I had a hard time getting through this book, and an even harder time rating it because how can you objectively rate a book about such horrible events?

The pianist is graphic, to the point and spared no details. It described how his home, Warsaw, was torn apart and turned into a ghetto. How his family, friends and strangers struggled to survive. How every day, they wondered if it was safe to go out on the streets. How the street was filled with dead bodies and smelled of decay.

Wladyslaw’s story was absolutely heartbreaking, and hard to read. I had many times where I felt at unease, and wanted to put the book down, but it’s such an important story that I made myself get through it.

My one critique is that somehow I felt like the writing was rushed. In 3 sentences you could suddenly be months into the future, or even the next year. It’s rare that I ask for a book to be longer, but I think for a story of such importance, it would have made sense not to rush through the years.

So, on to the rating: First off, I’d like to give a million stars to our writer, and his courage to write of the horrible unimaginable time he went through. His book however, gets a 2.5 out of 5, purely based on the writing style and pace.

Ps if you haven’t seen the movie: I’d highly recommend it, it’s a great representation of the book!