Customer Reviews:
Great - but could have been even better.......2007-09-27
As good as this book is, it could have been much better. Kovaly has a fascinating story to tell but too much of her story tells how this happened and then that happened without enough analysis or explanation. Kovaly lived through Hitler and Stalin and she has an amazing story to tell.
The book starts with the deportation of the Jews from Prague, where Kovaly lived, to the ghetto of Lodz in Poland. She describes the horrors and the death she encountered there. She then skips ahead to the last concentration/slave labor camp she was in before the war ended. She describes how she tells the German man who runs the factory about the extermination camps, a topic with which he seems to be utterly unfamiliar. And although the part she tells us is fascinating, she leaves out much of the story that she tells him. Finally she tells us of her escape as she is being marched away from the advancing Russian armies, her return to Prague, and her rejection by all the friends she had left behind. By far this is the best part of the book.
But this part ends sixty pages into the book and she has much more to tell us. After the war, Kovaly marries the man she always loved and he becomes a member of the Czech communist party and eventually a minister in the government. With the failures of communism, a scapegoat is needed by the government and her husband is arrested and executed as a traitor as part of the Slansky trials. As the widow of a traitor, her life in Prague is hell but she spends her every effort to care for her child and to rehabilitate her husband. Finally, in the early 1960's, reforms in Czechoslovakia led to her husband and all the others having their convictions overturned. The reforms continue until the Prague Spring of 1968 leading to the Russian invasion and the crushing of the new freedoms. At this point Kovaly flees for the West to join her son who is living in London.
The book is short at less than 200 pages and many things happen so the story moves quickly. But too much of the story tells us what happened as a way for Kovaly to avoid talking about herself. For example, by starting with the deportations, we learn nothing about Kovaly's life before the Nazis. Kovaly doesn't even tell us how old she was or what she was doing when she was rounded up. With all Kovaly has been through she has had to have built a wall to protect herself and she only shows us glimpses through that wall. But the book still remains an amazing story of the holocaust and the early communist years in Czechoslovakia. Her glimpses into how communism must always fail by its very nature from someone who was on the inside are worth reading to help us understand the 20th century. Kovaly leaves out the happy ending she finally achieved. It is a happy ending she deserves.
Under A Cruel Star & Reflections of Prague.......2006-08-07
My mother's book, in print since 1973 under various titles, the last being 'Under A Cruel Star', inspired me to write my own side of the story about my lost father, JUDr Rudolf Margolius. Now published and called 'Reflections of Prague: Journeys through the 20th century' it fills gaps in my mother's book provided by further research and historical information, some of which was not available to her and which many readers of her book had asked us for over the years. Hopefully this companion volume provides answers to these questions. I hope you find this book interesting and would welcome your feedback.
A mother's undying love for her son; a son's undying love for his mother..........2006-07-14
When I finished reading Heda Margolius Kovaly's stunning chronicle of continuous struggle, concentration camp survival, and eventual triumph, I had to stare out my window onto the street below for a long while, watching the people.
There I was, working and residing in modern-day Prague, mingling amongst the tourists and locals, with my feet touching those very same cobblestones of a city which Ms. Margolius Kovaly horrifically describes in her heart-rending tale of human resilience, UNDER A CRUEL STAR.
The realization blew my mind. I had to catch my breath.
Not too long ago -- a mere drip in the historical bucket -- very bad people once populated this ancient city and land. They were entirely free to express their poisonous views, shouting vile epithets about so-called "pure race," the so-called "scourge" of Jews, and about the so-called "evils" its then-society faced from saboteurs, fifth-columnists unaligned with Czechoslovakia's Communist Party.
As I walk these streets, I interact and share the same space with these people, the descendants, heirs, and inheritors of a very rotten recent legacy. It's this legacy that Ms. Margolus Kovaly chillingly describes and in vivid, sordid detail in her poignant memoir, UNDER A CRUEL STAR.
Commend, I say, this mighty woman of valour for sharing with you how much pain she once had to endure. Applaud her for how much strife she had to overcome when she returned from the unspeakable indescribable conditions of the Nazi's killing factory at Auschwitz, of which much has been written in the canon. I needn't repeat it here.
Be shocked at the clarity and the precision of Heda's language, and -- trust me -- reel and wonder why it is that she even chose to return to this infernal place, this city of Prague, municipal architect of her early life's damnation. For that, Heda deserves the equivalent of a "purple heart" for her resilience and fortitude. But this is not nearly enough...
As I read Heda's story, those small insignificant stresses which descend on a given day PALE by comparison. No longer will I feel needless stress. No longer will I be affected by it.
I am describing to you the impact of this memoir. Heda's strength will permeate you.
I love this book because it pries open a vista on a period these present Czech authorities are anxious to enshroud in mystery. I hear very little discussion today of what is known as Czechoslovakia's "collaborationist past" in the modern-day "Czech Republic."
