Ta Muchly Mr JK

️?️

View quoted message

Probably not that long - notoriously, the Hungarian Jews weren't rounded up until 1944: they were pretty much the last substantial batch of Holocaust victims.

2. Daniel Craig... I felt a bit annoyed that throughout the film I'd been watching unknown (to me) actors so it felt incredibly real, and then he turns up and reminds me it's a film IYKWIM.

Well, I recognised a couple of the Hungarian actors (?) - and I saw it back in 2005, before Craig had been cast as James Bond, so I didn't find it quite as jarring as you did: I can well imagine that it feels a fair bit different now. Interestingly, though, the encounter with the American soldier is just about the only scene that isn't taken more or less directly from the book.

Some of the images are beautiful & disturbing at the same time...

When I reviewed it, I said it was a very strange experience at first because it was so eerily beautiful - most Holocaust films go for gritty hand-held ultra-grainy realism, as though any attempt at tarting it up would be an insult to the victims. In fact, I'm glad I read the book, because that makes it clear that the director (who started off as a highly distinguished cinematographer) wasn't just showing off - Gyuri is similarly transfixed by outwardly banal images like the sun rising over Auschwitz, which is described in far more detail than the death of an elderly woman on the train on the previous page. But that's exactly how a naive and immature 14-year-old would think.

In case JK is reading this, I've got it on DVD, and I know it's all in foreign and that (aside from the Daniel Craig bit), but it's really good.

Oo - this looks interesting. I've recently finished reading The Pianist, which i love and hate at the same time. It makes me bawl my eyes out. I've added fateless (the book) to my wishlist - ?

The book is absolutely astonishing. Imre Kertész won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2002, and it's widely acknowledged to have been that particular book which swung it for him - it's certainly the novel that made his reputation.

Hands down, it's the most brutally honest memoir of the Holocaust I've ever read, largely because Kertész is so honest about his own immature response to events that would be hard enough for fully aware adults to process.

This Guardian review really nails it for me.

Interesting.

Can I just say, Mr JK, that I really enjoy your additions to Hitched. Since you have been posting I have read many interesting articles on all sorts of topics, that I doubt I would ever have seen otherwise. (And read an awful lot more Charlie Brooker than I ever did before ?)

Have just added to my DVD rental list - looks interesting.

View quoted message

I was just thinking the same thing yesterday. My watch/read list has grown considerably. Thanks Mr JK.

(although OH has taken to saying "if you love him so much why don't you marry him". I pointed out that I don't think JK would like that ?)

View quoted message

Oh, I dunno - I'm sure she's open to negotiation. ?

View quoted message

? JK could have Mr LittleStar! Probably not for long though - I get the impression she doesn't put up with much nonsense! ?