The Zone of Interest

By: Martin Amis

Narrated by: Sean Barrett

Length: 10 hrs and 3 mins

Publisher's summary

From one of England's most renowned authors, an unforgettable new novel that provides a searing portrait of life - and, shockingly, love - in a concentration camp.

Once upon a time there was a king, and the king commissioned his favorite wizard to create a magic mirror. This mirror didn't show you your reflection. It showed you your soul - it showed you who you really were.

The wizard couldn't look at it without turning away. The king couldn't look at it. The courtiers couldn't look at it. A chestful of treasure was offered to anyone who could look at it for 60 seconds without turning away. And no one could. The Zone of Interest is a love story with a violently unromantic setting. Can love survive the mirror? Can we even meet each other's eye, after we have seen who we really are? In a novel powered by both wit and pathos, Martin Amis excavates the depths and contradictions of the human soul.

©2014 Martin Amis (P)2014 W. F. Howes

So long

A glimpse into the daily life, romance, deception and manipulation and tragedy in hell on earth. Excellent narration performance as well

Difficult to follow

Difficult to follow characters but an interesting perspective in the holocaust worth listening to for the content and insight into human nature

an amazing work by one of my favorites.

My Affinity for the writing of Martin Amis goes back perhaps three decades.
this is a very accomplished work, one of my many. It seems important for someone to write a holocaust novel that concerns itself with the daily lives of those in the KZ - the concentration camp. as a literary device, this works perfectly. Suspense builds as you wonder how the horrors of their activities could not affect them.
the rest is a very keen bit of writing, and some fine storytelling. I recommend this book for fans of the author, and people interested in the era.

Chilling!

A haunting story of well developed characters running a concentration camp. It really captured the German national psyche under the Nazis.

Excellent writing. Difficult subject

Writing of the first order. A novel, I must presume, based on factual research and about an endlessly and difficult topic. English translations for several German sentences would improve listening, as would a pfd file listing of all characters as the names are German and are somewhat difficult to keep straight.

Well narrated

This novel tells a story of Auschwitz is well-narrated with strong characterizations of the book's three narrators. In this way, a listener really feels like the three voices are different and the story proceeds. It is not all gripping as a story--I found the ending a bit clumsy--but it is well done on the whole.

The Souls of Characters ripped open in an unspeakable time

How could Amis so believably portray the thoughts and feelings of these people tortured by the lives that have been thrust upon them? Their humanity cries out in the midst of unimaginably bland, banal Evil.

Hannah Arendt: “The sad truth is that most evil is done by people who never make up their minds to be good or evil.”

Four Stars, Five for Performance: ****

the performance is excellent, superb

This is an important book on the secondary damages of man's inhumanity to man -- on its perpetrators, bystanders and antagonists. I would like to read this even though I have just listened to it. I would like to stop and re-read passages and translate some of the German passages and phrases. I am a different person than I was a few days ago before experiencing this book.

Love between the Smoke and Gas

[rating = B]
This was my first try at Mr. Amis. I have heard only good things about him, but have never committed myself until now. The story is told by three perspectives: Thompson, Doll, and Szmul. Each character is very specific and tells a part of the overall story. Although this style has been done before, Martin Amis utilizes them very effectively; though one comment would be that somethings that are "said" seem a bit random and unimportant. With the whole concentration camp in the background, there are also sprinkles of love, sabotage, revolutionaries, and death. The tone of the novel is rather mocking, and I find that the diction is at times very hilarious. One flaw would be the fake speech; there are very British phrases that no Nazi would ever say, and likewise, the German, though superficial and key to this type of fiction, is rather annoying and indecipherable. But I enjoyed the novel and found the end exceptionally satisfying and well done.

Great book, great performance, worth your money.

I loved Martin Amis's "Money," but I've been disappointed by his other works because they fell short of it. For my money, "The Zone of Interest" puts Amis back on top. It spins a heartbreaking story of a Nazi extermination camp through the eyes of three denizens: 1) a young, cynical, Nazi aristocrat; 2) a pathetic Jew who was forced to act as an overseer; and 3) the camp's savage and sociopathic commander. Throughout, Amis uses his sophisticated, lapidary, English style. To make things even better, Sean Barrett does spot-on characterizations . His character portrayals are so distinct you could skip to any part of the book and immediately recognize who is talking. My prediction is this novel will withstand the test of time. Money well spent!