Not a single leader in this fledgling country is willing to boldly take responsibility for the actions of this successor nation's preceding governments, whose reins -- the ones they now grip tightly -- are the offshoot of very rotten roots. Today's government must own up to its legacy, one which is responsible -- among countless other atrocities and crimes -- for murdering eleven perfectly innocent men, like Rudolf Margolius, Heda's late husband and father to her author son, Ivan, in 1953's Slansky (show) Trial. I was angered when I'd read how the doctor's in Stalin's infamous "Doctor's Plot" were not hanged, while Mr. Margolius and his ten other co-accused were. It made me *very* angry, and anger I wish not to think too much about for fear of what it might result in.
Evaluating this all, you scratch your head wondering where Heda derives all her strength? From where comes her unassailable moral fortitude and her staunchness without fail?
Look, don't read this book because *I'm* telling you to. I know I review a lot of titles, and you'd normally trust me judgement because you trust me, but don't, okay?
Also don't read this book because it's stylistically-impeccable and superbly written. I'll have you know there isn't a shred of literary critique I've got for the brilliant lines filling Heda's pages.
Read this book to place your life into perspective, if it's a comfortable and cushy one. Read this book to either compare or contrast Heda's past with what you call *your* past, and finally understand how the might of the human spirit is unbreakable. Heda Margolius Kovaly is the living proof. She is the embodiment of intrepid courage. And it's high time you get to know what that is.
I wish there were more than five stars I could give.
-- ADM in Prague
(for the writings of Ivan Margolius, please see "REFLECTIONS OF PRAGUE," for more information)
extraordinary memoir in several languages.......2006-05-26
I am the English-language publisher of Ms. Kovaly's extraordinary memoir, that is now being read in major universities around the world for an eyewitness view of twentieth century totalitarianism --in this case Nazism and Stalinism -- in Central Europe. This translation has been the basis for the UK, French, German, Dutch and Japanese editions of this book. There are very few books in any language by or about Czech Jewish women. Another excellent one is my wife Helen Epstein's journalistic memoir of her maternal line of Bohemian Jews titled Where She Came From: A Daughter's Search for her Mother's History, which covers the years 1800-1948 in the Czech lands.
a note from the translator of this book.......2005-05-14
As the translator from the Czech and the editor of the Plunkett Lake Press version of this book, I'd like to address the confusion about editions. Heda Kovaly first wrote this book in Czech. It was translated first by Czech philosopher Erazim Kohak who published it together with his own writing in one volume. In 1985, Heda Kovaly and I together translated and produced a new edition of her memoir. We called it Under A Cruel Star. That version was subsequently published by Penguin and then Holmes & Meier. There are also British, French, German, Dutch and Japanese translations that have been published under different titles. All have used the Plunkett Lake text.
Book Description
Filip Muller's firsthand account of three years in the gas chambers. One of the few prisoners who saw the Jewish people die and lived to tell about it, Muller has written one of the key documents of the Holocaust. A very detailed description of day-to-day life, if we can call it that, in Hell's inmost circle...jammed with infernal information too terrible to be taken all at once. --Terrence Des Pres, New Republic
Customer Reviews:
Tough but necessary read.........2007-09-21
It is hard to read this book because the subject matter is so grim. It is not written especially well but the unique view of the author makes this an important document. It is clear that the Nazi plan developed over time and it was truly a murder machine. This story from inside the machine is sad and ultimately worth reading and remembering.
Most graphic and gripping.......2007-09-02
Since my tour of duty in Augsburg and Schwaebish Hall W. Germany (mid-60's) I have read fifty books trying to undersand the holocaust. I found the German people warm and generous, thus was unable to put the two continums in the same world.
This book does not help you understand the reasoning behind that most powerful historical event, but it does give you an extremely graphic picture of HOW it was done on a day to day basis.
Filip Mueller, saw things that Hoess (Commandant of Auschwitz) did not see first hand and he tells it all.
Great read.
should be read by everyone.......2007-06-12
Highly recommended. Gripping, suspenceful. Manages to unnerve, shock, without hysterics--and this is the best type of approach for something this gruesome.
How did the author live through it? How would you have dealt with it? How would I?
Get it. Read it.
And for those who think by simply saying NEVER AGAIN that it won't, couldn't happen again, are only fooling themselves. Humans never learn a damn thing from history. Why? Because we're basically retarded.
It could happen again, and in fact, it has happened--to a lesser degree. I say any time a Hitler or Saddam wannabe rears his ugly head--you better believe there are a few of them out there even right now--confront
the control-hungry pissant to keep him from attaining enough power to reach his objective.
Sad but True .......2007-02-18
As I am an avid reader, and am highly intrested in WW2, I bought this book, not to be disapointed. It literally took me only two days to finish because of my intregment. It is a very good read, giving you the true story of what innocent people went through as a result of racism. The book is very graphic, interesting, but terribly sad at the same time. Overall, is a must-read. I highly recomend this book.
Bone Chilling.......2007-01-29
Read this and live the horror of the Holocaust. You will cry but come away the wiser.
Book Description
The unnamed narrator of The Visible World, the American-born son of Czech immigrants living in New York, grows up in an atmosphere haunted by fragments of a past he cannot understand. Nowhere is this more true than in regard to his mother, Ivana, a spontaneous, passionate woman moving ever closer to genuine despair. As an adult, the narrator travels to Prague, hoping to learn about a love affair between his then young mother and a member of the Czech Resistance named Tomas, an affair whose untimely end, he senses, lays behind Ivana’s unhappiness. Ultimately unable to complete his knowledge of the past, he imagines the two lovers as participants in one of the more dramatic moments of the war: the actual assassination of a high-ranking Nazi official. And, in the almost unimaginably romantic story he tells, he creates the ending of their story and the beginning of his own.
