Schindler's List by Thomas Keneally

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Title: Schindler's List

Author: Thomas Keneally

Genre: Historical, War Fiction

Length: 400 pages

Published: 1993

Publisher: Touchstone

Brief Synopsis:(Taken from Goodreads) Schindler's List recreates the true story of Oskar Schindler, the Czech-born southern German industrialist who risked his life to save over 1,100 of his Jewish factory workers from the death camps in Nazi-occupied Poland. Thomas Keneally's "documentary novel," based on the recollections of the Schindlerjuden (Schindler's Jews), Schindler himself, and other witnesses, is told in a series of snapshot stories. It recounts the lives of the flamboyant profiteer and womanizer Schindler; Schindler's long-suffering wife, Emilie; the brutal SS (Nazi secret service) commandant Amon Goeth; Schindler's quietly courageous factory manager, Itzhak Stern; and dozens of other Jews who underwent the horrors of the Nazi machinery. At the center of the story, though, are the actions and ambitions of Schindler, who comes to Kraków, Poland, seeking his fortune and ends up outwitting the SS to protect his Jewish employees. It is the story of Schindler's unlikely heroism and of one man's attempt to do good in the midst of outrageous evil. The book explores the complex nature of virtue, the importance of individual human life, the role of witnesses to the Holocaust and the attention to rules and details that sustained the Nazi system of terror.

My Review:

I give this book a 4 out of 5. 

This book was just as good as I'd  heard it was. I can't believe it took me this long to get around to finally reading it. Mr. Keneally draws on the real life of Oskar Schindler and his quest to save his Jewish employees and adds some fictional elements, such as dialogue. It was really hard to believe I was actually reading a fiction novel instead of a biography. 

The ending made me cry. I don't think much can be said about why it made me cry. I wept not only for those that did not survive the horrors of the Holocaust, but also for those that survived.

You can purchase Schindler's List through Amazon in either hard copy or Kindle format. 

Have you read Schindler's List? If so, leave a comment and let me know your thoughts! 

Please note: I was not compensated in any way for this review. It is strictly my opinion.