Amazon.in:Customer reviews: The Violinist of Auschwitz: Based on a true story, an absolutely heartbreaking and gripping World War 2 novel

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From India

Historican Fiction that I would recommend to everyone

Reviewed in India 🇮🇳 on 18 November 2020

I am not reading a lot of historical fictions for a while but this was probably one of the best novels I have read. The story is very beautiful and I feel that the writer has done amazing job.

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Tarang

A Good, Heartbreaking Read

Reviewed in India 🇮🇳 on 23 November 2020

The Violinist of Auschwitz
by Ellie Midwood is not a pleasant or entertaining read. Obviously it's a war story, based in a concentration camp; so it's heartbreaking and shocking, but certainly a good read.

It's about loss and suffering. And yet it's hopeful. Because it's also about music and love and courage and determination.

"Music is eternal and so are the memories."

I really like Alma. Her talent, her passion for music, her courage and fearlessness. And I really liked Miklos. He's funny yet intense, and passionate. The Alma and Miklos love story is a very significant part of this story but it's a small part, as it's mainly about a concentration camp victims, their suffering and survival and music. However, I really liked this love story. Especially the way Miklos treat Alma: his small yet beautiful letters. The kind of things he says to her.

The writing is beautiful! Lyrical at some places.

"She didn’t just hear it; she felt the music inside of her. It spoke to her in a way that she couldn’t explain even to herself. Without once opening her eyes, without exchanging a single word with the pianist, she learned his entire life story through his music— his work and successes, the women he loved and lost, the life he celebrated and which was stolen from him in such a bastardly manner. He somehow managed to express it all— a broken man to a broken woman— and Alma understood him without understanding his language."

There are so many characters, naturally, but they all have their own importance.

Overall, a good, poignant read. The ending made me emotional, however I felt the epilogue was unnecessary. There are certain things in the epilogue that needed to be told, yes, but I felt it could have been told in the last chapter. Just my views. Must read if you like Historical/war fiction. It's based on a true story though.

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From other countries

Happy Shopper

The Violinist of Auschwitz

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on 27 January 2023

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Enjoyable is the wrong word to describe this deeply poignant book. Compelling might come close, as once you meet Alma it will be impossible to not finish it. Do read the author’s comments about her research and to learn more about the people who lived this true story beside Alma in Auschwitz.

Maureen

Fitting tribute

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 26 January 2023

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Exceptionally inspiring yet extremely sad well written account of life in one of the worst places ever known. A book I had to continue reading to the end.

A. Oakley

Incredible Story

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on 21 November 2022

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It is difficult for me to find the words to describe the power of this story. I have read a lot of WWII history. The stories of the survivors of the concentration camps are heart wrenching but also describe the resiliency of the human spirit. I was not familiar with Alma's story. It is important that stories of such brave individuals be told. Her ability to retain her dignity in the face of demoralizing treatment is inspiring. The book left me in tears. It is an excellent story told with honesty and heart. I highly recommend this book to anybody who is interested in history or the study of human behavior.

2 people found this helpful

Amazon Customer

Worthwhile and Important

Reviewed in Germany 🇩🇪 on 12 January 2021

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First of all, huge congratulations to Ellie Midwood on her new book. It has gone through some serious tender, loving care in the hands of her new publisher. Midwood is a scrupulous researcher; her knowledge of the Holocaust and the camps puts you into very good hands, and her desire to do so through storytelling and remarkable characters makes her a true champion - much more than just an author, she is your personal guide.

I was waffling about how to review this for some time, knowing that I have the distinct disadvantage of being closely familiar with the majority of this story and its setting. I have visited Auschwitz and Dachau several times, have done research on WW2, including on the camps, and therefore, I sometimes felt that I was being spoonfed redundant information and all through one character who kept saying something along the lines of, "Didn't you know...?" The truth is, I did know. I would have preferred to have relived these incidents and details through Alma's own discovery of them. And thus, much of what could have created great emotion instead fell flat and dull for me. Which may have also been one of the reasons it took me a long time to warm up to Alma's character.

So why the high rating? Because there are loads of positive things happening in this book: I love Zippy as Alma's ally, and Miklos was endearing. I loved learning much more about the Kanada detail; and I loved the fact that the camp administrators were not caricatures of just evil people, but were distinct because they were deeply layered. The story really, really got going when the romance between Miklos and Alma finally started growing. The balance was excellent with both lively and heartbreaking scenes interspersed with really good dialogues (really appreciated the conversation when Miklos compared the instruments to various people). The scene where the young Polish woman refused to share her rations because it was "socialist" hit the heart and I found that whole chapter gorgeously done because things got ugly amongst the inmates, too. In other words, the characters eventually came to life and I was invested. Overall, I felt the novel was worth my time but because of that slow start for me, I was uncertain how to rate it. I waited to write the review but, in the back of my mind, I was wondering how fresh this could be to readers. Then I received an email from my 20-year-old niece.

