Thomas KeneallyCritiques

2.5 stars. Readable but rather dull; improved near the end. First time reading Keneally; didn't make me want more.

I've wanted to read this book since coming back from Poland, where we spent most of our time in Cracow. My abiding memories of our visit centre on our stay in the former Jewish quarter of Kazimierz, and of visiting the former ghetto in Podgórze, and of course Auschwitz-Birkenau. This background informed my reading and my appreciation of this book.

This illuminating account has at its heart the extraordinary character of Schindler, womaniser, bon-viveur, heavy drinker, businessman ..... and saviour of the Jews. He's an unlikely hero: audacious, willing to resort to bribery, and entirely unrelenting once he had got the bit between his teeth. Set alongside his story is that of the Jews of Krakow, their personal histories, degradations and gradual loss of autonomy. And the stories of his wife and lovers, and the German high command whom he had to keep on side to achieve his objective of saving the Jews whom he was able to employ.

This is an uncomfortable, painful book to read. But for an understanding of the humiliations and suffering of the Jewish people under Nazi occupation and beyond, and for a glimpse at the lives of those heroes (and Schindler wasn't alone) who made a difference to the fates of some of them, this is unbeatable.

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Anche se tutti avranno già visto il capolavoro di Spielberg e quindi lo sapranno già, il libro racconta la vita dell'industriale tedesco Oskar Schindler dal 1939 nella Polonia occupata dai nazisti.
Più lento di quanto mi aspettassi nella prima parte, il libro prende giri col passare delle pagine e ricostruisce la azioni di Schindler che, inizialmente nazista convinto anche lui, vede aumentare col tempo gli orrori operati dalle SS e matura parallelamente una repulsione verso il regime e le atrocità dei campi di concentramento.
Man mano che si rafforzano le sue convinzioni, anche le sue scelte diventano sempre più azzardate e pericolose, volte a ingannare il sistema dall'interno nel tentativo di aiutare il popolo ebraico ed alleviarne le sofferenze per quanto possibile.
Innumerevoli gli episodi in cui Schindler riesce a sottrarre prigionieri ebrei dalle grinfie delle SS e dai campi di concentramento tramite vari sotterfugi, inganni e "regali" ai funzionari giusti.
Tutto il libro è stato scritto grazie ai ricordi dei sopravvissuti, agli scritti di Schindler e ai documenti custoditi allo Yad Vashem, il memoriale della Shoah di Gerusalemme.
È certamente un po' crudo in alcune descrizioni, ma non poteva essere diversamente.
Emozionante e commovente, lo metto sul podio dei migliori libri dedicati all'Olocausto insieme a "Se questo è un uomo" di Primo Levi e "La banalità del bene" di Enrico Deaglio (altro libro incredibile che ricostruisce la storia di Giorgio Perlasca, lo Schindler italiano).
Non ho dubbi, oggi più che mai, che sia un libro necessario... per non dimenticare.

Sono stata molto contenta di questa lettura di gennaio con LiberTiAmo: sebbene avessi visto il film di Spielberg anni e anni fa (talmente tanti da ricordarmelo a malapena, in effetti), non mi ero mai avvicinata al libro.

Sulla storia, niente da dire, naturalmente: Oscar Schindler e sua moglie Emilie figurano tra i Giusti tra le nazioni per aver salvato un migliaio di persone ebree dalla Shoah, usando i loro agganci e le loro risorse, senza risparmiarsi e senza mai rassegnarsi all’orrore e alla crudeltà gratuita.

Sullo stile con il quale Keneally ha raccontato la storia, devo dire che in alcuni punti mi è sembrato meno appassionante, nonostante le vicende narrate siano così significative. Penso di essere rimasta infastidita dal fatto che si tratta di un non-fiction novel, mentre avrei preferito leggere un non-fiction ‘puro’ – per così dire – che nella mia testa sarebbe stato più adatto per questa storia. Giusto nella mia testa, visto che La lista di Schindler ha vinto il Booker Prize nel 1982: deve essere colpa del mio potente amore per la saggistica.

Keneally can take characters and events from history and weave some amazing stories around them.

In the late 1800s, rather than run the risk of his underachieving sons tarnishing his reputation at home, Charles Dickens sent two of them to Australia.

This tale tells the imagined story of Edward, the tenth child of the esteemed author, as he tries to 'achieve' something with his life. Away from the pressures of being a Dickens, Edward is allowed to find his own path in life and to come to terms with his family and the expectations of them and himself.

Beautifully written, the characters literally jump off the pages. They are vivid, real, and highlight the early days of the Aussie larakin.

