The Painted Bird

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Transaction Publishers, 2000 - Literary Criticism - 260 pages

Winner of the National Book Award

The Painted Bird is one of the most shocking indictments of Nazi madness and terrors of the Holocaust during World War II. It is a story about the proximity of terror and savagery to innocence and love. It is a vivid and graphic portrayal of the hellish Nazi occupation of Eastern Europe as seen through the eyes of a boy struggling for survival, an alien child lost in a world gone mad.

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About the author (2000)

Jerzy Kosinski was born in Lodz, Poland on June 8, 1933. In 1939, he was separated from his family when the Nazi's invaded Poland and he wandered through villages for six years, surviving by his wits. In shock, he remained mute from the age of nine to fourteen. He was finally reunited with his family. He moved to the United States in 1957. His first novel, The Painted Bird, was published in 1965 and received France's Prix du Meilleur Livre Etranger. His second novel, Steps, won the National Book Award in 1969. His other novels included Being There, The Devil Tree, Cockpit, and Blind Date. Blind Date tells the story of the Manson killings, which is where he would have been if he had not been stuck in JFK Airport dealing with improperly tagged luggage. He committed suicide on May 3, 1991 at the age of 57.

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