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A review by pawact
The Kindly Ones by Jonathan Littell
4.0
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.
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.