Most people have at least heard of this book, or the movie that was made from it, about the war profiteer turned savior of over a thousand Jews during WWII. I watched the movie in high school and then tried to read the book, but gave up due to how long and dry it was. That's probably the biggest mark against the book for most people--it's slow and plodding for at least the first several chapters. And throughout the entire book, the narrative is bogged down by so many names of locations and people, all of which are foreign to at least some of us (mostly Polish names, some German) and difficult to pronounce. However, I'm not sure Keneally should have done it differently, and if that is the only downside to the whole book, I would say there's a lot of reason to push through it and keep going. It does pick up a little after some of the early chapters, and in the end, I'm really glad I read it.

One thing that's always struck me about Schindler, and did even more so while reading this, is that he's not necessarily the type of person you would picture as a "savior." He was gruff, prone to fits of anger, and frankly had absolutely no respect for women at all. And yet, when he saw injustice and brutality happening, he was spurred into action. And while his motives for helping are examined multiple times in the book, it's clear that it's not just a matter of profit that he fights to keep his workers, considering the lengths he goes to at times to not just keep them but also to keep the SS from brutalizing them in his factory.

Though Schindler's actions are the focal point, the book also takes an up-close look at some of the people eventually saved by him. The book reads like a series of vignettes about Schindler himself and various of the different Schindlerjuden (Schindler Jews). Keneally states that he did his best to include only facts, while filling in conversation here and there, but because he couldn't possibly have every single detail, the story at times reads more like looking down on a scene, rather than being right there in it while it happens, as we've come to expect from novels. He makes it clear, though, when he couldn't corroborate a story, that it might be more legend than fact, and even this only happens a few times. Overall, the book is a fascinating, heartbreaking, and clear picture of one man who was completely unextraordinary most of his life, yet did an incredibly extraordinary thing during a dark and terrifying time in human history. Whether you've seen the movie or not, I recommend reading this book to pretty much everyone who's remotely interested in the subject matter, even if it does take you some time to get through it. It's worth it.

Having grown up in the Catholic faith, this book struck a chord of recognition for me. However, in no way do I mean to suggest that I or anyone I knew experienced physical abuse at the hands of the clergy or teaching nuns. I accept that the perpetrators need to be held to account and the church needs to be honest in its handling of these cases. Too the book...½

FROM AMAZON: 51-minute read
A young autistic woman finds her voice and a path toward justice in this uplifting short story about the power of family history by Thomas Keneally, award-winning author of Schindler’s List.

When Alison Strange receives a debt claim she can’t afford to pay from the Australian government’s unemployment office, she’s caught completely off-balance. As she wrestles with a slippery bureaucracy, her history-loving grandfather bolsters her resolve with the story of their ancestor John Strange, an English cobbler who was banished to Australia for his part in a political movement. Drawing inspiration from John’s life, Alison finds her own unique way to demand a future that’s fair for all.

Hard to read, boring early on, but brilliant political arguments in last 100pages½

In 1868, Edward Dickens, the tenth child of the famous author, emigrates to Australia to learn the sheep business. Just shy of his seventeenth birthday, he arrives with far more psychological baggage than physical possessions. Besides the name he can’t possibly live up to, which prompts everyone he meets to draw faulty conclusions about him, he has failed to apply himself at everything he’s ever attempted, save cricket. As he is all too aware, he doesn’t appear promising material. He also bears the cultural, social, and religious prejudices you’d expect of a righteous Victorian, some of which may work against him in the outback.

But young Plorn, as the family calls him — an abbreviation of an immense nickname — has two advantages. He desires to learn and will take instruction from anyone; and he has his older brother, Alfred, who has preceded him to Australia. That Alfred is named for Tennyson, and Plorn, for Edward Bulwer Lytton (who wrote, “It was a dark and stormy night”), hints at the burden they carry. But for Plorn, it’s even worse, because the entire continent seems composed of people who have memorized his father’s works and suppose he has done the same, when, in fact, he has never read a word of them.

From this ingenious premise, Keneally spins a delightful, often hilarious, wide-ranging coming-of-age novel. You have the usual themes, such as sexual awakening, learning to adjust abstract moral sense to real-life circumstances, and how to judge another person in his or her fullness, allowing for their imperfections. To that, add what it means to be a family outcast in a country colonized by outcasts. Plorn is convinced that Father sent him away out of love, but Alfred is less sure, and their differing points of view about that, and their father’s character, cause conflict. This issue occupies Plorn throughout the novel.

