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Il Farmacista Di Auschwitz (2006)

by Dieter Schlesak(Favorite Author)

3.25 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

8811683491 (ISBN13: 9788811683490)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Garzanti

review 1: BEWARE OF SPOILERS. I DON'T HIDE OR PROMOTE MY REVIEWS.I decided not to finish this book, though I did read the first 200 pages or so.It's not that I can't handle hearing about the Holocaust. In fact, this book was a successful read for me in that it prompted me to look up more about Victor Capesius, the true-life "druggist" at Auschwitz.Bottom line, it's gruesome to realize that a man trained to prepare and dispense medications instead took charge of storing and dispensing the Zyklon B gas that killed all the poor souls in the gas chamber.And when Capesius did deal with medicines, it was apparently only to search through the prescriptions confiscated from the camp prisoners to find and personally appropriate any jewels or small valuables hidden within the creams, etc. Th... moree book fell short for me in several ways:1)I have trouble with the concept of a "documentary novel," which is the book's sub-title. I did not understand how the author chose the fictitious Adam character to interact with the historic documentation, such as transcripts from the Frankfurt trials in the 1960s related to crimes that took place at Auschwitz.2)The author made clear that Capesius was not self-reflective, and in denial about his deeds and his responsibility for those deeds. So just going on and on about how he rationalized the deeds led to diminishing returns for me, if not all readers. There was no dramatic progression. 3)Related, the book has too much repetition for my taste. From how many voices do I need to hear that, yes, the loathsome man was seen many times on the "ramp" at train arrivals, doing "selections" to send new inmates either to immediate death or to war labor?! (labor that in many cases did lead to death after onset of malnutrition, illness, overwork, and sometimes torture).4)I didn't really understand the book's structure. The sections seemed to be thematically organized, rather than sequenced to create tension, a climax, a release.I would rather have read a more conventional non-fiction treatment.
review 2: I didn't finish it but I'm calling it done. The first half was fairly engaging and horrific, if a thing can be both. I think the concept of a 'documentary novel' is good but apparently hard to pull off. The fictional narrator Adam sometimes had rants that were hard to follow although if you were trying to describe a horror so unimaginable I would probably start ranting too. Some of the actual testimony was rambling and could have been left out.I did learn a few things about how the Germansand got a better idea of the day to day 'life' in the camp. I didn't finish the last third which appeared to be mostly Adam's voice.If the topic interests you, I would say read it but I think there are better books out there. Perhaps this loses a lot in translation. less

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