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Title: This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen by Tadeusz Borowski, Barbara Vedder, Jan Kott ISBN: 0-14-018624-7 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: August, 1992 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.75 (12 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen
Comment: Trying to critique any book of Borowski is an enormous task. Borowski's character by itseelf is complex (specally his clueless suicide etc.) and the books are even denser so it is sometimes difficult to understand who is the main target especially when you read the post war writings. "This way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentleman" is a fantastic recreation of the truth - Borowski must have been extremely powerful character that is why he found the language to describe the horrors of Auschwitz - most people will not even find the language do describe this macabre specter even years after getting freedom. The horror is at such a level that death is no more a part of the horror rather its is a means of escaping further pain. This is one of the first hand descriptions of Nazi atrocities and there are very few better examples. It can be safely assumed that the first person narrator of all the short stories in this book is the author himself. The real wonder is the satire he has incorporated even within such situations. The story called "The man with the package " is not only touching but probably one of the best I have ever read from any author. Gogol also dealt with similar topics of atrocities but of a different regime but Gogol always kept a sense of suspense where the end could not be predicted easily. For Tadeusz Borowski the twist in the end, which may be easily guessed, is not at all important rather the way he arrives to this end is far more effective and magnetic. You may think this is strange but at no point you feel like crying or sorry rather you sense the shivers down the spine and then you feel the disgust for the Nazi regime - probably this is the biggest punishment an author can give to his oppressors. The post war stories are not so hypnotic. I will recommend everybody to buy this book and give it to their next generation.
Just one question bothers me all the time - how did Borowski survive Auschwitz - was it just luck and coincidence or a little helping hand from his side to the Nazis. I see him trying to vindicate his position all the time but could he really do so? Please read the book and find for yourself.
Rating: 4
Summary: The simple story, nothing more, nothing less
Comment: One of the first things you notice about this book is Borowski's writing style. He portrays life in concentration camp. Period. His language, while sometimes beautifully subtle and poetic, and other times sharp and to the quick, only seeks to enhance exactly what he is saying. There is no underlying tone, no message, nothing which colours and, in some way, distorts the prose. He leaves the conclusions, the thoughts, entirely for the reader to draw or to make. He does not seek to influence or to guide, only to tell.
And that's the second thing you notice about Borowski: his subjects. He writes about everything in the concentration camp, yet still focusing on relatively trivial events. The short stories don't appear as such, with beginnings and endings, like novels in miniature. Rather, it seems like there is a running narrative, stretching throughout the concentration camp period, from which Borowski has cut out certain pieces, almost at random, that rather than being those episodes which can best fit into the short story form of writing, will give the reader the best overall picture of the concentration camp life. Once again, his aim is not to create tension or excitement, in fact emotions of any kind, but to tell, just tell. Perhaps his subjects, his form of writing, does give you an idea about why he took his life a few years after the war: his heart, just like his prose, had had to be devoid of every emotion, because one who has seen things like he did, and survived them, cannot feel, lest he go insane.
This is a good book, and it's definitely a book that should be read. No book is perfect, and this doesn't recieve the fifth star because of some technical details. The prose, the subject, are all artfully done, but you sometimes do get lost. You lose yourself slightly in the prose towards the end. But it's not a long book, so it's not a big deal. And again, these are just minor technical problems. The artistic side is masterly.
Rating: 5
Summary: Shocking in its non-chalance
Comment: Borowski's account of life in Aushcwitz is a classic. The brutality, inhumanity, and gruesome daily life in the hell-on-earth that was the Holocaust is matter-of-factly, even non-chalantly described and recounted in _This Way to the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen_. Little wonder the author put his own head in a gas oven in the years following his experiences. The images are haunting. But what I found to be most disturbing was the simple language Borowski used in retelling his experiences.
Borowski, a Pole, lived separately from the Jews who were daily incenerated. And while his life was unimaginably difficult, by some measure it was better than that of the Jews. A sense of guilt - call it survivors guilt, or regret, or perhaps at its most elemental level, deep and profound sadness - permeates the book, as it should. It is a remarkable read, profound and stunning. Highly recommended.
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Title: The Drowned and the Saved by Primo Levi ISBN: 067972186X Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 23 April, 1989 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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Title: The Shawl by Cynthia Ozick ISBN: 0679729267 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 29 August, 1990 List Price(USD): $9.00 |
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Title: Auschwitz and After by Charlotte Delbo, Rosette C. Lamont, Lawrence L. Langer ISBN: 0300070578 Publisher: Yale Univ Pr Pub. Date: March, 1997 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: Maus : A Survivor's Tale : My Father Bleeds History/Here My Troubles Began/Boxed by Art Spiegelman ISBN: 0679748407 Publisher: Pantheon Books Pub. Date: 19 October, 1993 List Price(USD): $28.00 |
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Title: Eyewitness Auschwitz: Three Years in the Gas Chambers by Filip Muller, Helmut Freitag, Susanne Flatauer, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum ISBN: 1566632714 Publisher: Ivan R Dee, Inc. Pub. Date: 01 September, 1999 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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