Plorn may adapt rather rapidly, perhaps conveniently, but you have to admire how he lets his insistence that he has none of his father’s gifts stand for the wish to be taken as his own man. Inwardly, he has doubts about who that man is, but he derives warmth and satisfaction from people saluting his individuality — welcome to the democracy of the outback. He also has enough sense to avoid employers to whom he has an introduction and seek someone more to his liking, at which he succeeds admirably.

Fred Bonney, who manages a sheep station with intelligent tolerance, teaches young Plorn all he needs to know about sheep ranching and encourages his rise. A better mentor would be hard to find, and if Fred happens to be the one rancher who tries to understand and befriend the Indigenous people (though unapologetic about having taken their land), consider that a lucky Dickensian coincidence. But Keneally makes the most of it, and even when the story turns harsh, even murderous, kindness isn’t far away. That too is a theme, whether humans are innately evil with occasional good impulses, or good with occasional evil ones.

Keneally wishes to celebrate the frontier ethic, in which a person’s deeds and capabilities often, but not always, matter more than his or her birth. As such, you can pretty much tell the good guys from the bad guys without a scorecard, and they seldom do anything to challenge the judgment; perhaps that’s Dickensian too. However, laughter levels that broad-brush approach, with a theatrical tone that Dickens himself might have admired.

Naturally, a girl figures in the story, and though I wish the adjective “pretty” did not introduce her every appearance, I like how Keneally portrays Plorn’s sexual confusion.

The Dickens Boy is a thoroughly enjoyable novel. I would have wanted more variation within some of the characters to match the way the author poses moral problems, as shades of gray. But it’s a worthy book nonetheless.

I was excited when I saw this author had a story in one of these short read series. I found it hard to engage with, however. There's a lot of telling, not showing. The main character isn't rounded out beyond her neurodiversity until well into the story. There's an interesting mix of recent Australian history with that from the early days of white settlement, but it's an uneasy mix. A fair degree of thought and planning obviously went into it, but it comes across more as a detailed outline for a longer piece than as a successful shorter story.

I had expected this to be a novel but it turns out to be a hybrid - non-fiction cum fiction. It wasn't very satisfactory for me; I would have preferred it to be more clearly defined. Keneally declared that he meant it to be a novel but there are frequent references like testimonies, reminding you it is not. For these references, I would have liked a proper reference listing, citing the source of the info. Nevertheless, without Keneally, many of us wouldn't know of this remarkable man, Oskar Schindler. Besides Schindler, Keneally brought to light other German industrialists and soldiers who showed kindness.

Good novel about the German industrialist, a playboy, who managed to save a lot of his Jewish factory workers from death in the Holocaust. It was originally called "Schindler's Ark".

Good historical novel about Confederate soldier. Showed endurance, courage, etc. of poor ragtag army.

Dual timeline story with the first set in present times and the second in ancient history. The contemporary story follows aging documentary filmmaker Shelby Apple as he looks back on his life. The ancient story takes place 40,000 years ago and follows Learned Man, the oldest known skeleton of an indigenous Australian. Learned Man’s remains were found in New South Wales in the 1970s and Shelby was part of the team that found them, which he documented in one of his films. Shelby recounts several of his experiences in filming. He traveled to Eritrea during the war for independence. He reminisces about his coverage of the Vietnam War, visit to the Arctic, and a voyage undersea. We also follow the life of Learned Man and his various spiritual quests.

There are many parallels between Shelby and Learned Man. I think I understand what the author is getting at – humankind manifests similar qualities throughout the ages. I was not particularly invested in the ancient story and the portrayal of female characters is one-dimensional. It spurred me to investigate the (real) Mungo Man, on whom Learned Man is based. I have enjoyed several of Keneally’s previous books and admire his writing style, but I do not think this is his best work.

Oskar Schindler, un hombre de enorme astucia y talento para las relaciones públicas, diseña un ambicioso plan para ganarse la simpatía de los nazis más poderosos. Alemania acaba de invadir Polonia y, gracias a sus influencias, consigue la propiedad de una fábrica de Cracovia. A partir de ese momento, comienza una transformación personal que le lleva a convertirse en una persona totalmente distinta.

A Bloody Good Rant is just that: a bloody good rant. No subject is off limits as this octogenarian discusses politics, religion, world affairs, asylum seekers and COVID 19. Keneally admits that the book will be decisive and not everyone will agree with his views.

I also listened to the audio, which unfortunately wasn't read by Keneally, but was very enjoyable.

My first experience with Keneally was in the 70s or 80s reading, or trying to, A Dutiful Daughter, which I just could not get into, but may try again, sometime, maybe.

