The Zone of Interest
Ratings4
Average rating3
15
Ratings4
Average rating3
From one of England's most renowned authors, a critically acclaimed and unforgettable new novel that provides a searing portrait of life--and, shockingly, love--in a concentration camp. Once upon a time there was a king, and the king commissioned his favourite wizard to create a magic mirror. This mirror didn't show you your reflection. It showed you your soul--it showed you who you really were. The wizard couldn't look at it without turning away. The king couldn't look at it. The courtiers couldn't look at it. A chestful of treasure was offered to anyone who could look at it for 60 seconds without turning away. And no one could. The Zone of Interest is a love story with a violently unromantic setting. Can love survive the mirror? Can we even meet each other's eye, after we have seen who we really are? In a novel powered by both wit and pathos, Martin Amis excavates the depths and contradictions of the human soul.
Reviews with the most likes.
I understand what Amis set out to achieve in this novel (and he succeeds!) - Mass murder as a business, dehumanising of victims etc etc - but I just couldn't take the horror any longer, so I gave up on this about halfway through. One of the darkest and most shameful periods of our history is treated as a ‘dark comedy', and I simply could not stomach it. 2.5 stars.
