The title honestly says it all: a truly extraordinary story told by a great story teller.

Read this after I've watched Polanskis movie several times; so I did in fact recognize and remember a lot of the actions that took place in this memoir. I was moved by them once again and surprised how much the movie stayed true to the descriptions of the novel. Szpilman writes with a sort of coldness I didn't expect; sometimes it almost felt like a third person narrator was telling the story, looking at the actions from a distance - and I had to constantly remind myself that in fact, he had to endure all of this in full presence, full sight. 
Some of his phrases got me really emotional, although he must have had more talent in playing the piano than writing a book, and I highlighted some words that stuck with me the most. 
The book itself gives a little bit more inside on the happenings in the ghetto and the time where Szpilman was in hiding, and I found some details which weren't mentioned or portrayed as prominently in the movie. Newer versions also contain an extract of letters the german captain Wilm Hosenfeld wrote, who saved Szpilman in the last years of war.