Customer Reviews:
possessed by memoir, fiction and the legacy of central europe.......2007-07-24
For those of you who, like me, are interested both in memoir and the history of Central Europe, Mark Slouka's The Visible World is provocative reading. The son of Czechs who settled in New York City after the Communist putsch of 1948, Slouka is a writer who is as possessed by his parents' past as some of the most history-obssessed offspring of Holocaust survivors like myself. His book is poised somewhere between memoir and autobiographical fiction. Apart from his parents, Slouka is fascinated by the heroes of the Czech resistance during world war. Although the movie Casablanca has Humphrey Bogart sending Ingrid Bergman off on a plane with a leader of the Czech resistance, many people have forgotten that Czechs were once regarded as a symbol of resistance against the Nazis. Slouka takes us on his personal quest into that territory.
exquisite .......2007-07-19
I thought this book might give me some interesting background on Prague, but it far surpassed my expectations. It is a beautifully constructed triptych that interweaves fiction, memoir, and historical fact. The writing is beautiful, the characters memorable, the descriptions evocative.
A fine novel from one of America's great contemporary writers.......2007-05-30
I was totally intrigued by Slouka's previous novel, "God's Fool," and awaited with great anticipation the advent of this his latest novel. I was not disappointed. The work centers around the musing of a maturing American male who seeks to reconcile his parents' mysterious past during the brutal Nazis occupation of Czechoslovokia. The answers he finds are far less evident than the book's title would suggest.
This is one of the few books I could truly enjoy reading twice!
A fascinating story, beautifully written.......2007-05-24
This is a captivating tale of desperation built upon carefully constructed, mesmerizing prose. The Heydrich assassination in 1942 Prague provides the background for the story of a son's investigation of his mother's lost happiness. There is a Strindberg-like deterministic quality to all of the characters as they play out their roles, yet the author still manages to surprise. The writing is extremely evocative yet not so dense as to impede the action. This is a really fine piece of work.
Fabulous read!.......2007-05-18
Wow. I heard this book discussed on NPR's Weekend All Things Considered, and decided it sounded worth the price.
I was not disappointed. As a fan of Milan Kundera, I resist reading books compared to his, but this time it is spot-on. Slouka's protagonist weaves an imagined love story between his mother and a WWII resistance fighter in with the story of his own youth spent with Czech expatriates and his trips to Prague searching for answers to the mystery of his mother's life. The result is a wonderful combination of magical realism and stunning, clear prose that had me hanging on every word. I think Mark Slouka is a marvelous writer, and I hope many more find this lovely novel. Here's the NPR link-
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=10161668
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Czechoslovakia's Lost Fight for Freedom, 1967-1969: An American Embassy Perspective
Kenneth N. Skoug
Manufacturer: Praeger Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
 Czech Republic
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ASIN: 0275966224 |
Book Description
This fascinating account, by a Czech-speaking American diplomat who lived in Czechoslovakia from 1967-1969, describes the collapse of a repressive Communist regime, the subsequent unprecedented explosion of popular freedom, the surprise Soviet occupation, and the spirited passive resistance of the population until the gradual strangulation of the "Prague Spring." Drawing on his own journal, recent memoirs, and documentary materials in the National Archives, the author shows how American diplomats and senior U.S. officials analyzed and reacted to ongoing events. He explains how reform leader Alexander Dubcek became wedged between enthusiastic popular support and the objections of ultra-orthodox Soviet leaders. Skoug's economic and commercial responsibilities gave him considerable access to Czechoslovak officials even in the Novotny period, and he was an eyewitness to the invasion and many other crucial events of the period, including the great patriotic demonstration of March 1969 which the Soviet Union exploited to force Dubcek's resignation. Despite overt Soviet pressure, neither Prague nor Washington anticipated intervention. The Johnson Administration, courting Moscow for help on Vietnam, displayed calculated indifference to the dispute and reacted tepidly to developments. Left alone, the Czechoslovak population met the invader with militant, if passive, resistance, but the Dubcek leadership capitulated to Soviet demands and acquiesced in an occupation that gradually betrayed all of the gains achieved. Subsequent reluctance by Washington to criticize Moscow helped the Soviet Union cut its diplomatic losses. On the other hand, the Czechoslavak crisis may have helped to persuade Gorbachev to allow Eastern Europe to resolve its own affairs in 1989.
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Secret Of Theatrical Space Cloth
Josef Svoboda
Manufacturer: Applause Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
General
| Theater
| Performing Arts
| Arts & Photography
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Stagecraft
| Theater
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ASIN: 1557831378 |
Book Description
In The Good Soldier Svejk, celebrated Czech writer and anarchist Jaroslav Hasek combined dazzling wordplay and piercing satire in a hilariously subversive depiction of the futility of war.
