Elie Wiesel
"One of the best... Written with deep sincerity and sensitivity." -- The New York Times Book Review
Richard Kluger
"Extraordinary...literally staggering...one of the most powerful books I have ever read." -- Harper's Magazine
Jonathan Yardley
"Of all the remarkable fiction that emerged from World War II, nothing stands higher than Jerzy Kosinski's The Painted Bird. A magnificent work of art, and a celebration of the individual will. No one who reads it will forget it; no one who reads it will be unmoved by it. ThePainted Bird enriches our literature andour lives." -- The Miami Herald
From the Publisher
“One of the best. . . . Written with deep sincerity and sensitivity.”—Elie Wiesel, The New York Times Book Review
“A powerful blow on the mind because it is so carefully kept within the margins of probability and fact.”—Arthur Miller
“Of all the remarkable fiction that emerged from World War II, nothing stands higher than Jerzy Kosinski’s The Painted Bird. A magnificent work of art, and a celebration of the individual will. No one who reads it will be unmoved by it. The Painted Bird enriches our literature and our lives.”—Jonathan Yardley, The Miami Herald
“Extraordinary . . . literally staggering . . . one of the most powerful books I have ever read.”—Richard Kluger, Harper’s Magazine
Harper's Magazine - Richard Kluger
One of the best. . . . Written with deep sincerity and sensitivity.”
—Elie Wiesel, The New York Times Book Review
New York Times Book Review - Elie Wiesel
Of all the remarkable fiction that emerged from World War II, nothing stands higher than Jerzy Kosiński’s The Painted Bird. A magnificent work of art and a celebration of the individual will. No one who reads it will forget it; no one who reads it will be unmoved by it.”
—John Yardley, The Miami Herald
Miami Herald - Jonathan Yardley
Of all the remarkable fiction that emerged from World War II, nothing stands higher than Jerzy Kosiński’s The Painted Bird. A magnificent work of art and a celebration of the individual will. No one who reads it will forget it; no one who reads it will be unmoved by it.”
—John Yardley, The Miami Herald
Harper's Magazine
Extraordinary . . . literally staggering . . . one of the most powerful books I have ever read.”
—Richard Kluger, Harper’s Magazine
— Richard Kluger
New York Times Book Review
One of the best. . . . Written with deep sincerity and sensitivity.”
—Elie Wiesel, The New York Times Book Review
— Elie Wiesel
Miami Herald
Of all the remarkable fiction that emerged from World War II, nothing stands higher than Jerzy Kosiński’s The Painted Bird. A magnificent work of art and a celebration of the individual will. No one who reads it will forget it; no one who reads it will be unmoved by it.”
—John Yardley, The Miami Herald
— Jonathan Yardley
AudioFile
This audiobook deserves—actually, it demands—one’s undivided attention. In a soft Polish accent narrator Fred Berman spins this tale with a storyteller’s intimacy. . . . The production poignantly and beautifully captures Kosinski’s dark, melancholy landscape.”
—AudioFile [Earphones Award Winner]
JUNE 2010 - AudioFile
The painted bird of the title refers to a garishly painted creature cruelly released to rejoin its flock. The flock, confused by its artificial coloring, rejects the bird and sends it plummeting to its death. The young protagonist who observed this incident uses it as a metaphor for his own life as he wanders, rejected and mistreated, from village to village in Poland during WWII. In the afterword, written by the author in 1976, Kosinski notes that the book itself became a kind of painted bird, banned in Poland, lambasted by critics for its focus on human brutality, and disputed as to its true authorship. Now 45 years after its publication, this audiobook soars above those controversies and deserves—actually, it demands—one’s undivided attention. In a soft Polish accent narrator Fred Berman spins this tale with a storyteller's intimacy, uninterrupted by character voicings. (There’s no dialogue.) The production poignantly and beautifully captures Kosinski's dark, melancholy landscape. R.W.S. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine
