Originally published in 1965, The Painted Bird established Jerzy Kosinski as a major literary figure. Kosinski's story follows a dark-haired, olive-skinned boy, abandoned by his parents during World War II, as he wanders alone from one village to another, sometimes hounded and tortured, only rarely sheltered and cared for. Through the juxtaposition of adolescence and the most brutal of adult experiences, Kosinski sums up a Bosch-like world of harrowing excess where senseless violence and untempered hatred are the norm. Through sparse prose and vivid imagery, Kosinski's novel is a story of mythic proportion, even more relevant to today's society than it was upon its original publication.
Amazon.com Review
Many writers have portrayed the cruelty people inflict upon each other in the name of war or ideology or garden-variety hate, but few books will surpass Kosinski's first novel, The Painted Bird , for the sheer creepiness in its savagery. The story follows an abandoned young boy who wanders alone through the frozen bogs and broken towns of Eastern Europe during and after World War II, trying to survive. His experiences and actions occur at and beyond the limits of what might be called humanity, but Kosinski never averts his eyes, nor allows us to.
Review
βOne of the best. . . . Written with deep sincerity and sensitivity.ββElie Wiesel, The New York Times Book Review
βA powerful blow on the mind because it is so carefully kept within the margins of probability and fact.ββArthur Miller
βOf all the remarkable fiction that emerged from World War II, nothing stands higher than Jerzy Kosinskiβs The Painted Bird. A magnificent work of art, and a celebration of the individual will. No one who reads it will be unmoved by it. The Painted Bird enriches our literature and our lives.ββJonathan Yardley, The Miami Herald
βExtraordinary . . . literally staggering . . . one of the most powerful books I have ever read.ββRichard Kluger, Harperβs Magazine