Dr. Josefs Little Beauty, Zyta Rudzka
Dr. Josefs Little Beauty, Zyta Rudzka
List: $19.99 | Sale: $13.99
Club: $9.99

Dr. Josef's Little Beauty

Author: Zyta Rudzka, Antonia Lloyd-Jones

Narrator: Dina Pearlman

Unabridged: 7 hr 31 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 03/26/2024


Synopsis

A Holocaust story as fascinating and compelling as it is terrifying and puzzling—a book about aging and war crimes, pain and pride.

In the middle of summer, omnipresent heat radiates as a group of elderly people are remembering their youth. The story focuses on two sisters, Leokadia and Helena, who live together in a retirement home not far from Warsaw. These are not ordinary stories they are sharing because both of them were imprisoned as children in Auschwitz during World War II. At the center is Helena, who at the age of twelve was saved from extermination by the notorious doctor Josef Mengele, the real-life Nazi officer and physician who was known as the "angel of death" for the experiments he conducted on prisoners, including twins and siblings.

This is a story both provocative and disturbing about the fear that lingers in victims. Was the sisters' relationship with the executioner a desperate attempt to save their lives, or perhaps they harbor a hideous pride and sense of superiority over other prisoners? Rudzka's extraordinary writing turns unsettling questions about memory and survival into art.

About Zyta Rudzka

Zyta Rudzka (born 1964) is a masterful writer, whose terse and forceful style is rapidly gaining her a place among Poland's best contemporary novelists. Her first novel, Dr. Josef's Little Beauty, was revised and reissued in 2021 as one of a trilogy of novels that explore old age and the final stage of life. Despite shared themes, each book stands on its own and has other central themes as well. Rudzka's other two novels are A Brief Exchange of Fire (2018, winner of the Gdynia Literary Award, shortlisted for the Nike Literary Award) and Soft Tissues (2020, winner of the City of Warsaw Literary Award). Her latest novel, Only Those with Teeth Can Smile, moves away from the old-age theme, but is just as hard-hitting as its predecessors, and is nominated for the 2023 Nike Literary Award, Poland's top literary prize. Her novels are now appearing in foreign translations. Dr. Josef's Little Beauty is her first to appear in English translation. Rudzka is also an award-winning playwright and poet. In 2022 she won the Poznan Literary Award for her entire oeuvre to date.


Reviews

Może nie zabrzmi to dla niektórych dobrze, ale zawsze bardziej porusza mnie los zwierząt niż ludzi. Jeśli jednak ma mnie wzruszyć jakiś ludzki los to będą to Ci najsłabsi i dla mnie są to głównie osoby starsze. I chyba właśnie dlatego tak bardzo duże wrażenie zrobiła na mnie „Ślicznotka doktora Jose......more

Goodreads review by Ruben

This turned out to be a very different book from what I expected and I fear I let these unmatched expectations impact my reading experience. I had understood this to be a Holocaust-story, but after a fittingly disturbing start, it turned into a novel about the elderly residents of a Polish retiremen......more

Nie wiem, kto tak dobrze potrafi sportretować seniorów, jak Żyta Rudzka. Sięgnęłam po nowe wydanie „Ślicznotki doktora Josefa” i znalazłam tu to, co w książkach lubię najbardziej. Niewygodę. Niewygodnie mi było czytać opisy starego ciała - z jego wydzielinami, niedowładami, nieposłuszeństwem, zapach......more

Goodreads review by Krysia

Czy Zyta Rudzka stanie się moją ulubioną pisarką? Możliwe.......more

Świetnie napisane, a to nie lada sztuka napisać książkę o życiu codziennym pensjonariuszy domu starców, w której jest dosłownie zero akcji, a która jednocześnie ciekawi i wzbudza tyle emocji, od nostalgii, poprzez śmiech, po smutek czy nawet obrzydzenie, czuć tutaj wrażliwość autorki, która z przyzi......more