The Lost: A Search for Six of Six Million
By: Daniel Mendelsohn Read by: Bronson Pinchot Runtime: 22.3 Hours Recording: Unabridged Release date: 8.16.2016 Publisher: Blackstone Audio Genre: Nonfiction/History ISBN-13: 978-1-5047-0176-1 I read The Lost: A Search for Six of Six Million by Daniel Mendelsohn a few years after it was first published in 2006. It was a very powerful book. I learned quite a bit. It was the kind of book that stayed with you. When Audiobook Jukebox offered a copy of the audiobook narrated by Bronson Pinchot, i requested it. It had been years since I read the book so I would refamiliarize myself with the story while enjoying the narration of Bronson Pinchot. It did not quite work out as planned. Daniel Mendelsohn grew up surrounded by older relatives who survived the Holocaust either because they got out of Europe in time or by luck or divine intervention they survived the Nazi’s. Daniel knew this. He knew about the events of World War II. What he did not know if why elderly relatives would begin to cry when they saw him and mention he looked like a person Daniel did not know. Shmiel Jäger was Daniel’s great uncle. Shmiel, his wife, and four daughters did not survive the Holocaust. When they died, how they died and why they died were not know. The only know was “they were killed by the Nazis.” The Lost is the story of Daniel learning of his lost family and as adult his quest to find them. They were not “killed by the Nazis” of meticulous records. They were not all killed at the same time or the same place. In his quest to find their fates, Daniel and his family learned an incredible amount. They learned about Ukrainians who turned in neighbors. They learned about Poles who hid Jews. They learned about the non-Jews who lost their lives trying to save lives. They learned about the unending cruelty that accompanied the last moments of so many people. The hardback edition contains photographs from the author’s family. There is a certain level of heartbreak, which thank whatever Gods you believe in we do not experience often, on seeing two smiling teen girls and knowing their death will come before they experience love, marriage, and motherhood. When I read the book, it was powerful. I expected the audiobook to be the same. It was not. Bronson Pinchot’s narration is masterful and devastating. Pinchot is fantastic at the accents. Whether it is Daniel’s mother’s New York accent or his grandfather’s Yiddish, they are clear and believable. The voices, whether male or female, old or young, are very well done. He creates Daniel’s voice but he also creates so much more. He infuses every word with emotion. But there is a power within Pinchot’s narration that the listener must be prepared for. I was driving and thankfully could pull over for a moment. When Pinchot describes what they believe happened to his one relative, a teenage girl, who was rounded up by the Ukrainians at the direction of the Nazi authorities, held with a thousand other people, naked, without food or water or access to facilities, made to watch their rabbi have his eyes cut out and a cross carved on his chest, then taken to the forest where group by group they walked onto a plank over a pit, to be shot and if God was merciful, they died immediately; if not they lay wounded under covered by other bodies and eventually earth. That was difficult to read. Pinchot’s narration contains so much rage, sadness, and horror that it is devastating to hear. Bronson Pinchot should have the 2016 Audie just for that passage alone. If you have to chose between reading The Lost or listening to Pinchot’s narration, take the narration. The power of his performance will stay with you
7 Comments
10/20/2016 02:38:32 am
I thank you very humbly. I had actually requested that I narrate this particular book after being so terrifically moved by it when it first came out. A labor of love from start to finish and a masterpiece of writing in my opinion. Best regards, Bronson
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10/20/2016 10:10:27 am
Bronson, you BLOOM.....I knew you could. (I am so proud that you have answered me once, about Nature....and that I am a FB friend.) Thank you for being such a powerful HUMAN Being. You give the whole world peace and hope...for a better life for all Humans. Much love to your soul. KEGS.
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10/20/2016 10:25:43 am
Thank you so much for reading my review. You made my day with your very kind words.
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Jennifer Robinson
10/20/2016 03:35:41 am
Wow, that's quite a review. Thank you for sharing your experience listening to this audio book. I'm going to order it.
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10/20/2016 10:26:44 am
Thank you. I hope you will find the audio book as powerful and moving as I did.
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10/20/2016 10:28:01 am
He has quickly become one of my favorite narrators.
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