Skeletons at the Feast | 
 enlarge | Author: Chris Bohjalian
Publisher: Shaye Areheart Books
Category: Book
List Price: $25.00
Buy Used: $10.95
You Save: $14.05 (56%)
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Rating:  44 reviews
Sales Rank: 6681
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Pages: 384
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.5
Dimensions (in): 9.2 x 6.1 x 1.6
ISBN: 0307394956
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780307394958
ASIN: 0307394956
Publication Date: May 6, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: read only once
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Product Description
In January 1945, in the waning months of World War II, a small group of people begin the longest journey of their lives: an attempt to cross the remnants of the Third Reich, from Warsaw to the Rhine if necessary, to reach the British and American lines.
Among the group is eighteen-year-old Anna Emmerich, the daughter of Prussian aristocrats. There is her lover, Callum Finella, a twenty-year-old Scottish prisoner of war who was brought from the stalag to her family’s farm as forced labor. And there is a twenty-six-year-old Wehrmacht corporal, who the pair know as Manfred–who is, in reality, Uri Singer, a Jew from Germany who managed to escape a train bound for Auschwitz.
As they work their way west, they encounter a countryside ravaged by war. Their flight will test both Anna’s and Callum’s love, as well as their friendship with Manfred–assuming any of them even survive.
Perhaps not since The English Patient has a novel so deftly captured both the power and poignancy of romance and the terror and tragedy of war. Skillfully portraying the flesh and blood of history, Chris Bohjalian has crafted a rich tapestry that puts a face on one of the twentieth century’s greatest tragedies–while creating, perhaps, a masterpiece that will haunt readers for generations.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 39 more reviews...
 Haunting June 9, 2008
Theresa W (mi, usa)
15 out of 16 found this review helpful
I am a huge fan of Christopher Bohjalian, I can't say enough good things about his novels. What I enjoy most is his ability to find unique and controversial topics to write about and explore. I was a little surprised to hear he was writing a book that was placed during WWII in Germany. I was leary to see if he could pull this off, to take a topic that has been written about over and over and movies have been made- could he do something new? The answer is yes.
This isn't the average holocaust novel, featuring mainly Jews in a concentration camp. This book takes a look at how this horrific time in Germany affected many different people. The main characters are a Prussian family who is on the run to find security in another country- a wealthy family who never thought the war would touch them and who did not believe in the autrocities that they were told were going on. Also on the run with them is a Scottish POW, which gives us the perspective of how this war affected those who weren't even citizens of Germany and yet they gave their lives. Lastly there is Uri who is a Jew who escaped from a concentration camp, and two women who did not escape a prison camp, where we see that sickening side of the war. I really loved how these characters were all sort of thrown together and we saw all of these different perspectives.
The tale is haunting, but what else can you say about the holocaust? More than the holocaust, this novel explores the darkside of human nature, but also the part in all of us that is a survivalist and preservere's. I read Cormack McCarthy's novel The Road last year and as I was reading this book I just couldn't stop thinking about the similarities. Maybe this book will reach those heights, it surely deserves it, as does Bohjalian's talents.
I Couldn't Put it Down May 13, 2008
Mary Lins (Houston, TX USA)
21 out of 23 found this review helpful
Chris Bohjalian's latest novel, "Skeletons at the Feast" might be his best novel to date, and it can't be a coincidence that it comes out just as Israel celebrates its 60th anniversary.
I couldn't turn the pages quickly enough in this absorbing tale of flight during the end of WWII. Each character becomes important to the reader and each of their fates matter to us. Mr. Bohjalian presents the stories of a variety of players, and through them we see the horrors of war, as well as the horrors of denial; there are Germans, Jews, women from a concentration camp, a Scottish POW, and an innocent child. Questions that these characters would have asked themselves and each other: "How did this happen?" "What were they thinking?" "Why does the world hate us so much?" and "Where did all those Jewish and Polish people we used to know go to?" are asked and answered in this gripping and suspenseful tale.
(Note to the editor: the use of em dashes to set apart long parenthetical clauses was very distracting and interrupted the flow of the narrative. Semi-colons or parentheses would have served better, in my opinion. If this is a specific style of Mr. Bohjalian's I never noticed it being so distracting before.)
A brilliantly told story July 9, 2008
Grey W. Satterfield Jr. (Oklahoma City, OK United States)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
I agree with those who thought "Skeletons at the Feast" was a marvelous book. It beautifully captures the brutality of war, as well as its ability to bring out the best in some. Most vividly, though, it depicts how nearly casual killing becomes. I shall never forget some of those scenes.
Chris Bohjalian is not the most graceful writer alive but he is a gifted storyteller. Setting this novel in Poland and eastern Germany at the end of World War II took a lot of nerve. It was an ugly, ugly time in an ugly, ugly place. Still, Bojalian pulled it off, told a consistently arresting story, and, in the end, even gave us an optimistic climax to the love story that was the centerpiece of his tale.
One of the best books I have read this year, highly recommended.
Unforgettable... July 1, 2008
Tracy L. (USA)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
Chris Bohjalian rebounds after a somewhat disappointing THE DOUBLE BIND with SKELETONS AT THE FEAST, a beautifully written, unforgettable story of survival during the last days of World War II.
While on the surface, the book seems a bit atypical for Bohjalian, he incorporates a great deal of the types of themes he has used in other books (love, family) and does so quite effectively by creating such rich, well-defined, intriguing characters.
This is a dark story, but there is hope in it. Yes, there are some disturbing things in this book, but these things are written to bring to life the true horrors of WWII and to give credence to the story. After all, war is not pretty.
Bojalian is one of my favorite authors and I recommend this book highly. If your unfamiliar with his other books, I also recommend THE BUFFALO SOLDIER.
Chris Bohjalian's Masterpiece May 7, 2008
Marvin Minkler (St. Johnsbury, VT United States)
19 out of 20 found this review helpful
Chris Bohjalian has written his finest novel to date, set against the brutal, waning days of World War II in Eastern Germany. The Soviet Army is advancing through Poland, and ahead of it a small, thrown-together group of refugees, begin a long, arduous trek ahead of the Russians, trugging across the devastation of the smoldering Third Reich. Concentration camps, death marches, brutal Nazis, POWs, broken families, rampaging Russian soldiers, and terrified refugees. Ordinary people doing extraordinary things, all humbled by the bitter January cold. Yet, in the midst of this gutwrenching carnage, the author writes of new-found love, tender family moments, bonding friendships, resiliency, and hope. Above all - hope. Skeletons at the Feast, is Bohjalian's masterpiece. The power of the narrative will stay with the reader long after this book is put on the shelf. Inspired by an actual World War II diary the author read, it will stand as one of the best novels ever written about one of the most brutal periods in history.
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