Good-natured and garrulous, Svejk becomes the Austrian armyÂ's most loyal Czech soldier when he is called up on the outbreak of World War I—although his bumbling attempts to get to the front serve only to prevent him from reaching it. Playing cards and getting drunk, he uses all his cunning and genial subterfuge to deal with the police, clergy, and officers who chivy him toward battle. Cecil ParrottÂ's vibrant translation conveys the brilliant irreverence of this classic about a hapless Everyman caught in a vast bureaucratic machine.
“Brilliant . . . Perhaps the funniest novel ever written.”
—George Monbiot
Customer Reviews:
the good soldier svejk.......2007-05-23
This is an hilarious novel that was a forerunner to catch 22. We have the Good Soldier Svejk for WWI, Catch 22 for WWII, and to a lesser extent Forrest Gump for Viatnam.
Recommend to those wanting a good chuckle
Picaresque antiwar classic .......2006-11-04
This is a beautiful and inexpensive edition, with the original cartoonish illustrations. The translation is lively and the book can be hilarious, but I bogged down about halfway through--it seems to go on and on, as picaresque novels do, but a bit too much in the same vein for my taste. It was written for serialization, so it's probably not meant to be read at one gulp, and likely I'll pick it up at some point later.
Probably My Favorite Book.......2001-01-12
I first read Hasek's masterpiece almost 30 years ago in a shorter and more Bowdlerized translation. The Cecil Parrot edition is, needless to say, far preferable (it even contains a wonderful introduction including a discussion of Czech profanity as compared to that in English) and I've read it again and again since it came out in 1974. Shelby Foote said somewhere that every year he reads Proust as a sort of literary vacation. About ever 2 or 3 years I reread Svejk to cleanse my literary palate and it's always as fresh and as enjoyable as it was the first time. The dialogue, the characters and the situations in Svejk are, stated simply, the funniest I've ever read. Many other books have many merits in this regard, but none has approached Hasek in the sustained hilarity over 500 pages or more. The secret policeman, Bretschneider, Chaplain Katz, Sergeant Major Vanek, Cadet Biegler, Balloun and Lt. Dub are all memorable characters in their own right, but when they interact the result surpasses anything I have ever read for comedy. The episode involving a character with writer's block during his drafting of a prayer to be recited while administering Mr. Kokoska's pharmaceutical powders for cow flatulence is a classic rivalling Aristophanes or Rabelais. [I realize that sentence is confusingly prolix, so please read the book; it will be worth your while.] The term "laugh out loud" is overused and abused these days, but The Good Soldier Svejk will have you disturbing family and friends with repeated guffawing any time you are reading it nearby. I can't give a text any higher recommendation.
One of the Two Best Novels of World War I.......1999-11-28
Both of the best books on the First World War were written by the losing side...ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT and THE GOOD SOLDIER SCHWEIK tell the same story, but from different viewpoints. Schweik is a wise fool whose main goal is to avoid the greater foolishness around him. Hasek was a modern day Cervantes and this modern day Don Quixote interacts with a gallery of hilarious characters and their stories. I only regret that Hasek died before the book could be finished. Josef Lada's illustrations are a wonderful addition to the book, and it's a pleasure getting Cecil Parrott's translation in hardcover. Note: The earlier translations are not the complete book.
Spun Our Serial Runs On and On.......1999-08-31
OK, I'll admit up front that I only made it through 450 of this 800 page monster. As I was reading this, I saw the pile of unread books mounting alarmingly, and as I had more or less gotten the gist of it, I tucked the ribbon twixt the pages and set it aside. These (never-ending) stories of the Czech WW I soldier Svejk are considered a modern "must read." as they depict the trials and travails of a well-intentioned soldier muddling through the army beauracacy. The book functions as a satire of the war, the leaders, and the army. The problem is, these stories were written as serials, and as such, tend to go on and on and on.... so that Hasek could milk more money from them. In fact, they are unfinished, as the author died before he could dictate the end! So, I suggest dipping in to it, but not soaking too long as the antics don't vary much as the book moves along. Those with an particular interest in Czech culture or World War I might have greater reason to finish it than the general reader.
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- Many good, traditional recipes
- Czech Cooking
- Authentic Indeed
- Good, with qualifications
- Pretty good Czech cookbook
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The Czechoslovak Cookbook: Czechoslovakia's best-selling cookbook adapted for American kitchens. Includes recipes for authentic dishes like Goulash, Apple ... Torte. (Crown Classic Cookbook Series)
Joza Brizova
Manufacturer: Crown
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
General
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All Along the Danube: Recipes from Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria (Hippocrene International Cookbooks)
ASIN: 0517505479
Release Date: 1965-04-13 |
Book Description
Joza Brizova
In Czechoslovakia, a country known for fine cooks, a copy of Varime Zdrave Chutne a Hospodarne graces nearly every kitchen. Now this best-selling Czechoslovak cookbook has been adapted for American use. The Czechoslovak Cookbook contains over 500 authentic recipes that convey the essence of Czechoslovak cuisine.
