Like many of the previous reviews, I found it rather astonishing that the book was written in a very cool, indifferent tone. It was almost like reading a story with the writing in a first person perspective and with the emotion in a third person perspective.

In the movie, we never know who the kind German Officer was, in the book, we find out. It is also, at the same time, a depressing and an uplifting one: depressing that the German Officer who had shown mercy did not get said mercy himself; uplifting because in all the terror, the brutal merciless perpetrators, we find a kind-hearted person among them.

= + = + = + = + = + = + = + = + = + = + = + = + = + = + = + = + = + = + = + = + = + = + = + = +

It was an amazing movie.

It was an even better book. Pardon the colloquial-ness, but OMG this was an amazing read.

Give me a few days to organize my thoughts before I write a proper review.

Interessting and heavy story of a man who happend to be lucky to survive. At first his cool style of narrating was confusing but after a few pages you recognize he was still shocked, when he wrote about the 6 years of hell. I would recommend it to everybody who wants to know more about the daily life in the warsawa ghetto.

4.5 stars
An extraordinary account of one man's quest for survival in the Jewish ghetto and in war-ravaged Warsaw during the Nazi occupation. The narrative, told in simple, stark language does not embellish the horrors that Szpilman lived through. He states things as he sees them and moves on without dwelling on them. It was the only way for him to stay sane and alive.

This is the first book I've read that made me want to cry. Even though I had seen the film and of course the title gives it away that he survives.
I liked that there had been an appendix added to the book that told you more about the German officer that helped numerous people escape from the Nazis not just Szpilman.
For me one of the most heartbreaking parts is a sentence at the end of the third chapter 'There was a special section devoted to the Jews: they were guaranteed all their rights, the inviolability of their property, and that their lives would be absolutely secure.'

Finished sunday at 01:45 pm end of vacations

Extraordinary. Difficult read, not because of the prose (excellent) but because of the subject matter.
Highly recommended.