Schindler’s Ark

Thomas Keneally

What It’s About

            In the shadow of Auschwitz, a flamboyant German industrialist grew into a living legend to the Jews of Cracow. He was a womaniser, a heavy drinker, and a bon viveur, but to them he became a saviour. This is the extraordinary story of Oskar Schindler, who risked his life to protect Jews in Nazi-occupied Poland and who was transformed by the war into a man with a mission, a compassionate angel of mercy.

My Take

         Not that long ago, I wrote a review and talked about how I feel like I might be too hard on some of the books I read.  I give a lot of books four stars, but I find it rare to want to give a book five stars.  This realization made me relax my standards and give a few more books that fifth star.  Then I read a book like this and I’m brought back to the reason I was so selective about which book got that fifth star.  This book is one of the best books I have ever read.  I’ve finished off thousands of books, and I can count on one hand the number of them that have stuck with me; that have turned into the list of my all-time favorite books.  This book is now on that list. 

            One day in 1980, an Australian man walked into a luggage store in Beverly Hills, California.  Had Thomas Keneally not been in need of an inexpensive briefcase, the world might not have been on the receiving end of this story.  I am not planning on rehashing Schindler’s history here, if you’re not familiar, the movie is genuinely excellent.  Until recently, I didn’t even know it was based on a book (I’m not sure why it didn’t occur to me that somebody wrote the book first).  Now that I’ve read said book, I’m even more impressed at the movie adaptation.  I stayed true to the print version and was exceptionally well-done.  Kudos to Spielberg. 

            Thomas Keneally didn’t get to meet Oskar Schindler, but he did get to meet quite a few of the Schindler Jews and their families.  Through the journals they kept and the stories they told, a picture of a complicated man was painted.  Schindler was not Mother Teresa, I didn’t get the impression that he set out to be the benevolent savior that he eventually became.  He came across as an opportunist, looking for ways to make money in every nook and cranny of war-torn Poland.  Schindler enjoyed women and booze, and it seemed like he spend a lot of the early part of the war trying to prove his worth to his father.  It was clear he was not a fan of the “party,” but he courted members of the SS to further his own interests. 

            Slowly, and what felt like unintentionally, Schindler managed to amass a workforce of Jewish slaves.  As the book progressed, Schindler went from being a less-than-savvy businessman, to a shrewd negotiator on a mission to save lives.  Had this story been in the hands of somebody else, the progression of Oskar Schindler might have been more concise, but maybe less involved, less researched.  Keneally put me in the room with Schindler.  He made me feel what it might have been like to work in Schindler’s factory, or to be in line waiting to hear your name get called to get into the Schindler line.  I was at the table during one of his dinner parties.  I could smell the room.  Keneally poured every ounce of his heart into this book, and it was masterfully done. 

            I have read quite a few books based on historical figures, and I find most of them to be clinical and bland.  This book has legs that danced across every page.  It is genuinely one of the best books I have ever read.  I highly recommend it.