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Book Review of The Kindly Ones

The Kindly Ones
The Kindly Ones
Author: Jonathan Littell
Genre: Literature & Fiction
Book Type: Paperback
Jan1 avatar reviewed on + 52 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1


A historical novel of WWII told from a Nazi officer's perspective that presents a very meticulous accounting of the war, but also presents an increasing serene and flippant recounting of the horrors that are occurring around him. At times he muses that he is becoming inured and needs to try to regain the initial shock he felt when first hearing & seeing the atrocities occurring. He tries to justifies his actions and those of his fellow officers in the first chapter by saying: "I am a man like other men. I am a man like you. I tell you I am just like you!" And indeed, that may be the crux used to describe mankind's inhumanity throughout the ages.

Overall, I felt like I was being drug through some kind of surreal hell trying to read this book. It became increasingly overwhelming for me and I finally laid it aside without finishing it.