markm reviewed The book of Aron by Jim Shepard
Review of 'The book of Aron' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
The stories of the holocaust have been recounted in at least a few different ways. I've found those with the most objective narrators, e.g. Primo Levi's If This is a Man, to be the most moving and most literarily satisfying. As humans, it's only necessary to be shown hell, we all have enough experience with nightmares to make any author's pathos superfluous. That is why horror stories are so universally appreciated. Mr. Shepard tells us an historical story that we already know in detail. He tells the story through the eyes of a boy who says, "Whether I was happy or unhappy, I took things as I found them.", and who is the target of psychological projection by everyone around him. His constantly complaining mother and his callous smuggler friends all, in a philosophically absurd fashion, accuse him of being self-centered. The overall effect is that we seem to …
The stories of the holocaust have been recounted in at least a few different ways. I've found those with the most objective narrators, e.g. Primo Levi's If This is a Man, to be the most moving and most literarily satisfying. As humans, it's only necessary to be shown hell, we all have enough experience with nightmares to make any author's pathos superfluous. That is why horror stories are so universally appreciated. Mr. Shepard tells us an historical story that we already know in detail. He tells the story through the eyes of a boy who says, "Whether I was happy or unhappy, I took things as I found them.", and who is the target of psychological projection by everyone around him. His constantly complaining mother and his callous smuggler friends all, in a philosophically absurd fashion, accuse him of being self-centered. The overall effect is that we seem to have been given an honest vision of these events, and the result is devastating.
