A viscerally shocking novel about a young boy’s odyssey through eastern Europe during World War II. In wandering from village to village, the dark-skinned boy encounters hatred and persecution from mainly white Christian rural folk. The violence and sexual abuse are appalling but easily committed, as if they aren’t uncommon in such places during wartime.
Kosinski, a Pole who escaped communism and settled in America as a young man, was excoriated by Slavs for the descriptions in this book. Accusations of anti-Polish prejudice and plagiarism followed, but wherever the book came from—and whatever the motivations—The Painted Bird rings true and human in a way that dwarfs after-the-fact grievances. It’s a book that’s both hard to read and impossible to put down. Reviewed on Dec. 30, 2021