A literary prize-winning epic novel that has been a record-breaking bestseller in France, Germany, Italy, and Spain, and is keenly anticipated in the English-speaking world.
The Kindly Ones won the Prix Goncourt, France's most prestigious literary award, as well as the Académie Française's Prix de Littérature. It has sold more than one million copies in Europe alone.
The Kindly Ones is the fictional memoir of Dr. Max Aue, a former Nazi officer who survived the war and has reinvented himself, many years later, as a middle-class entrepreneur and family man in northern France. Max is an intellectual steeped in philosophy, literature, and classical music. He is also a cold-blooded assassin and the consummate bureaucrat. Through the eyes of this cultivated yet monstrous man, we experience the horrors of the Second World War and the Nazi genocide of the Jews in graphic, disturbingly precise detail. During the period from June 1941 through April 1945, Max is posted to Poland, the Ukraine, and the Caucasus; he is present at the Battle of Stalingrad, at Auschwitz and Cracow; he visits occupied Paris and lives through the chaos of the final days of the Nazi regime in Berlin. Although Max is a totally imagined character, his world is peopled by real historical figures, such as Eichmann, Himmler, Göring, Speer, Heydrich, Höss, and Hitler himself.
Massive in scope, horrific in subject matter, and shocking in its protagonist, Littell's masterpiece is intense, hallucinatory, and utterly original. Critics abroad have compared this provocative and controversial work of literature to Tolstoy's War and Peace, a classic epic of war that, like The Kindly Ones, is a morally challenging read.
The Kindly Ones won the Prix Goncourt, France's most prestigious literary award, as well as the Académie Française's Prix de Littérature. It has sold more than one million copies in Europe alone.
The Kindly Ones is the fictional memoir of Dr. Max Aue, a former Nazi officer who survived the war and has reinvented himself, many years later, as a middle-class entrepreneur and family man in northern France. Max is an intellectual steeped in philosophy, literature, and classical music. He is also a cold-blooded assassin and the consummate bureaucrat. Through the eyes of this cultivated yet monstrous man, we experience the horrors of the Second World War and the Nazi genocide of the Jews in graphic, disturbingly precise detail. During the period from June 1941 through April 1945, Max is posted to Poland, the Ukraine, and the Caucasus; he is present at the Battle of Stalingrad, at Auschwitz and Cracow; he visits occupied Paris and lives through the chaos of the final days of the Nazi regime in Berlin. Although Max is a totally imagined character, his world is peopled by real historical figures, such as Eichmann, Himmler, Göring, Speer, Heydrich, Höss, and Hitler himself.
Massive in scope, horrific in subject matter, and shocking in its protagonist, Littell's masterpiece is intense, hallucinatory, and utterly original. Critics abroad have compared this provocative and controversial work of literature to Tolstoy's War and Peace, a classic epic of war that, like The Kindly Ones, is a morally challenging read.
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Used availability for Jonathan Littell's The Kindly Ones
See all available used copies of this book at: Abebooks UK or Abebooks US
Hardback Editions
March 2009 : Hardback
| Title: The Kindly Ones Author(s): Jonathan Littell ISBN: 0-7011-8165-6 / 978-0-7011-8165-9 (UK edition) Publisher: Chatto & Windus Availability: Amazon UK More details... |
March 2009 : Hardback
| Title: The Kindly Ones Author(s): Jonathan Littell ISBN: 0-7710-5153-0 / 978-0-7710-5153-1 (Canada (English speaking) edition) Publisher: Mcclelland & Stewart Ltd Availability: Amazon Amazon UK Amazon CA More details... |
March 2009 : Hardback
| Title: The Kindly Ones Author(s): Jonathan Littell ISBN: 0-06-135345-0 / 978-0-06-135345-1 (USA edition) Publisher: Harper Availability: Amazon Amazon UK Amazon CA More details... |
Paperback Editions
March 2010 : Paperback
| Title: The Kindly Ones Author(s): Jonathan Littell ISBN: 0-09-951314-5 / 978-0-09-951314-8 (UK edition) Publisher: Vintage Availability: Amazon UK More details... |
March 2010 : Paperback
| Title: The Kindly Ones Author(s): Jonathan Littell ISBN: 0-7710-5154-9 / 978-0-7710-5154-8 (Canada (English speaking) edition) Publisher: Emblem Editions Availability: Amazon Amazon CA More details... |
February 2010 : Paperback
| Title: The Kindly Ones: A Novel Author(s): Jonathan Littell ISBN: 0-06-135346-9 / 978-0-06-135346-8 (USA edition) Publisher: Harper Perennial Availability: Amazon Amazon UK Amazon CA More details... |
December 2009 : Paperback
| Title: The Kindly Ones Author(s): Jonathan Littell ISBN: 0-06-172447-5 / 978-0-06-172447-3 (USA edition) Publisher: HarperCollins Children's Books Availability: Amazon Amazon UK More details... |
March 2009 : Paperback
| Title: Kindly Ones, The Author(s): Jonathan Littell ISBN: 0-7011-8166-4 / 978-0-7011-8166-6 (UK edition) Publisher: Chatto Availability: Amazon UK More details... |
Audio Editions
March 2009 : Audio CD
| Title: The Kindly Ones Author(s): Jonathan Littell ISBN: 1-4332-7916-9 / 978-1-4332-7916-4 Publisher: Blackstone Audiobooks Availability: Amazon UK Amazon CA More details... |
March 2009 : MP3 CD
| Title: The Kindly Ones Author(s): Jonathan Littell ISBN: 1-4332-7919-3 / 978-1-4332-7919-5 Publisher: Blackstone Audiobooks Availability: Amazon Amazon UK Amazon CA More details... |
Other Editions
April 2009 : Unknown
| Title: The Kindly Ones [With Headphones] Author(s): Jonathan Littell ISBN: 1-4332-7923-1 / 978-1-4332-7923-2 Publisher: Playaway Availability: Amazon Amazon UK More details... |
January 2009 : Unknown
| Title: Kindly Ones Author(s): Publisher: HARPERCOLLINS Availability: Amazon Amazon UK More details... |
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