From the beginning, we know the hero, Australian Captain Leo Waterhouse, was killed as a result of a clandestine raid during WWII. His widow, Grace, tells the story of what happened to her husband and how she dealt with it, over a period of time covering the 1940s to 2000s. This book explores the nature of heroism and grief.

Keneally is obviously a talented writer. It must have been a challenge to figure out how to tell this tale through the widow’s point of view, since she remains outside the military chain of command and is not directly privy to the details of military operations. A number of outsiders are looking into how the mission went so horribly wrong, and they convey their findings to Grace, sometimes many years after the fact. She does not always want to hear these new accounts. She must then confront her grief in a new way, and it is a gut-wrenching experience all over again.

The book is reflective in tone. The characters are easy to envision as real people. The settings in Australia, Singapore, and the Malay islands are vividly described. I very much enjoyed the literary references, especially the analogies to George Bernard Shaw’s The Devils’s Disciple. I need to read more of Keneally’s work.

Set during the Eritrean War for Independence in the late 1980s, Australian Timothy Darcy is a journalist seeking an interview with a high-profile Ethiopian prisoner of war. He travels with a small group from Sudan to Eritrea. The group includes Henry, an American relief worker attempting to get his Ethiopian fiancé out of the region, Christine, a French woman searching for her father (a cameraman filming the war), and Dame Julia, a humanitarian seeking to educate local girls on health issues. Their journey takes them through the heart of the war zone.

“We climbed the last bends and entered, through a stone doorway in the mountainside, the tail end of the trench system. We were in a deep, cool sap. Beneath a roof of logs and earth to our right, a wide compartment was crowded with soldiers. As my eyes got used to the dimness, I could see that here yet another class was in progress! Third grade science, Moka said.”

Darcy is the narrator, so this book feels like following a journalist on his assignment. He goes into the historical background of the conflict, the famine that occurred simultaneously, the toll taken on the civilian population, and the factions involved. I do not think it is a stretch to say the typical western reader will learn a lot about this time and place in history. An unnamed editor breaks in occasionally to provide context.

A few of the storylines seem superfluous, such as the situation with Darcy's Australian wife, who has left him and is living with another man. I am unsure how this part is supposed to fit with the Eritrean-Ethiopian conflict. Otherwise, it is well-written historical fiction.

3.5

180-1

Whilst this novel focuses on some fictional stories of crimes committed by priests within the catholic church, it must be remembered that it is fiction. By the church's own admission, these type of events do occur, it is not my intention to get into a religious discussion. Needless to say that there are good and bad people everywhere in all organisations including religious groups.

That said, the book is exceptionally well written with believable characters. The story deals with a very difficult subject, and will, no doubt, cause distress to a lot of readers.

Keneally handles it well and manages to keep the reader riveted.

Oskar Schindler was a German businessman who registered as a Nazi to benefit financially from the work being provided. During his time working with the Germans, Schindler sees how the Jews of the area are being treated and decide he must do something about it. He creates a list of essential employees and as such, they are not to be added to any transport lists. He tells his employees that as long as they work for him, they are safe. Schindler remains true to his word and he saved over 1,200 Jews from death at the hands of the Nazi regime.

Ben Kingsley was the perfect narrator for this story. He has such a classic voice and his diction of the hard German words was on point. I can't imagine anyone else reading this audiobook and making such a terrible topic easy to digest.

For the longest time, I thought Schindler's List was a huge, daunting tome of a book and although I wanted to read it, I was scared. When I downloaded the audiobook and saw that it was only 4 hours long I was a little confused. I realized I was basing my thoughts on the movie and the length of it. All in all, this book was well done and well researched. I am glad that I finally crossed it off my TBR.
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Alison Strange is a young autistic woman living in Australia. One day she receives a collection notice that she owes the government money for illegally receiving unemployment while she was working. She knows this debt in not valid and she is determined to clear her name. She repeatedly meets resistance on clearing this debt and as she is feeling defeated, her grandfather tells her the story of an ancestor who was sent to Australia as a convict and he managed to move forward with his life.

Tamala Shelton did a wonderful job of portraying Alison complete with the tics she exhibits when she is under stress. It was performed exactly as a I imagine someone under that stress would tic. Thomas Keneally is widely known for Schindler's List but this short story portrayal of a young woman in Australia was wonderful.

A Point In Time is a collection of some amazing short stories. If I talk about my favorite story, then it would be Landing by Olivia Hawker. The plot has emotions, responsibility and love for family. Other stories are also good, it was just that some of them had a very complex ending. Although, the characters are lovely. But, still the book is not meant to skip. And, the best part is you can finish the book within a day.

I would like to give the book 4 stars. Thanks to the authors for providing me an opportunity to read and review the book.

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