Hearty soups made from modest ingredients are one of the hallmarks of Czechoslovak cuisine. Contained in this volume are recipes for such favorites as Garlic Soup, Creamed Fish Soup, and Rye Bread Soup. Robust meat dishes include Ginger Roast Beef, Braised Beef with Vegetables and Sour Cream, Beef Goulash, Tartar Beefsteak, Mutton with Marjoram, Veal Cutlets with Mushrooms, Stuffed Breast of Veal, Veal Paprika, Roast Pork with Capers, Braised Sweetbreads, and a variety of pates.
The poultry and game chapter contains recipes for Chicken Paprika, Roast Capon, Roast Goose. Stuffed Roast Squab, Roast Hare with Sour Cream, and Leg of Venison with Red Wine.
The Czechs are particularly fond of meals centered around egg dishes and dumplings, for instance Baked Eggs with Chicken Livers, Farina Omelet, Noodle Souffle with Cherries and Nuts, Noodles with Farmer Cheese, Napkin Dumplings, Dumplings with Smoked Meat, and Sour Cream Pancakes. Rounded out with a vegetable dish like Sauteed Cabbage, Green Beans Paprika, or Stuffed Kale Rolls, these entrees make a tasty and inexpensive dinner.
The Czechs are justifiably famous for their baking, and The Czechoslovak Cookbook is full of delectable baked goods: Bohemian Biscuits. Crisp Potato Sticks, Salt Rolls, Pretzels, Christmas Twist, Checkerboard Cookies, Bishop's Bread, and Honey Cake.
Suitable for both the experienced cook and the novice who hasn't ventured beyond broiling a steak, The Czechoslovak Cookbook is a valuable asset to any kitchen.
Customer Reviews:
Many good, traditional recipes.......2007-08-08
I've owned this book for years and use it frequently. As a Czech, I find it quite authentic. Many of the recipes come out just as I remember them from my childhood. The BUCHTY recipe is excellent, for example, as are many or the CUKROVI ones. I am surprised by the reviewer who says some of the dishes aren't authentic, because I've always had the impression that this book was a translation of a Czech cookbook. I agree with those reviewers who say that some of the dishes are unpractical or unpalatable in the American context. But such is the nature of Czech food! I like the fact that the names of the dishes are given in Czech and in English. My one problem with the book is the poorly organized index. Otherwise, DOBROU CHUT!
Czech Cooking.......2005-10-22
I have several local Czech cookbooks, but this one is much better. The recipes are true Czech and not American-Czech which are some of the area cookbooks. I like the American recipe name with the Czech name under it. I am married to a Czech and he has enjoyed the pasteries I have made.
Authentic Indeed.......2004-12-26
The original Brizova publication features simple, solid cooking and uses ingredients most kitchens readily have on hand. I haven't seen anything out of the ordinary in the cookbook, save to say if you don't like tongue and tripe and liver and heart, then simply take a pass at the recipes that use it.
The real trick to honest Czech cooking is to make a tasty dish out of a few simple ingredients and to prepare it well. As in America, Czechs cook to their own taste (thus the arguments regarding spices) creating personalized specialties from standbys such as dumplings, strudel, kolache and breads, fixing it to suit the tastes of those they cook for.
Certain foods are a staple ~ dumplings, potatoes, rye bread; root vegetables such rutabaga, parsnips, celery root, turnips. Kale, cabbage, cauliflower, and celery are also frequently used. Horseradish and vinegar are common condiments, often sweetened to taste with a little sugar. Czechs aren't afraid of butter, lard, chicken fat, goose greese, sausage, cured meats, cheese (farmer's cheese, cottage cheese .. not the hard cheese) and sour cream. Perhaps not food to eat while on a diet because it will stick to your ribs and fill you up and keep you going and going.
All in all, I treasure my taped up, spotted, tattered copy of Ms Brizova's original book and browse it frequently, each time revisiting my childhood. Here's timeless old-country cooking that will never go out of style.
Good, with qualifications.......2004-09-19
As a Czech I can say that this book is good, if somewhat misleading. There are a great many recipes in the book that most Czechs have probably never heard of, and if they have, have never themselves had. As with people in most of the countries in Europe, Czechs have their tried and true favorites which they cook, by American standards, very frequently. If one only knew as a non-Czech what these best hits were they would not be dissatisfied with this book. However there is much room to go astray. Nevertheless I find some of the recipes in this book to be very good and have had the occasion to cook them for other czechs who enthusiastically agreed with me. The Time-Life book that covers the cooking of Austria, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia is an excellent book with fewer disappointments for the non-native person. But, if you like to experiment, you will eventually stumble upon some very good recipes with this book as well.
Pretty good Czech cookbook.......2003-09-09
I have to disagree with Rita's review - I am Czech (I came here from Prague with my parents when I was very young), and grew up with Czech cooking. I don't remember my family ever using mace & nutmeg in recipes (although we did use a little bit of allspice in our goulash)... Also, as for the flours used in the desserts, I don't find them hard to find. The local grocery store carries the grainier-type flour, Wondra, which works perfectly well in the recipes. I do admit, though, that there are a few recipes in this book that I find strange & wouldn't try them... But overall, the book has some good recipes.
As for adapting these for 'today's cook' - I think the recipes lose a LOT if you "Americanize" them. The reason it is Czech food is just that - it's Czech, not American. It may use some different ingredients, but that is what makes it inherently Czech. Otherwise, you'll just get American. And why buy the book? Some things you just can't substitute.
