{"product_id":"the-zone-of-interest-isbn-9780804172899","title":"The Zone of Interest","description":"\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003eNOW AN ACADEMY AWARD®-WINNING MAJOR MOTION PICTURE \u003cb\u003e• \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003eAN NPR BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR \u003cb\u003e• \u003c\/b\u003eFrom one of the most virtuosic authors in the English language: a powerful novel, written with urgency and moral force, that explores life\u003cb\u003e—\u003c\/b\u003eand love—among the Nazi bureaucrats of Auschwitz.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e\"A masterpiece.... Profound, powerful and morally urgent.... A benchmark for what serious literature can achieve.\" —\u003ci\u003eSan Francisco Chronicle\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Martin Amis first tackled the Holocaust in 1991 with his bestselling novel \u003ci\u003eTime's Arrow\u003c\/i\u003e. He returns again to the Shoah with this astonishing portrayal of life in \"the zone of interest,\" or \"kat zet\"\u003cb\u003e—\u003c\/b\u003ethe Nazis' euphemism for Auschwitz. The narrative rotates among three main characters: Paul Doll, the crass, drunken camp commandant; Thomsen, nephew of Hitler's private secretary, in love with Doll's wife; and Szmul, one of the Jewish prisoners charged with disposing of the bodies. Through these three narrative threads, Amis summons a searing, profound, darkly funny portrait of the most infamous place in history. \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003eAn epilogue by the author elucidates Amis's reasons and method for undertaking this extraordinary project.\u003cb\u003eA BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: \u003ci\u003eTime\u003c\/i\u003e, NPR, \u003ci\u003eThe Village Voice\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Miami Herald\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eFinancial Times\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eMinneapolis Star Tribune\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eBookRiot\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“I was riveted by Martin Amis’s \u003ci\u003eThe Zone of Interest\u003c\/i\u003e, with its daring projection into the mind and ‘heart’ of a character . . . It felt like a fitting way to spy on historical events that are impossible to look at but that must, nevertheless, always be kept in sight.”\u003cb\u003e —John Colapinto,\u003ci\u003e The New Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “Engrossing. . . . Rich in black comedy.” \u003cb\u003e—\u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eChicago Tribune\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cbr\u003e “Elegant and subtle. . . . An intriguing, sophisticated effort to understand the daily culture of genocide.” \u003cb\u003e—\u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eLos Angeles Times\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “[A] serious and diligently researched work with a streak of deadpan humor that reframes, and reemphasizes, the horror at hand.” \u003cb\u003e—\u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eEntertainment Weekly\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Powerful and electric.... A book that may stand for years as the triumph of his career.” \u003cb\u003e—NPR\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e“This is a novel that will endure.... A novel whose adventurousness is at the level of its ethical register, its attempt ...  to imagine the unimaginable.” \u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eThe Guardian\u003c\/i\u003e (London)\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e“A tour de force of sheer verbal virtuosity, and a brilliant, celestially upsetting novel inspired by no less than a profound moral curiosity about human beings.” \u003cb\u003e—Richard Ford, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of \u003ci\u003eThe Sportswriter\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e“Signature Amis at his most inventive.... It is precisely through such inspired and irreverent fluency that his dead-serious purpose is realized.” \u003cb\u003e—\u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe Washington Post\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“\u003ci\u003eThe Zone of Interest\u003c\/i\u003e harrows in the true sense of the word, churning up our preconceptions and assumptions. It is a work of artistic courage, chilling comedy and incontestable moral seriousness.” \u003cb\u003e—\u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eFinancial Times\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Heartbreaking.... [Amis is] a virtuosically vivid writer.” \u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eThe Atlantic\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e“His finest so far.... Astonishing.... A tragicomic moral blowtorch worthy of Swift.” \u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eThe Daily Beast\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Compelling.... Harrowingly effective.” \u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eSlate\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “Returning to the Holocaust—the subject of \u003ci\u003eTime’s Arrow\u003c\/i\u003e, still among [Amis’s] best books—Amis seems greatly energized, addressing the most serious theme with rigour, sophistication, and, most astonishingly, wit.” \u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eThe Village Voice\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “[Amis] is still the scourge of cliché and the supreme man of letters. . . . Dazzl[es] us once more with verbal dexterity and gutsy inventiveness.”\u003cb\u003e —\u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eMinneapolis Star Tribune\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “[A] pulverizing novel about identity and humanity. . . in equal measure funny and crushing, with emphasis on how chaos and mass psychosis act on the souls living through it.” \u003cb\u003e—\u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe Miami Herald\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “Moving. . . . Genius. . . . Capture[s] that contrast between frivolity and horror with elegance and irony.”