant I really had no idea what I was in for. The book (and the movie) tells the true story of Oskar Schindler, a German factory owner living in the Polish city of Crakow during World War 2, relating how he saved the lives of about 1200 Jews by labelling them as 'essential workers'. Stating it that way makes it sound as though Schindler did very little 'heroic', yet throughout the book he continually takes big risks to achieve his goal, both in terms of his own safety, and also in financial terms.
The book, being about Jews in WW2, is obviously not a 'light' book, yet Keneally tells it in a way that really 'works'. His style here is an interesting one; he tells the story as if relating it to someone else - sometimes a little distant from the action; at others times fleshing out a scene hesitantly, as if unsure of what really happened; in still others confidently giving a conversation but pondering on the thoughts of an individual. For a book based on the testimony of the survivors this is a creative way of covering moments that may have happened slightly differently than reported, also giving Keneally license to tell the story as he sees fit. It also (to me) stopped the book getting so heavy that it became impossible to read. The events portrayed in Schindler's Ark are heavy enough without needing to be 'dressed up' in any way. I appreciate that the style Keneally uses enables them to be told matter-of-factly, which is still horrific enough.
Most of these events are portrayed, not through the eyes of Schindler, but through the eyes of the Jewish survivors. We get numerous examples of what life was like for people labelled as 'sub-human' by the Nazis, and all of this ties into their need for rescue by someone like Schindler. And sometimes even Schindler is not able to prevent terrible events from occurring.
Schindler is not a saint, and is not portrayed as one, but he truly wants to help, and this desire grows more urgent as the war progresses, causing him to take bigger and bigger risks.
This is a powerful and affecting book. I fully recommend it, and for once think that the Booker prize was justly deserved.
Completed 29 December 2021.
(Alphabet Soup Books)
(Bookerworm)
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