Fatelessness
A Novel

Name: Fatelessness
Brand: Blackstone Audiobooks
Availability: InStock
Author: Imre Kertész
ISBN: 9781538458396

Author: Imre Kertész, Tom Wilkinson

Narrator: Josh Bloomberg

Unabridged: 8 hr 25 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Blackstone Publishing

Published: 09/05/2017

Categories: Fiction, Literary Fiction, Historical Fiction

Synopsis

At the age of fourteen, György Köves is plucked from his home in a Jewish section of Budapest and, without any particular malice, placed on a train to Auschwitz. He does not understand the reason for his fate. He doesn’t particularly think of himself as Jewish. And his fellow prisoners, who decry his lack of Yiddish, keep telling him, “You are no Jew.” In the lowest circle of the Holocaust, György remains an outsider.The genius of Imre Kertész’s unblinking novel lies in its refusal to mitigate the strangeness of its events—not least of which is György’s dogmatic insistence on making sense of what he witnesses, or pretending that what he witnesses makes sense. Haunting, evocative, and all the more horrifying for its rigorous avoidance of sentiment, Fatelessness is a masterpiece in the traditions of Primo Levi, Elie Wiesel, and Tadeusz Borowski.

About Imre Kertész

Imre Kertész (1929–2016) was born in Budapest. Of Jewish descent, he was deported to Auschwitz in 1944, at the age of fourteen, and from there to Buchenwald, where he was liberated in 1945. On his return to Hungary, he worked for a Budapest newspaper but was dismissed in 1951 when it adopted the Communist party line. After two years of military service he began supporting himself as an independent writer and translator. Kertész was awarded many literary prizes during his career as an author, including the Nobel Prize in Literature, which he received in 2002. His works have been translated into numerous languages, including German, Spanish, French, English, Czech, Russian, Swedish, and Hebrew.

About Josh Bloomberg

Josh Bloomberg has recorded audiobooks for most of the major publishers, lending his voice to many different genres. His versatility and acting background have helped him access the styles needed for a variety of works. He has narrated several notable works, including titles by Wall Street Journal and New York Times bestselling authors (some of them, under a pseudonym). He directed the audiobook for The Storm of the Century, written by Al Roker. He also announced the categories and nominees at the 2017 Audie Awards ceremony. Josh also performs on-screen, recently on the Netflix series Greenhouse Academy, and records commercial voice-over projects. Josh is a member of the Audio Publishers Association.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Lee on March 07, 2025

Cynically, this could be recommended as a handbook for survival should you find yourself arrested one fine morning thanks to your offensive identity or favoriting a thousand #resist-related tweets in a single week. I don't think expert knowledge (eg, it's best to be toward the end of the soup line s......more

Goodreads review by David on July 06, 2012

Nobel prize-winner Imre Kertész survived stays in both the Auschwitz and Buchenwald concentration camps. While he was there, I have no doubt that he suffered a great deal—both physically and psychologically—so I was (understandably, I think) hesitant to dislike his semi-autobiographical Holocaust no......more

Goodreads review by Miltos on September 02, 2019

"Ναι, γι' αυτήν, για την ευτυχία των στρατοπέδων συγκέντρωσης, θα έπρεπε να σας μιλήσω την επόμενη φορά που θα με ρωτήσετε. Αν με ρωτήσετε βέβαια. Κι αν δεν το ξεχάσω και ο ίδιος." Ένα αιρετικό μυθιστόρημα για τα στρατόπεδα συγκέντρωσης του Β' Παγκοσμίου πολέμου. Βαθύ, ιδιαίτερο, ανατρεπτικό, συγκλονι......more

Goodreads review by Gauss74 on January 29, 2021

Grazie, piccolo Gyurka di quindici anni di non aver disimparato a sognare anche quando hanno portato via il tuo papà da Budapest per portarlo ad un campo di lavoro dal quale non farà ritorno. Di aver sognato anche quando i nazisti ti hanno mentito, anche quando ti sei accorto che dietro quella bella......more

Goodreads review by Anastasia on November 18, 2016

(4,5*) Ο λόγος του Imre Kertesz είναι πολύ ιδιαίτερος, έχει μία μοναδική προσωπική γραφή που δίνει ένα περίεργα οικείο τόνο στην αφήγηση. Έχει ακόμη ένα εξαιρετικά μη-προβλέψιμο τρόπο να αντικρίζει τα γεγονότα...κάτι που σε αφοπλίζει από τις πρώτες ακόμη σελίδες...μπορεί να σε παραξενέψει, να σε προ......more

Quotes

“A superb, haunting novel…Kertesz’s spare, understated prose and the almost ironic perspective of Gyorgy, limited both by his youth and his inability to perceive the enormity of what he is caught up in, give the novel an intensity that will make it difficult to forget. One learns something of concentration camp life here, even while becoming convinced that one cannot understand that life at all—not the way Kertesz does.” Publishers Weekly

“Should be savored slowly…Only through exploring its subtlety and detail will the reader come to appreciate such an ornate and honest testimony to the human spirit.” Washington Times

“Remarkable…An original and chilling quality, surpassed only by Primo Levi’s Survival in Auschwitz.” New York Review of Books