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The Savior: A Novel by Eugene Drucker
Book Summary InformationAuthor: Eugene Drucker Edition: Hardcover Format: Bargain Price Published: 2007-07-17 ISBN: N/A Number of pages: 224 Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Book Reviews of The Savior: A NovelBook Review: Two worlds that don't mix Summary: 3 Stars
In this first literary offering from professional violinist Eugene Drucker, he melds two worlds that don't mix: the world of concert performance, and the world of Nazi death camps. Is this melding successful? In my mind, not really -- the central premise is contrived, improbable, and in my opinion poorly set up. Other readers, however, may disagree, and may suspend disbelief about the main plot contrivance and find the book worthwhile.
Beyond the story's premise, the novel as a whole is uneven. Some of the writing is lyrical and beautiful; some of it is clumsy and stilted. Some of the book is richly imagined; some of it is contrived, dry, or incongruous. That said, the book does contain worthwhile passages, images, and bits of historical and musical information.
I was personally left with the feeling that this book would have been more successful had it gone in a different direction, or had it had a relentlessly forceful and diligent editing.
I think this book might possibly appeal to string instrument players, professional concert musicians, or people interested in reading about the Holocaust and grisly Nazi death camps. Beyond those, it's unclear to me what kind of reader this book might appeal to.
Summary of The Savior: A NovelA magnetic debut novel from world-renowned violinist Eugene DruckerSet during the final weeks of World War II, The Savior is the story of Gottfried Keller, a young German violinist. Exempted from military service, Keller is burdened with the demoralizing task of playing for wounded soldiers in hospitals and makeshift infirmaries. As he leaves his apartment one morning to pick up a new assignment at headquarters, Keller finds an SS driver waiting for him and is escorted without explanation to a labor camp outside his town. There he is introduced to the camp's Kommandant, who tells Keller that he will spend the next four days performing for the inmates as part of an experiment in reviving hope in those who have lost it completely. Overwhelmed by fear and compelled by the temptation of using his talent to affect others so powerfully, Keller finds himself playing a series of concerts for the prisoners -- and seeing with his own eyes the horrifying truths within the barbed-wire fence. As he plays the music of Ysaÿe, Hindemith and Bach, most notably the searing Chaconne, Keller's own questionable past unfolds, revealing the loss of his closest friend and the Jewish fiancée from whom he fled in fear of being caught as a Jew-lover. As he bears witness to the camp's atrocities, Keller's horror toward the perpetrators and their crime begins to fade, revealing his own culpability. Beautifully conceived and gracefully written, The Savior is a complex and illuminating character study of a man severed from his past expectations and an artist struggling with his identity in the face of human catastrophe.
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