The King of Warsaw, Szczepan Twardoch
The King of Warsaw, Szczepan Twardoch
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The King of Warsaw

Author: Szczepan Twardoch, Sean Gasper Bye

Narrator: Stefan Rudnicki

Unabridged: 12 hr 56 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 04/21/2020

Synopsis

Winner of the EBRD Literature Prize awarded by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.A city ignited by hate. A man in thrall to power. The ferociously original award-winning bestseller by Poland’s literary phenomenon—his first to be translated into English.It’s 1937. Poland is about to catch fire.In the boxing ring, Jakub Szapiro commands respect, revered as a hero by the Jewish community. Outside, he instills fear as he muscles through Warsaw as enforcer for a powerful crime lord. Murder and intimidation have their rewards. He revels in luxury, spends lavishly, and indulges in all the pleasures that barbarity offers. For a man battling to be king of the underworld, life is good. Especially when it’s a frightening time to be alive.Hitler is rising. Fascism is escalating. As a specter of violence hangs over Poland like a black cloud, its marginalized and vilified Jewish population hopes for a promise of sanctuary in Palestine. Jakub isn’t blind to the changing tide. What’s unimaginable to him is abandoning the city he feels destined to rule. With the raging instincts that guide him in the ring and on the streets, Jakub feels untouchable. He must maintain the order he knows—even as a new world order threatens to consume him.

About Szczepan Twardoch

Szczepan Twardoch is the author of the bestselling novels Morphine, Drach, and The King of Warsaw. He is the recipient of numerous honors for his work, including the Brücke Berlin Preis, Le Prix du Livre Européen, and Nike Literary Award: Audience Award. Rights to his novels have been sold in over a dozen countries. The King of Warsaw is the first of his books to be translated into English. A TV series based on the novel is being produced by Canal+. He lives in Pilchowice, Upper Silesia. For more information, visit www.szczepantwardoch.pl/en/home.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Jennifer ~ TarHeelReader on April 30, 2020

What an enthralling read! In 1937, Jakub Szapiro is a boxer and a hero of his Jewish community in Poland. When he’s not boxing, he works for a seedy crime lord, and everyone fears his wrath. He is paid well for his efforts, which include murder among other crimes. Jakub wants to be king of the dark u......more

Goodreads review by Maciek on January 16, 2017

PL: Recenzja w dwóch językach - tekst angielski znajduje się pod polskim. ENG:This is a bilingual review - English text is presented below. PL:Mojego ojca zabił wysoki, przystojny Żyd o szerokich ramionach i potężnych plecach machabejskiego boksera. Teraz stoi w ringu, to ostatnia walka wieczoru i ost......more

Goodreads review by Nursebookie on June 01, 2021

Twardoch delivered a dramatic and powerful narrative that was unique, highly ruthless and brutal about life in 1930's Poland. He tells a gripping tale of life in the streets of Warsaw where warring gangsters between the Jewish and the pro-fascist/anti-Semetic experienced violence as part of daily li......more

Goodreads review by spokój.w.głowie on November 10, 2021

Właśnie odnalazłam najlepszą książkę tego miesiąca, a może i roku, nie wiem jakim cudem omijała mnie w życiu twórczość Szczepana Twardocha.......more

Goodreads review by gesztenye63 on December 10, 2019

Az olvasást követő gyermeki fölhorgadásomban olyan dolgokról akartam írni A király kapcsán, mint a meglepően sokoldalú tartalom, a lektűr színes, kockás kabátjába bújtatott, nem várt morális és lélektani mélységek, a rendkívül hiteles háttérfestés. Emlegetni akartam, hogy mennyi mindent tanultam a k......more

Quotes

“Streaked with magic realism and dream logic, the novel slides eerily between reality and illusion, 1930s Poland and 1980s Israel, where Moyshe has morphed into a retired Israeli army officer typing out his Warsaw memories. Driven by a ruthless energy, the first of Twardoch's novels to be available in an English translation is astonishing and heartbreaking in equal measure. It never runs out of revelation. A wickedly enthralling novel by one of Poland’s emerging literary stars.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)“Brutal…Compulsively readable…Twardoch’s willingness to stare into the abyss elevates this racing work to sublime heights.” —Publishers Weekly“Dense but powerful…spins the convention of the unreliable narrator in multiple directions: not only may the narrator be deceiving the reader, he may also be deceiving himself. All of this storytelling legerdemain adds complexity and fascinating psychological texture to the book, which at its heart is a gripping tale of a Godfather-like power struggle between warring mobs, one largely Jewish, the other anti-Semitic and pro-Fascist. The Tarrantino-caliber violence can be overwhelming but is never gratuitous in a novel that is fundamentally about a country and its people on the verge of decimation.” —Booklist

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