Paperback, 284 pages
English language
Published 1996 by Black Swan, Transworld Publishers Ltd.
Jerzy Kosinski's mythic, master-work of a shattered post-War Europe.
Originally published in 1965, The Painted Bird established Jerzy Kosinski as a major literary figure. Kosinski's story follows a dark-haired, olive-skinned boy, abandoned by his parents during World War II, as he wanders alone from one village to another, sometimes hounded and tortured, only rarely sheltered and cared for. Through the juxtaposition of adolescence and the most brutal of adult experiences, Kosinski sums up a Bosch-like world of harrowing excess where senseless violence and untempered hatred are the norm. Through sparse prose and vivid imagery, Kosinski's novel is a story of mythic proportion, even more relevant to today's society than it was upon its original publication.
What’s all the fuss about, I can’t imagine this book being a classic.
An interesting read. Perhaps not as shocking today as it was when first published but it still paints some awful imagery. I appreciated Kosinski's use of metaphor. It's a breezy read you can feel cool about having read. There, I said it.
Finishing this book just before going to bed was one of my stupider ideas. While the book isn't autobiographical it still feels very real: bleak, brutal, depressing.
Recommended for: those feeling overly optimistic about humanity in both senses of the word.