Book Description
It is likely that these journals will be regarded as one of [Kafka's] major literary works; his life and personality were perfectly suited to the diary form, and in these pages he reveals what he customarily hid from the world." -- New Yorker
"What seems to hold [the diaries] together is a kind of ruthless honesty and self-awareness." -- New York Times
Though Franz Kafka is one of the greatest and most widely read and discussed authors of the twentieth century, and continues to be a tremendous influence on artists of our time, he remains an elusive figure, his life and work open to endless interpretation.
These diaries reveal the essential Kafka behind the enigmatic artist. Covering the period from 1910 to 1923, the year before Kafka's death at the age of forty, they provide a penetrating look into Kafka's world -- notes on life in Prague, accounts of his dreams, his feelings for the father he worshipped and for the woman he could not bring himself to marry, his sense of guilt and of being an outcast, and his struggles and triumphs in expressing himself as a writer.
Now, for the first time in this country, the complete diaries of Franz Kafka are available in one volume. They are not only indispensable to an understanding of Kafka the man and the artist, but are a compulsively readable, haunting account of a life of almost unbearable intensity.
Customer Reviews:
Comic masterpiece.......2007-10-07
Yes, yes, I know it's odd to describe Kafka's writing as comic, but he really was one of the funniest writers of the Twentieth Century. His outlook on life reminds me so much of Charlie Chaplin's famous mantra that life is a tragedy in close up, in long shot it's a comedy. Kafka is loved by millions because he is the most universal writer of them all. High on the peaks of Twentieth Century literature features the brilliant stylistic prose of Nabokov, the pyrotechnics of Joyce, the pitch black comedy of Beckett, the sublime little observations of Proust. But right at the summit sits the unlikely figure of the wretched, kvetching tortured sick soul and body of Kafka, the world's greatest underdog. With these diaries chronicling his dreams, his awareness of the fragility of his physical body, his anguished relations with his family and friends, the daily nightmare of his office job and the time it stole from his creative pursuits, Kafka speaks for us all. For instance, a single paragraph sentence from 1913 reads:
I'll shut myself off from everyone to the point of insensibility. Make an enemy of everyone, speak to no one.
Now anyone who has ever been a teenager will feel a burning empathy with that sentiment!
Then some bits are brilliantly, nightmarishly extraordinary, like this musing, also from 1913:
To be pulled in through the ground-floor window of a house by a rope tied around one's neck and to be yanked up, bloody and ragged, through all the ceilings, furniture, walls, and attics, without consideration, as if by a person who is paying no attention, until the empty noose, dropping the last fragments of me when it breaks through the roof tiles, is seen on the roof
I read this part on a train, and snorted with laughter. Kafka is such a lovable tortured genius, carrying the weight of his misery around like an anvil on his back. Such a warped brilliant imagination.
Keep a copy of these diaries on your bedside table for those moments when you are fed up with the wretched pressures of the world, can't stand other people, and want to selfishly wallow like a pig in the mud of your own self pity. Priceless.
A Writer's Writer.......2006-10-15
Franz Kafka's diaries were never meant to be published. Yet his diaries are spread across the internet, the actual published diaries translated into many languages and countless printings. These dairies are very personal, and the gentle Prague Jew would certainly be appalled.
Why do we continue to find these writings so fascinating?
Well, simply, they're terribly honest. Kafka never meant for these diary entries to be published, let alone read by another person. For those interested in the mechanics and soul of writing, Kafka's diaries are a source of true wonder. A confessional of a gentle soul, a man trapped in an insurance job, staying up through the night writing his heart-out, his thoughts, pains and acute observations of a time on the brink of great and terrible change, the death and cruelty of two world wars.
When reading Kafka, there is an overwhelming darkness, loneliness, a strong shadow that continually hovered around him, a "something" he tried to rid himself of through intense self reflection, which the reader of these diaries will discover.
Kafka's life story is, for the most part, a tragedy. A painful experience as one, sometimes, can feel his self consciousness, that subtle pain at the back of the neck, when, you know, you're being stared at...and his continued bad health.
I've attempted to read Kafka's diaries many times, and only now, for some reason, can withstand the pain of his perceptions, his precarious relationship with his father, and the few women he loved and the true love he never married.
Kafka is a man that loved writing for writing's sake, an artist who experimented daily, till dawn most nights, to pick up his little brief case and begin his work as an insurance lawyer in a semi-official insurance institute.
A strange yet moving entry:
21 February 1911
I live my life here as if I were entirely certain of a second life, as if for example I had entirely gotten over the failed time spent in Paris, since I will strive to return soon. Connected to this, the sight of the sharply divided light and shadow on the street paving.
For a moment I felt myself covered in armour.
How distant, for example, are the muscles of my arms
Kafka's writing was for the act itself without pretension or grandious dreams, (though his success during his 40 year lifetime was no disappointment) an act of instinct, pure and natural. Kafka is the true writer's writer.
The Indispensable Kafka.......2006-09-23
Franz Kafka's 1910-23 diary entries are essential reading for anyone who seeks a better understanding of the author's literary world. This 1988 printing contains all the surviving Kafka diaries in one comprehensive volume. More revelatory than any biography, the diaries remain as compelling as his fictional work.
