Rate this book

Дoбрoжeлaтeлнитe (2006)

by Jonathan Littell(Favorite Author)

3.98 of 5 Votes: 4

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Колибри

review 1: One might say that to write a hardcore Dostoevsky-like mammoth novel today must be just a waste of time. Not only everything has been already written but also because today we are receiving information via another sources...internet, movies etc. Everything is getting just too fast. However this book proves that nothing of that is true.One might also say that I have lost around 30 hours of my life with this beast, but I am telling you every minute was worth of it. Although it was a very disturbing experience indeed. But how can you describe evil present in human beings in a 2 hours movie or in an internet article? In The Kindly Ones you are supposed to experience this completely on your own and it really takes some time and toil.This book is not just about holocaust, war, a... morentisemitism or nazism. It is about the danger of exclusion in general, about the problem roughly defined as WE vs them. Which, I am afraid, will be an eternal part of human nature forever. Since our society simply cannot work without it. But every time there is made a line between two groups of people, be sure that the extermination of one of these groups might be the most extreme but certainly not completely improbable outcome. And it does not matter whether the members are highly educated, intelligent, good-hearted people or not...it does not matter at all, because the one who is actually acting is the group itself and every member of it can always say that everything was done on behalf of the group. Moreover the laws and normal behavior applies only on members of the group and outside of it, as Ivan Karamazov would say: everything is permitted. The group is the God and outside of it there is nothing and no rules exist. You can be kind to the others but also you don't have to be at all. It just depends on circumstances...and when the circumstances are malicious enough, the horror might begin. Nazi Germany or the heritage of various communism regimes were probably only the most extreme examples of that so far, but it does not mean that we are out of it. This story never ends. It might be a color of skin, religion, language or the way of walking or favorite music...just whatever. But every time you draw the line, you can never say where it ends eventually.And unfortunately unlike the main character of this book, most of us do not have guardian angels, the kindly ones, who save us if we suddenly appear on the wrong side of the line...
review 2: I'm giving this four stars more out of sheet admiration and awe than enjoyment; I did certainly like parts of it and I had moments where I got truly into it, but they seemed to come and go. What always stayed with me though was the admiration for the ambition and thoroughness of the book. It's really an incredible piece of work, so well-researched and so challenging - not only in its length and scope but in its portrayal of the various people involved in some of the worst atrocities of WW2. less

Download links for: Дoбрoжeлaтeлнитe

Advertising