One of the best accounts of ww2 I've read.

After seeing the film, I wanted to read the book to see how faithful an adaptation it was, elements of the story are unbelievable! My conclusion is that the film is faithful and an excellent exposition of the story. I wanted to know more about the German Officer (Hosenfeld) that the author has a pivotal meeting with towards the end of the story, the book has an epilogue that tells more about Hosenfeld with extracts from his diary, and some extra source material. This extra perspective is another layer to an incredibly harrowing and miraculous account of a survival in the Jewish ghetto in Poland, a beacon of humanity in a dark time. Looking at other reviews, people have commented on the emotional detachment of the author, what is interesting is that the author wrote the book immediately after the war, it was published in 1946 under a different title, when nobody was keen to hear more about the horrific recent past. Reading it with this in mind, it emphasizes the shock that the author must have still have been suffering from all the trauma endured, other holocaust accounts with more time passed are probably more emotional accounts, that made it more poignant for me. It is an excellent read about a grim period of history but with enough humanity throughout to make it digestible

For anybody studying/researching WW2, this is a must for so many reasons. Not only is it an extraordinary story, but it's written by a trained pianist (hence the starkness of the storytelling, which only adds to its appeal) and it was written immediately following the war, not ten/twenty/thirty years later when memories have blurred.

The writing is simple, direct, and yet poetic. The images brought forth by the author demonstrate unbelievable pain, tragedy, and triumph. Excellent read.

So powerful, and so descriptive. Though Szpilman denies being anything but a pianist, he also shows a gift of writing, as he portrays through elegant diction the horror of what he endured. One almost doesn't need Polanski's movie, as this book is so vivid in itself.

I found this book among my grandmother's shelves about 2 years ago. It was after the movie came out so I was interested. I hadn't seen the movie due to its rating, but being a piano player, I was intrigued.

This book is certainly not for the faint of heart. It's a very moving story and I cried during parts of it.