The Painted Bird by Jerzy Kosinski Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Painted Bird
Book Review: fiction
Summary: 2 Stars
Not sure how to rate this--but I have read enough about Kosinski to know that this book is fiction, invention. He was never seperated from his family, in fact the very peasants/villagers he slanders and makes to appear bad saved not only his life, but the rest of his family. Why the big stink over Kosinski now (for the past ten years actually) is because the guy always insisted that this stuff was all true and that he had lived through it. The man "borrowed" passages from other writers' works and reworked them as his own and made them part of his books. Another example is Being There--"borrowed" from The Career of Nikodem Dyzma, etc. Kosinski, it seems, was a decent idea man, but the writing was done by others. None would begrudge a writer using proofers, they all do it, Hemingway, Thomas Wolf, all of them (nothing wrong with that. A writer can be a fine storyteller, but lousy at spelling, as well as unable to see his own mistakes, errors, etc. So this is acceptable...) but this guy Kosinski sems to have gone way beyond that. Read James Park Sloan's biography if you need more facts--although Sloan is not a great writer himself (the book is flat) but entails plenty of facts). Kosinsky, no doubt, was a troubled guy, a mess, scarred--and his primary goal once he got to New York was to become a success--at any cost. And in the end, it cost him his life. Perhaps if he had taken the time to learn the craft of storytelling...it may have worked out better for him...but even there raw talent is required and the ability to beat the language (not your own) one has chosen to write in. Quite a task--and Kosinski knew he was not up to the task. His way of getting over that obstacle was to employ others to do the actual writing. Are we saying here that the guy was totally worthless as a human being? No, we're not. Are we saying that the man hadn't suffered and been put through plenty psychologically during WWII? Of course not. All we're saying here is that his facade of the great writer was just that: a facade. A con job, that made him famous and paid him plenty--but also helped destroy him when his luck ran out in the end. In a perfect and fair world the Oscar for Being There would have gone (if posthumously) to the author of The Career of Nikodem Dyzma for having created the original book the movie was based on, etc. Kosinski hungered for the brass ring at any price... James M. Cain in his Double Indemnity gave us fair warning about that: Careful what you wish for.
Book Review: good book but a little morbid
Summary: 3 Stars
I very much enjoyed this book. I am a high school freshman and this book was more or less referred to me from my english teacher. The book tells a story of a boy that has to endure tremendous hardships as a gypsy. Parts of the book are quite gruesome and often I had to skim ahead to avoid a particularly disgusting passage. The book is well-written but I do have some qualms about it. I would like to ask, "At what point does a book stop being literature and become a recollection of a person's nightmare?" Does Mr. Kosinski have the ethical right to write a piece that exposes readers to the horrors of war to the point of terror? If it hadn't been for my love of reading, honestly I wouldn't have finished the book. At times I was so throughly disgusted I had to read something else to lighten my mind. Like I said before, the book was very good although the ending is somewhat unclear. I would recommend this book to any experienced reader due to the graphic scenes. I think that you will be glad for reading it although you may not think so right after you finish.
Book Review: harrowing, disturbing, brilliant
Summary: 5 Stars
I have just finished this masterpiece and need a day or two to let it sink in befor starting another book. My polish girlfriend brought this book recently because she wasn't allowed to read it when she was younger....i can understand this not just from the extreme/ultra violence but also due to the portrayal of the people that populated that part of europe at the time. Medieval has been mentioned but also so very narrow minded. This book is FICTION but it is fiction that you know must surely have happened!!! Jerzy's style of writing is excellent and draws you into the story so elegantly and simply.....a masterpiece up there with Primo Levis workBook Review: life altering read...
Summary: 5 Stars
Plainly and simply...The Painted Bird changed my view of life. Never has there been a work (written, electronic etc...) that exposes the inherent reality and brutality of racism in nature. An absolute must read!Book Review: lots of holes
Summary: 3 Stars
I have to confess, first off, that I didn't read this entire novel. In fact, I stopped at about chapter 6 or 7. I'm an avid reader, and usually don't mind long I.E. five hundred plus paged books. Perhaps I have no imagination, but the main reason I forebore to read the rest of this, is that there were too many unanswered questions for me, most importantly, how does this boy (we never learn his name) escape from each of his cruel caretakers? The author never shows him actually running away from the villages, except for the first one, and it's never made clear how he spends his days, or why certain people take him in, and others couldn't be bothered. I don't despise this book, but I'm definitely not a fan of spare writing, and this thing's certainly full of that. The violence and hints of deviant sexual behaviors weren't extremely off-putting either, although that long description of the gouging out and disposing of a youth's eye was more than a little nauseating.