Book Review #1: The Pianist

First-off, we present a book review, written by Abhijit Kane, on the book 'The Pianist', by Wladyslaw Szpilman.

One book that will have a profound impact on anyone reading it is ‘The Pianist’, the memoirs of Wladyslaw Szpilman.

The Pianist is a book that stays in your mind long after you have turned the last page. It tells the traumatic and courageous story of the Polish pianist Wladyslaw Szpilman. He lived with his family in Warsaw, Poland. They were a Jewish family, and Wladyslaw worked at the Polish radio station as a pianist. Soon after the invasion of the German army in Warsaw, various discriminatory laws against the Jews were passed, as if being a Jew was something to be ashamed of.

In the Jewish section of town, people lived in fear from minute to minute; starving, ill, tired and witnessing scenes of unspeakable horror. People were shot at random by bored German soldiers; others were sent to concentration camps. Reading about such atrocities makes one realize what horrors humans are capable of.

Wladyslaw lost his entire family to the Nazi regime. He spent his life fighting for survival until weeks before the end of the war, when his hunger forced him to steal food. His account of being alone for weeks on end, in a dead city, combating starvation and hypothermia is truly tragic.

The book also includes the diary of the German officer who helped Szpilman survive. It is very interesting to see how different his views are from those of Hitler – how he despises the Nazi regime.

This book was first written just after the end of World War II, when the trauma was still fresh. ‘The Pianist’ reveals the amazing and shocking story of Wladyslaw’s survival amid the rampant inhumanity of the Holocaust.

The book is a stark reminder of how humans can be so cruel to their own kin, but it is an equally moving account of a survivor. It’s a book of pure inspiration; a memoir filled with hope and strength. This book, written in the face of the most hellish circumstances, is one of the most inspiring books I have ever read. 

Abhijit Kane

MSc. Economics