The Painted Bird
I almost couldn’t finish this one. Even knowing that this was a Holocaust novel going in, I was still shocked by the violence and merciless abuse of the narrator time and again. From ages nine to twelve, this unnamed first person male narrator takes us on a horrifying tour of Slavic villages during World War II. Most villagers encountered call him a “gypsy bastard” and spit and throw rocks at him. When he isn’t being beaten and humiliated, he gets put to work as a farm hand by the more benevolent peasants.
A lot has been said regarding the authenticity of Kosinski’s writing. There has been speculation by writers and critics as to whether or not Kosinski knew enough English to write The Painted Bird back in the early sixties. Not only this, but the narrative “voices” of subsequent Kosinski novels are apparently so different from one another, some feel he didn’t write his canon at all.
I’m hard-pressed to give validity to these rumors. Kosinski passed away in 1991. If the alleged “voice” behind his books is still alive, I couldn’t imagine they would stay quiet after over thirty years. Both Steps and Painted Bird received a lot of fanfare when they were published in the US. So, if there is actually a ghost writer behind Kosinski’s novels, he or she deserves at least a Wikipedia page for their valiant, under-appreciated efforts. The Painted Bird is a strong piece of work that has you by the balls the entire time, deserving to be read by anyone interested in Holocaust fiction. There’s a lot of nastiness, yet Kosinski’s gritty rendering of wartime Europe keeps you going. Once the Russian armed forces figure towards the end of the book, the unsavory content finally loosens its grip, and the narrator is displaced from his sheer hell.
Overall I’m going to give this a B-plus. The Painted Bird will surprise you, possibly even make you sick, but I guess that’s an aspect of its appeal. Not all fiction was intended to make you laugh and feel good, so if that’s your motivation for opening up a book, don’t read this.