She is doing research for me. I send her materials to read about WW2, and most recently on a slave labor camp in Germany. Her job is to write summaries of the information so that I have an overview of the contents. I had asked her what was taking so long.

This morning, she wrote back, "You know, this is all so new to me. I'm struggling to understand it all and to really get my head around what these camps were like." That surprised me because she was at Dachau with me six years ago and that had sparked her interest in WW2 history as well as the family's story, but she was only 14 then.

The light went on and I knew how to review The Violinist of Auschwitz. This novel, like the work of all those who write about the Holocaust, is hugely important. I can imagine that, with Zippy as their guide, entire generations will be swept away by the details of what they do NOT know. Midwood has the ability to put them "right there." They will learn, and they will become part of the collective conscience so that we truly may never forget. And that is why I highly recommend this book.

sherrill shepler

Mind provoking

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on 26 December 2022

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A love story of a woman's nurturing love of others and the usage of her God given talents to help as many of those that she could

Robin E. Levin

Compelling and Flawless

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on 28 December 2020

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Over the past several dozen years I am sure that I have read several dozen books, fiction and non-fiction, dealing with the Holocaust. Among these, the Auschwitz Violinist by Ellie Midwood ranks as the most compelling and flawless.
World War Two brought out the worst in some people and brought out the best in others. In this novel we encounter both sorts. There is the Angel of Death, the infamous Dr. Mengele, who conducted hideous experiments on twins, people with deformities and dwarfs. Dr Mengele had no problem injecting phenol into the heart muscle of an eight-year-old boy. He also had a collection of eyeballs in a jar.
The heroine of the story was Alma Rosé a virtuoso violinist whose father was conductor of the Vienna Symphony until he was dismissed by the Nazis after Austria was annexed by Hitler because he was of Jewish descent. Alma and her father escaped to England, but wanting to continue her musical career she moved to Holland. After the Nazis invaded Holland she attempted to flee but was arrested in France and sent to the Drancy holding camp. After six months she was sent to Auschwitz.
Somehow she impressed the authorities in Auschwitz and became the kapo of the woman’s music block in Birkenau. Her life and the lives of several dozen women depended upon whether she could create an orchestra proficient enough to please the SS guards and Officers of the camp.

Auschwitz, like Dante’s Hell, had various levels and some inmates were far more privileged than others. Alma and her girls ate better and had comforts most of the inmates lacked. Other privileged inmates were those who worked at the Kanada where they sorted the possessions of the many Jewish deportees who were brought to the camp to be gassed. The men of the Sonderkommando were also privileged. They were the ones who handled the dead bodies of those who were gassed and ran the crematoriums, but after six months they were always gassed themselves and a new Sonderkommando took their places. Most of the camp’s inmates performed forced labor, were starved, and ultimately died or barely survived.

Can there be love in Auschwitz? Alma falls in love with a Czech pianist and composer Miklos Steinberg. Miklos has chosen to live in the “family camp” where there are several thousand Czech or Hungarian Jews who had been allowed to stay in family units for the benefit of the Red Cross inspections. Having read “I Cannot Forgive” by Rudy Vrba, I knew that this could not end well.

Such is Midwood’s skill as a novelist that at times I actually felt that I was there. It was not a pleasurable feeling.

24 people found this helpful

gerri

Heartbraking but a Very Important Read

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 13 September 2022

Verified Purchase

Once started It was extreme!y hard to put down. This incredible story, based on the real Alma Rosè who was a talented Violinist and who was imprisoned in Auschwitz, is awe inspiring.
Her strength in the face of all the atrocities that were going on around her every day in the camp was incredible. she help to save many, many girls and women.
She was fearless at times and she was inspiring & courageous too. She saved countless lives by organising an orchestra and taught others to play and through this she kept them alive.
I did not anticipate the ending and will not spoil it for others.
A very important book.
We Will Remember Them.

Redeemed1

Reality hurts!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on 14 November 2022

Verified Purchase

This gripping story of a young woman who risked everything to save as many girls as she could from the gas chamber was heartbreaking! What one woman gave to save over forty others hurts as I realize how blessed we are in America.

One person found this helpful

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From India

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From other countries

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The Violinist of Auschwitz: Based on a true story, an absolutely heartbreaking and gripping World War 2 novel

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From India

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From other countries

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