Reviewed by Emma Crowley
In Auschwitz, every day is a fight for survival. Alma is inmate 50381, the number tattooed on her skin in pale blue ink. She is cooped up with thousands of others, torn from loved ones, trapped in a maze of barbed wire. Every day people disappear, never to be seen again.
This tragic reality couldn’t be further from Alma’s previous life. An esteemed violinist, her performances left her audiences spellbound. But when the Nazis descend on Europe, none of that can save her…
When the head of the women’s camp appoints Alma as the conductor of the orchestra, performing for prisoners trudging to work as well as the highest-ranking Nazis, Alma refuses: “they can kill me but they won’t make me play”. Yet she soon realizes the power this position offers: she can provide starving girls with extra rations and save many from the clutches of death.
This is how Alma meets Miklos, a talented pianist. Surrounded by despair, they find happiness in joint rehearsals, secret notes, and concerts they give side by side––all the while praying that this will one day end. But in Auschwitz, the very air is tainted with loss, and tragedy is the only certainty… In such a hopeless place, can their love survive?
Many thanks to Bookouture via NetGalley for my copy of The Violinist of Auschwitz to review and to Sharon for having my review on the blog.
Hands down The Violinist of Auschwitz by Ellie Midwood is the best historical fiction book that I have read this year. Nothing has come close to beating it and with two months left in the year I can’t see any other books toppling this astonishing read as my historical fiction read of 2020. It is quite simply a masterpiece. Right from the opening line, this story is absorbing, thrilling, tense and very very powerful and is a stark reminder lest we should forget of the horror and suffering endured by so many because of the actions of a mad man. You run the gauntlet of emotions with each of the characters and at times this is a very difficult book to read as the images and situations written about are horrific and the picture built up in your mind is a very difficult one to shake. We have all read and know about the death camps created by Hitler and the Nazi’s and just when you think you can’t read anymore that what could another story in this genre set during World War Two and specifically Auschwitz bring to the table, here comes this remarkable author to shine a light on a previously unknown to me aspect of the war.
The Violinist of Auschwitz is based on the true story of an Austrian woman named Alma Rose. I had never heard of her before but now after reading this phenomenal and exceptional story, Alma is a woman I will never forget. A woman who used her musical talents to bring some sort of hope and salvation to as many as possible in their darkest hour. It’s evident from the beginning that the author carried out extensive research in order to bring Alma’s story to life. Such compelling, detailed and emotional writing transports you instantly to the heart of the story and the spell that this book casts over you doesn’t relent its magic until you read the very last word. I couldn’t stop reading and any time I had to put this book down for whatever reason was so annoying as I was desperate to keep reading as I felt I was there alongside Alma and the orchestra she creates as they try to survive on a daily basis in the hopes that what they were doing would see them survive the most terrible place on earth.
They treaded a very fine line throughout the book but with Alma as their leader I was hoping they would be able to keep on going through the deprivation, starvation, annihilation, barbarism and brutality to emerge scarred yet victorious through the other side. In the camp one only had two choices, adapt or perish. Alma chose to adapt and use all her talents as a violinist with some renown throughout Europe pre-war and in making this decision she also knew she had to try and protect those around her. The orchestra and their task of performing for the evil Dr. Mengle by a certain date was a heavy burden to carry and one would never think that an orchestra could have existed in the camps. But it did and Alma used every ounce of her strength, conviction, determination and capabilities to see her task right through until the end. Even if in doing so herself and the other inmates experiences were life altering, damaging and degrading.
Auschwitz was an extermination factory and I have read numerous times about the camp in other historical fiction books that I have read but Ellie Midwood brought this atrocious time in history to life in a way I never thought possible. I thought it was brilliant that from the first chapter the reader was transported straight to the story. There was no messing around with the background to the war or Alma’s capture and subsequent transportation to the place that would changer her forever. Whatever we needed to know as to Alma’s previous life and how she came to be one of the millions transported to camps was told as the story progressed. The book begins in 1943 and in a way the entire story is compressed into a short space of time considering the overall length of the war but the author packs so much into that brief time period and never at any time did it feel rushed or that too much information was being thrown at the reader that there wasn’t a chance to digest what was happening. The pace is perfect and I felt like I ran the gauntlet of emotions and experiences with Alma and her group of incredible women. The highs and lows of which the lows far outweighed any positives but still through it all they persisted and kept going with music being their salvation as they clung to any fragment of hope that there might be light at the end of the tunnel.
Alma is traumatised and in pain when she first arrives at the camp but despite the suffering, torture and damage that she knows lies ahead she feels that perhaps everything is not lost if the beauty of music could find its way into the camp. This is what she clings throughout her incarceration and she spreads this positivity with her and later as love finds its way into her heart. Initially I questioned whether I liked Alma as a character, and this was perhaps because I was worried and afraid for her, she wasn’t playing by the rules. Instead she was standing up to the powers that be, placing herself in what I felt to be unnecessary danger especially given her situation was already very precarious with her life hanging on a knife edge. I thought really she should be keeping her mouth shut and just trying to make it through each day in the best way possible especially considering all that she witnesses and watching daily the crematorium working away and having no escape from knowing or seeing what was going on in those walls.
If Alma had played the game from the minute she disembarked from the transport train onto the grounds of the camp she could have kept herself safe and gone under the radar but instead she chose to put herself out there as she had a bigger plan in mind. One that would hopefully save women from death and freedom might just be waiting if they could survive long enough. Her initial actions slightly turned me against her as I was frightened for her but then as the book progressed I came to understand what an incredible woman she was. Every action, every word uttered was all done with a distinct end goal in mind. Therefore my opinion of her changed from the one I had first formed, and I found her to be beyond brave, courageous, loyal, creative and instinctive.
Alma was in a fight for survival and as she gathered her troops around her, in the form of the orchestra, there was no way she was going down without giving it everything she had got. Not that she would ever admit or concede to defeat. For when the gates of the camp she hoped would eventually open she was determined that she would be amongst those that made it through to the bitter end. Alma always showed such immense strength and dignity. Her talents as a musician, and later as a strategist, were second to none and above all else her integrity, resilience and the self-sacrifices she made make her a character that leaves the most profound of impacts on your heart and mind. Love and affection sustain her through the darkest and most challenging of times but when faced with the most difficult point of her journey will Alma fall apart after everything she has been through and all the lives she has saved or has she the resilience to see everything through to the bitter end?
There really are no words that I can write that do this stunning book any justice. To use the word stunning given the subject matter may seem wrong but that is what this book is. There is such depth, honesty and pure emotion oozing from every page and yes a lot of the scenes are incredibly painful to read but I am glad that the author never spared any detail. Every little bit of pain and suffering experienced by the inmates was described in minute detail and the extent of the experiments and the horrors inflicted are unspeakable. Yet those images are imprinted on my mind and I suppose they should be so no one will ever forget what so many went through in order for us to live the lives we lead today so many years later. The writing is exceptional throughout this book and there were endless paragraphs or even a simple sentence that I had to stop and reread several times just to fully appreciate what was being conveyed and the impact it was making.
No doubt about it The Violinist of Auschwitz is a book that deserves great success and to be read by as many people as possible. I can’t wait to read many more books from Ellie Midwood because if they are anything as near as the calibre of this remarkable story than I know I am in for a outstanding read.
No comments:
Post a Comment