Extremely and appropriately disturbing book about Max Aue, an fictional recreation of author Littell running through the German ranks during WWII. Even though he studied constitutional law, he ends up tangled up in dealing with "The Jewish Problem" which sends him to Ukraine, then the Russian front and finally Auschwitz. Along the way, the book is written as a memoir as Aue is safely a lace factory manager after the war, he obfuscates, justifies and lectures about his and Germany's behavior. He also happens to have committed incest and eventually, possibly, matricide. He is an extraordinarily unreliable narrator but he is also engaging, smart and intelligent, if more than a bit fussy.

Little uses him to shows the steps a government or group of people take to slowly dehumanize another group of people. At first, in Ukraine, where is witness to the massacre of thousands of Jews, he has nightmares and constantly vomits up his food. He does not have the self-awareness to connect the two events. Littel also lays out how Germany's attempt to exterminate the Jewish population moved from very sloppy to very efficient and Aue even tries to explain how even THAT is humane.

The Kindly Ones is also a very detailed look at what it was like to be a German officer and solder. He is incredibly knowledgeable and specific. He puts you right on the ground and completely immerses you in this world. It is a world of characters both heinous and charming. Littel manages to humanize them without losing sight of the atrocities they committed. Which is Littell's point, though he really didn't have to slog us through 1,000 pages to get us to it. Now matter how self-deluded Aue is and how much he shunts off responsibility for what he does, a truth does emerge. That average people, under certain circumstances, will do terrible things to other human beings.

Occasionally, Aue disassociates and starts hallucinating and sometimes it takes us a while to figure out he is doing it. It is a deliberate break in what is usually a very detailed realistic novel. This habit takes over the last twenty pages of the book, making it feel like the last bit of Terry Gilliam's Brazil, i.e., it goes a bit off the rails.

Look, this is a hard, hard book to read. The narrator is an utterly horrible person. With a couple of rare exceptions, the Jewish characters in the book are shunted to the background and are barely considered by any of the main characters. Little is foregrounding the German experience. But that is his point. There is a thin veil between ourselves and these people, and Littell wants to make sure that we never let that veil slip and allow us as a society to step over into such inhumanity again.

Well that was as weird as batshit. At least it's comforting to know that somewhere out there, there's someone who thinks that Freud is still relevant.

De Velvillige af Jonathan Littell er ikke en letlæst bog. Jeg læser som oftest 3-5 bøger om måneden, det tog mig ca. et halvt år at komme igennem de knap 900 sider.
Det er en tung bog, længdemæssigt, skrivestilen og temaerne.
Forfatteren benytter sig meget af "stream-of-consciousness", hvilket resulterer i sætninger der fylder en side og passager som er adskillige sider lange uden afsnit. Dette er tilsammen med sprogbruget med til at gøre romanen tung at læse, man skal virkelig koncentrere sig om den.
Temaerne i bogen er utrolig grove, ikke nok med at bogen omhandler de ufattelige grusomheder begået under anden verdenskrig imod jøderne/polakkerne/russerne/de psykisk syge etc. etc., så omhandler den også hovedpersonens egen psykose (som vi især ser udfoldet til sidst i bogen), hans incestuøse forhold til hans tvillingesøster og hvordan det i det hele taget har påvirket hans seksuelle tankegang og tilbøjeligheder.
Især i starten af bogen følte jeg en stor forståelse for hovedpersonen, en kulturel og dannet mand, men tilsidst følte jeg kun afsky.
De sidste 100 sider læste jeg mest af alt fordi jeg havde læst de første 800, jeg følte at forfatteren gik over stregen og at det blev for meget.
De Velvillige er en provokerende bog, en tankevækkende bog, men jeg vil bestemt ikke anbefale den til alle. Det er ikke en bog som vil efterlade dig med en god fornemmelse, snarere en opgivenhed overfor så megen ondskab i verdenen.

En vigtig bog. Lidt vel lang til tider, men med en rigtig interessant fortællerstemme.

A story of déja-vu, written thousands and thousands of time, but this time with one of the best hands of this century. A masterpiece of literature skills, a little too gore for me at some point, though.

It has taken me just over a month to read this but it has been completely worth it. My thoughts on it here: http://theselittlewords.com/2016/03/21/in-which-i-am-so-so-glad-i-finally-read-the-kindly-ones/

Fantástico pero agotador.

Un libro muy dificil de leer, tanto por la terrible historia como por la tremenda exigencia de conocimientos previos para paladearlo. Historia europea antigua y reciente, literatura, música, filosofía, terminología militar (especialidad 2a Guerra Mundial europea) estan entre lo mínimo que necesitas para no perderte en la narración. Aguante para tolerar la profunda maldad que describe sabiendo que es una novela pero que lo que cuenta y cosas peores ocurrieron en nuestra triste Europa y van camino de volver a ocurrir. Es fascinante, como un enorme grano de pus. Sabes que vas a sufrir pero también te ves impelido a reventarlo.
Un narrador despreciable, poco fiable, descarnado, monótono y locuaz en su monstruosidad pero que aterra más por lo semejante que por los rasgos de psicópata. Una historia en primera persona que te sumerge y solo te expulsa en ciertos momentos forzados como las secuencias oníricas y los delirios que salpican la historia.
Estructurada en partes cuyo tono refleja el crecimiento personal del personaje una triste invasión de Ucrania llena de brutalidad y exterminio amateur que va minando al protagonista.
Stalingrado donde la adversidad y derrota destruyen los últimos restos de humanidad de Aue.
Berlín: donde un Aue se acercamiento a la Solución Final como proceso industrial y despersonalizado.
El frenesí de la Solución final y el comienzo de la derrota en el frente del Este y por fin la caída del Reich y la huída tienen su contrapartida en la vida personal del protagonista que justifica los crímenes del nazismo mientras es incapaz de ver los suyos personales.
Solo las Furias, las Benévolas, podrán hacer pagar sus crímenes a quien consiguió (como Speer) escapar de la justicia de los aliados.
No se si podría volver a leerlo pero desde luego es un gran libro.

Gave up on reading it.