\u003cb\u003e —\u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eSt. Louis Post-Dispatch\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “An important book—relentless, excoriating, blisteringly well-written. . . . Mr. Amis is one of our most accomplished writers. . . . Fiercely sharp-witted, his writing has the capacity to be so unique and dexterous as to create the impression he works from some higher alphabet than the rest of us.” \u003cb\u003e—\u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003ePittsburgh Post-Gazette\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “Exceptionally brave. . . . An extended rumination, a nightmare. . . . It’s exciting; it’s alive; it’s more than slightly mad. As the title suggests, it’s dreadfully interesting.”\u003cb\u003e —\u003ci\u003eThe Sunday Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “Displays both restraint and humanity. . . . Takes on themes of immense gravity. . . . Martin Amis isn’t new to the business of turning the horrors of history into fiction, but he has never done so more thoughtfully than in this disquieting novel. . . . He has confronted its challenges with honour and delicacy.” \u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eThe Times Literary Supplement\u003c\/i\u003e (London) \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “As good as anything Amis has written since \u003ci\u003eLondon Fields\u003c\/i\u003e (1989), and one he obviously felt compelled to write. He has done his subject justice.” \u003cb\u003e—\u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe Spectator\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “Highly cerebral and innovative, and also human, humane—even humbling—this is a brave, inquiring work from a literary maverick whose biggest problem as an artist has been his rampaging talent. He has certainly harnessed it here.” \u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eThe Irish Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003eMARTIN AMIS\u003cb\u003e \u003c\/b\u003eis the author of 15 novels—among them \u003ci\u003eZone of Interest, London Fields, Time’s Arrow, The Information, \u003c\/i\u003eand\u003ci\u003e Night Train\u003c\/i\u003e—along with the memoir \u003ci\u003eExperience,\u003c\/i\u003e the novelized self-portrait \u003ci\u003eInside Story\u003c\/i\u003e, two collections of stories, and seven nonfiction books. He died in 2023.\u003cb\u003e3. SZMUL: \u003c\/b\u003eSonder\u2028\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003eIhr seit achzen johr, \u003c\/i\u003ewe whisper, \u003ci\u003eund ihr hott a fach\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Once upon a time there was a king, and the king commissioned his favourite 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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe 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 any citizen in this peaceful land who could look at it for sixty seconds without turning away. And no one could.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI find that the KZ is that mirror. The KZ is that mirror, but with one difference. You can’t turn away.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWe are of the Sonderkommando, the SK, the Special Squad, and we are the saddest men in the Lager. We are in fact the saddest men in the history of the world. And of all these very sad men I am the saddest. Which is demonstrably, even measurably true. I am by some distance the earliest number, the lowest number—the \u003ci\u003eoldest \u003c\/i\u003enumber.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAs well as being the saddest men who ever lived, we are also the most disgusting. And yet our situation is paradoxical.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt is difficult to see how we can be as disgusting as we unquestionably are when we do no harm.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe case could be made that on balance we do a little good. Still, we are infinitely disgusting, and also infinitely sad.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNearly all our work is done among the dead, with the heavy scissors, the pliers and mallets, the buckets of petrol refuse, the ladles, the grinders.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eYet we also move among the living. So we say, “\u003ci\u003eViens donc, petit marin. Accroche ton costume. Rapelle-toi le numéro. Tu es quatre-vingts trois!\u003c\/i\u003e” And we say, “\u003ci\u003eFaites un n’ud avec les lacets, Monsieur. Je vais essayer de trouver un cintre pour vôtre manteau. Astrakhan! C’est noison d’agneaux, n’est-ce pas?\u003c\/i\u003e”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAfter a major Aktion we typically receive a fifth of vodka or schnapps, five cigarettes, and a hundred grams of sausage made from bacon, veal, and pork suet. While we are not always sober, we are never hungry and we are never cold, at least not at night. We sleep in the room above the disused crematory (hard by the Monopoly Building), where the sacks of hair are cured.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhen he was still with us, my philosophical friend Adam used to say, \u003ci\u003eWe don’t even have the comfort of innocence\u003c\/i\u003e. I didn’t and I don’t agree. I would still plead not guilty.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA \u003ci\u003ehero, \u003c\/i\u003eof course, would \u003ci\u003eescape \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003etell the world\u003c\/i\u003e. But it is my feeling that the world has known for quite some time. How could it not, given the scale?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThere persist three reasons, or excuses, for going on living: first, to bear witness, and, second, to exact mortal vengeance. I am bearing witness; but the magic looking glass does not show me a killer. Or not yet.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThird, and most crucially, we save a life (or prolong a life) at the rate of one per transport. Sometimes none, sometimes, two—an average of one. And 0.01 per cent is not 0.00. They are invariably male youths.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt has to be effected while they’re leaving the train; by the time the lines form for the selection—it’s already too late.\u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIhr seit achzen johr alt, \u003c\/i\u003ewe whisper, \u003ci\u003eund ihr hott a fach\u003c\/i\u003e. \u003ci\u003eSic achtzehn Jahre alt sind, und Sie haben einen Handel. Vous avez dix-huit ans, et vous avez un commerce. \u003c\/i\u003eYou are eighteen years old, and you have a trade.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Vintage","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46303415402725,"sku":"NP9780804172899","price":18.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780804172899.jpg?v=1767742375","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/the-zone-of-interest-isbn-9780804172899","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}