The Kindly Ones

"Simply astounding. . . . The Kindly Ones is unmistakably the work of a profoundly gifted writer." -- Time A literary prize-winner that has been an explosive bestseller all over the world, Jonathan Littell''s The Kindly Ones has been called "a brilliant Holocaust novel. . . a world-class masterpiece of astonishing brutality, originality, and force," (Michael Korda, The Daily Beast ). Destined to join the pantheon of classic epics of war such as Tolstoy''s War and Peace and Vasily Grossman''s Life and Fate , The Kindly Ones offers a profound and gripping experience of the horrors of World War II and the Holocaust. A former Nazi officer, Dr. Maximilien Aue has reinvented himself, many years after the war, as a middle-class family man and factory owner in France. An intellectual steeped in philosophy, literature, and classical music, he is also a cold-blooded assassin and the consummate bureaucrat. Through the eyes of this cultivated yet monstrous man we experience in disturbingly precise detail the horrors of the Second World War and the Nazi genocide of the Jews. Eichmann, Himmler, Gring, Speer, Heydrich, Hss--even Hitler himself--play a role in Max''s story. An intense and hallucinatory historical epic, The Kindly Ones is also a morally challenging read. It holds a mirror up to humanity--and the reader cannot look away.

About the author

Jonathan Littell was born in New York to American parents, and grew up in the United States and France. He lives in Barcelona, Spain.

Report

"The force and clarity with which Littell renders the physical realities of war and mass murder are simply astounding. . . . The Kindly Ones is unmistakably the work of a profoundly gifted writer." Time magazine

Product details

• Authors: Jonathan Littell, Charlotte Mandell
• Assisted by: Charlotte Mandell (Translation)
• Publisher: Harper Perennial USA
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback
• Released: 02.02.2010
• EAN: 9780061353468
• ISBN: 978-0-06-135346-8
• No. of pages: 992
• Dimensions: 135 mm x 205 mm x 45 mm
• Subjects: Fiction > Narrative literature; Historical romance, Historical fiction, Second World War fiction, United States of America, USA, c 1938 to c 1946 (World War Two period), Occult fiction, Horror and supernatural fiction, War, combat and military adventure fiction, Romance in uniform, FICTION: Literary, FICTION: Historical / General, FICTION: Romance / Historical / American, FICTION: Romance / Historical / 20th Century, FICTION: War & Military, FICTION: Romance / Military, GENOCIDE STUDIES: HOLOCAUST: LITERATURE, FICTION: World Literature / Europe (General), Classic fiction: general and literary, FICTION: Horror / General, Genocide Studies / Holocaust: Literature