I am now in love with Franz Kafka.......2005-07-27
The diaries reveal that Kafka was not only the one-dimensional character of the disturbed, alienated, and melancholic man that contemporary literary analysis presents him as, but a person with a complexity of feeling, humor, and distinct moments of happiness and joy.
The segment where he vacillates, through an organized list, as to whether he should marry his fiancé or not I found most enjoyable, and it is also fascinating to watch the diaries darken as Kafka ages, and to long for the unfinished fragments of stories and the gaps in narrative as he struggles against tuberculosis.
History claims that he was the prophetic bearer of images of totalitarianism and social suppression, but it is often forgotten that Kafka was also an ordinary man leading a rather ordinary, if not emotionally tempestuous, life.
These diaries are indispensable in understanding the underlying philosophy and thought behind his literary works, and in coming to know more intimately the author who created them, rather than relying upon a preconceived notion of Kafka as an isolated, miserable apparition.
Incredible, Underrated........2005-07-23
The Diares of Franz Kafka reveal him to not just be the disturbing and clever author, but a genuine philosopher in his own right. Because he never published huge tomes of philosophy, he is completely overlooked. Kafka tends to address only himself in his diary, but he grapples with universal problems of the human condition. My copy of the Diaries is underlined, highlighted, and circled on almost every page. He puts into words, even in the translation, so many important and elegant ideas that have not been adequately expressed before or after him. If you have even the slightest interest in Kafka or philosophy, or alienation, buy this book. Buy two copies, in case you lose the first one. Once you've read it, you will not want to be without access to it, ever. Incredible.
Average customer rating:
- A delightful story, well presented, the basis for Michael Chabon's "Kavallier and Clay"
- Jewish Mystical Story Telling at its Best
- CLASSIC SINGER STORY, SUPPOSEDLY FOR CHILDREN
- es la más bella versión del Golem que jamás leí
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The Golem
Isaac Bashevis Singer
Manufacturer: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
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ASIN: 0374327416 |
Customer Reviews:
A delightful story, well presented, the basis for Michael Chabon's "Kavallier and Clay".......2007-07-14
The Golem, as told by IB Singer, is a traditional Jewish mystical short story of a superhuman giant, made of clay, who is brought to life by the most religious rabbi in order to save Jews in times of trouble. And although it is a "children's" story, there are many layers of symbolism to keep adults interested. This particular edition was especially well done. I appreciated the artwork and overall esthetic presentation of the book.
I came to this book after reading Michael Chabon's Pulitzer Prize winning The Amazing Adventures of Kavallier and Clay, the "Clay" in the title being the last name of one of the main characters, but also the substance from which the rabbi made the golem. Chabon heavily alludes to and borrows from this story, the Golem of Prague, though never quite lets the reader know that this is what he's referring to, almost assuming that the reader already knows about it, which is for most people not the case. So it was especially rewarding to finally read the story.
Jewish Mystical Story Telling at its Best.......2006-07-20
This seeming children's story is really a parable for adults (which children can enjoy and eventually get on another level when they are ready). There are many well crafted sentences about the spiritual life, how to surrender into trusting God to take care of your life, about the hidden saints who help our life on Earth work, how to use our free choice, how to live in community with others, how to relate to believers and nonbelievers, how to handle being falsely accused, and how to be humble with power. You can taste a whole way of life behind the story which might be worth living or open it at random and find some messages that relate to challenges we meet in daily life.
CLASSIC SINGER STORY, SUPPOSEDLY FOR CHILDREN.......2005-02-09
The Golem is one fo the best known Singer short stories. Its theme is a Golem, a mythical figure imbued with life by cabalistic magic to help the Jewish people in a time of need.
This story begins with persecutions on Jews in Prague, which is when the Golem is sent to Reb Leib. After helping the Jews in their objective, Reb Leib decides to use the Golem, with its incredible strenght, for a less noble pursuit, which is when the Golem starts to disobey him. The story unfolds with the Golem, a creature made of clay, turning more and more human, with the mauturity of a child but enormous strenght. The probelms mount as the Golem destroys all in his way, falls in love (reciprocatedly) and gets drafted by the emperor.
The short story evokes many deep issues, such as what it means to be human, what one should do with unending power, what one should do to preserve the peace, and many others. Though originally a childrens story, any adult would enjoy it. It is the type of story that leaves one reflecting about certain issues for days.
es la más bella versión del Golem que jamás leí.......1998-12-15
El Golem tiene todos los ingredientes que necesita un relato para funcionar, pero en este caso, además, está escrito por Singer. Esto significa que el cuento está bellamente narrado. Singer cuenta de manera simple aún las historias más complejas.
