The novel that inspired the Oscar-winning film
Ratings9
Average rating3.4
"From one of England's most renowned authors, an unforgettable new novel that provides a searing portrait of life-and, shockingly, love-in a concentration camp. Once upon a time there was a king, and the king commissioned his favorite wizard to create a magic mirror. This mirror didn't show you your reflection. It showed you your soul-it showed you who you really were. The wizard couldn't look at it without turning away. The king couldn't look at it. The courtiers couldn't look at it. A chestful of treasure was offered to anyone who could look at it for sixty seconds without turning away. And no one could. The Zone of Interest is a love story with a violently unromantic setting. Can love survive the mirror? Can we even meet each other's eye, after we have seen who we really are? In a novel powered by both wit and pathos, Martin Amis excavates the depths and contradictions of the human soul"--
Reviews with the most likes.
I understand what Amis set out to achieve in this novel (and he succeeds!) - Mass murder as a business, dehumanising of victims etc etc - but I just couldn't take the horror any longer, so I gave up on this about halfway through. One of the darkest and most shameful periods of our history is treated as a ‘dark comedy', and I simply could not stomach it. 2.5 stars.
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