Mischling

De: Affinity Konar

Narrado por: Vanessa Johansson

Pearl is in charge of: the sad, the good, the past.

Stasha must care for: the funny, the future, the bad.

It's 1944 when the twin sisters arrive at Auschwitz with their mother and grandfather. In their benighted new world, Pearl and Stasha Zagorski take refuge in their identical natures, comforting themselves with the private language and shared games of their childhood.

As part of the experimental population of twins known as Mengele's Zoo, the girls experience privileges and horrors unknown to others, and they find themselves changed, stripped of the personalities they once shared, their identities altered by the burdens of guilt and pain.

That winter, at a concert orchestrated by Mengele, Pearl disappears. Stasha grieves for her twin, but clings to the possibility that Pearl remains alive. When the camp is liberated by the Red Army, she and her companion Feliks -- a boy bent on vengeance for his own lost twin -- travel through Poland's devastation. Undeterred by injury, starvation, or the chaos around them, motivated by equal parts danger and hope, they encounter hostile villagers, Jewish resistance fighters, and fellow refugees, their quest enabled by the notion that Mengele may be captured and brought to justice within the ruins of the Warsaw Zoo. As the young survivors discover what has become of the world, they must try to imagine a future within it.

A superbly crafted story, told in a voice as exquisite as it is boundlessly original, Mischling defies every expectation, traversing one of the darkest moments in human history to show us the way toward ethereal beauty, moral reckoning, and soaring hope.

"One of the most harrowing, powerful, and imaginative books of the year"-Anthony Doerr about twin sisters fighting to survive the evils of World War II.

Reseñas de la Crítica

"Konar describes [these horrors] beautifully, lyrically, in the language of a fable...readers who allow themselves to fall under the spell of Konar's exceptionally sensitive writing may well find the book unforgettable."--Ruth Franklin, New York Times Book Review

"Konar makes the emotional lives of her two spirited narrators piercingly real... doubts are steamrolled by Konar's ability to powerfully convey the experiences of her heroines: their resourcefulness and will to survive; their resilience and faith in a future even in the face of extermination; and Pearl's remarkable determination to embrace forgiveness.... What is most haunting about the novel is Konar's ability to depict the hell that was Auschwitz, while at the same time capturing the resilience of many prisoners, their ability to hang on to hope and kindness in the fact of the most awful suffering--to remain, in Elie Wiesel's words, humane 'in an inhumane universe.'"--Michiko Kakutani, New York Times

"Riveting."--Pamela Paul, New York Times Book Review

"Mischling is a paradox. It's a beautiful novel about the most odious of crimes, it's a deeply-researched act of remembrance that somehow carries the lightness of a fairy tale, and it's a coming-of-age story about children who aren't allowed to come of age. If your soul can survive the journey, you'll be rewarded by one of the most harrowing, powerful, and imaginative books of the year."—Anthony Doerr, author of New York Times bestseller All The Light We Cannot See

"Affinity Konar's MISCHLING is a tale of courage, courageously told - spare and beautiful, riveting and heartrending. Half of me wanted to linger over every page, the other half insisted I race ahead. It's a case of extraordinary storytelling from first page to transcendent last."—David Wroblewski, author of the New York Times bestseller The Story of Edgar Sawtelle

"Konar has woven a masterful and poignant account of a pair of twin sisters who cannot be separated, even by the cruelest hand of fate. Her prose is mystical and delicately poetic, and she uses her manifold gifts to tell a deeply engaging story of fortitude and triumph. Bravo."—Lucette Lagnado, author of Children of the Flames and The Man in the Sharkskin Suit, winner of the Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature

"Affinity Konar is an astonishing and fearless writer, whose great gift to us is this book. With incantatory magic, she marches through the most nightmarish of landscapes, swinging her light."
—Karen Russell, author of Swamplandia

"Affinity Konar's Mischling is a piercing novel written with chin-up virtuosity. The prose is dazzling, and the story of these twins is moving and searing, and as powerful as the best mythic stories of the masters of old."—Chigozie Obioma, author of The Fishermen

Mischling

Had me hooked from the beginning. I have read a great deal more about the historical views. This fictional view wrapped so many stories and feelings into the story and brought the personal trauma of those victimized who lived with the consequences of the Nazi experimentation.

WONDERFUL NARRATOR READER!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I would recommend this book because it is so well written! AND so well spoken! Glad I LISTENED!

What did you like best about this story?

I liked the development of Pearl and Sasha.

Which character – as performed by Vanessa Johansson – was your favorite?

Vanessa Johansson has the most melodious voice I've yet heard! Any character would love their story told in her voice. Of course, Sasha and Pearl received her gift!

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

The story tears you apart. Yet, Affinity presented the horrors in a gentle way if that could be possible! I have twin granddaughters and it hit me hard.

Any additional comments?

The reason I didn't give it five stars was because I felt shocked that she found her father. Like where did that jump out from. I had to listen twice to make sure I heard it correctly.
I felt the very last chapter could have lingered further. I wondered how and what she fed the baby in he end as well.

Amazing....

If you could sum up Mischling in three words, what would they be?

perseverance, loving bond, spirit

What did you like best about this story?

that the chapters were broken down by sister narrating each

Any additional comments?

When I hear stories of such adversity, of such atrocities, of the human spirit.. I wonder if I would have such strength to go on. This story is just that.. the pure perseverance and strong spirit of two sisters. That their love and connection together and apart allows them to draw on the strength of their bond. The writer only scratches the surface of what really happened to the children, and our imaginations regarding that horrific situation can never compare to their reality.

Heavy story without gory details

The story is told from the perspective of 12 year old twin girls. The horrific details of their suffering are implied but not told outright.

Provocative, evocative, beautifully crafted

Konar creates a world between the two young girls whose twinhood sustains them in the face of unimaginable tortures. The beauty of the language used to describe the horrors of Mengele's zoo makes them all the more devastating. This tale, woven around history, is compelling, breathtaking, will lay the reader bare and make tears fall. That anyone survived the camps is always amazing, but the story of these two girls, of what they endure and how they endured is awful, terrifying and beautiful.
I may go back to the beginning to listen again to appreciate the brilliant writing even more now that I know the beautiful story.