Amazon.com
Reinhard Heydrich was one of Hitler's most ruthless Nazis. In addition to heading the occupation of Czechoslovakia, he was a leading architect of the Holocaust. There was even talk of his one day succeeding Hitler. For these reasons and others, he became a target--and ultimately the victim--of Allied special operations. This compelling book by English author Callum MacDonald is a skillful, journalistic retelling of a story that would make a solid espionage novel. It begins with a brief sketch of Heydrich--a handsome, violin-playing villain. His fierce anti-Semitism apparently was an emblem of self-hatred; all his life he was bewitched by the knowledge that some of his ancestors may have been Jewish. The bulk of the book turns to the assassination itself, from its planning stages in Britain, to the nighttime airdrop of the conspirators, to their arrangements in Prague, to the nearly botched event itself. Following Heydrich's death, which Hitler compared to losing a battle, the assassins eluded a massive manhunt. Sympathetic priests had hidden them in a Greek Orthodox Church. Despite the success of their mission, their story does not have a happy ending--the Nazis eventually learned of their whereabouts, and the book climaxes with their bloody last stand in the church crypt. This is an outstanding tale of evil, intrigue, and heroism. --John J. Miller
Customer Reviews:
A fine book on the the Heydrich Affair.......2007-10-11
The Killing of Reinhard Heydrich by Callum MacDonald is the best account in English of the assassination of Heydrich that I'm aware of. It presents background on Heydrich's life before he became the "Reichsprotector" of Bohemia and Moravia in late 1941. It continues with fine chapters on the development of the Czech plans to assassinate Heydrich, the assassination, and the German reprisals. For me, it communicates very well the harsh drama of these events.
One matter I would like to understand better is the apparent lack of an escape plan on the part of the two parachutists who carried out the assassination. A chapter in Prague in Danger by Peter Demetz, to be published in early 2008, may provide new information on this matter.
The comment of a Czech friend may be a suitable ending to this brief review: "The question as to whether the assassination was justified, given the brutal German reprisals, may never be settled. What remains is the courage of the parachutists and those who helped them, and the murderous folly of men."
Assassination of Heydrich.......2007-01-24
Very detailed and thorough with a good overview of the events leading to the assassination. Too repetitious of the political motivations of Benes, et al in London. Terminology is confusing for the reader new to this material, but helpful index in the back to all the abbreviations. Overall very interesting read. To those traveling to Prague the church crypt is open to the public for a small fee with small museum and self-guided tour, complete with machine gun bullet holes on outside of church.
The killing of a monster........2005-08-17
If there was ever a face of evil, then it had to be Reinhard Heydrich and Adolf Hitler. Hitler once said about Heydrich that he had a heart of iron. Reinhard was sadistic and was the architect of the Final Solution. This was no man with a humane touch, he was in short a monster. The Czech government in exile and the British sent this man to where he belonged at a terrible cost.
The book details the plot to kill Heydrich. Surprisely, the murder and details took up perhaps three to four chapters, with the rest of the book dealing with internal Czech politics and how the government balanced between the English and Soviets. There was some good information on the wartime policies of Bohemia and Moravia (Czech Republic) and the government in exile under Benes in England.
The world was a better place without Heydrich. A short biography is included in the writing, and it shows Heydrich in all his bloody lust. His own killing was because he had so much contempt for the Czechs. He and his driver were the only ones on the road, and the killers had a big target, especially when Heydrich told the driver to stop when he saw the guerillas. This was truly an evil man.
The book is a nice read. It details the bio of Reinhard, plus the detail of plot and murder, and finally the end of those who killed Heydrich. A good book.
The Assassination of Heydrich recounted in detail.......2005-07-25
Reinhard Heydrich was a horrible Nazi. Tall. Blonde. Amoral.A killer whose convening of the Wannssee Conference in early 1942 began the implementation of the plan to destroy European Jewry;
the Butcher Boy of Czechoslovakia who ruled from a castle in
Prague. This repulsive human being was assassinated in May,
1942 by daring Czech patriots who attacked his car with a bomb
and a sten gun!
Reprisals following Heydrich's death were horrific leading
to mass arrests and the wiping off the map of the village of
Lidice.
The brave men who plotted the murder of Heydrich were martyrs to Czech freedom whose names as sons of liberty should never be forgotten.
The late author Macdonald examines how the assassination was planned among Czech exiles in London; the politcal and strategic repercussions of the assassination and the fate of the families of those responsible for the assassination are reported.
The book would make a marvelous thriller espionage motion picture with its picture of parachutists landing in occupied
Czech,; daring escapes; the final showdown to the death in a large Prague church and the daring daytime attack on Hedyrich's
car.
In the unholy pantheon of Nazi monsters the name of Heydrich is today little known among the general public. This chief lt. to Himmler is however emblematic of the Nordic evil incarnate of fascism.
This book will prove interesting to the World War II buff and
the general reader interested in the period. Good!
A gripping story about bravery.......2005-06-24
I suppose MacDonald has written the ultimate book on Heydrich's assassination because there's not much more to tell. The book covers the German entrance into Czechoslovakia, Heydrich rise to the SS-top and the ideas of the Czech government in exile. Only in the final part the actual assault takes place, but by this time the reader has good knowledge of all the circumstances.
This gripping story never let's go and is a tribute to all of those who stood up against Nazi evil, personified in Heydrich, and especially to the brave Czechs carrying this action out. The only option to improve this read is to publish it in a more worthy edition: the font looks a bit old and the pictures, which seem to show a lot, are blurred. But don't let this prevent you from reading it!
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