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A review by flexluthor
Kaputt by Curzio Malaparte
4.0
This book is insane. It was impossible for me to read it and not be just flabbergasted by the anecdotes shared within, constantly going "that can't be true" at everything I read (no one really has any idea what in this book is true to life). The prose is beautiful, although can be meandering at times. Malaparte is so navel gazing it's sickening and he switches sides and cozies up to whoever is the most powerful in the room like it's a compulsion. I imagined Peter Lorre as the author the entire time. I think the pacing of the book is it's strong suit, and really matches the tone as the narrative falls to an unsatisfying, uneasy conclusion in the absence of any resolution of the war.
Malaparte was by all accounts a fascist, which comes up in interesting ways in the story as he protects Jews from Nazi pogroms and criticizes Mussolini, Hitler, Himmler, Rommel, pretty much every fascist leader one could imagine. This book does a good job of showing how complex people can be, especially against my understanding of WWII as a two-sided conflict between nations allied under common goals.
This is a book I will think about for a while for many reasons: the questions of how much and what specifically is true, the horrific imagery of war, the beautiful prose, and the complex and utterly unlikeable characters (real people?) presented within. Also there's a hilarious anecdote of Malaparte trying for all he's worth to avoid a meeting with Himmler. What a bizarre individual Malaparte was.
Malaparte was by all accounts a fascist, which comes up in interesting ways in the story as he protects Jews from Nazi pogroms and criticizes Mussolini, Hitler, Himmler, Rommel, pretty much every fascist leader one could imagine. This book does a good job of showing how complex people can be, especially against my understanding of WWII as a two-sided conflict between nations allied under common goals.
This is a book I will think about for a while for many reasons: the questions of how much and what specifically is true, the horrific imagery of war, the beautiful prose, and the complex and utterly unlikeable characters (real people?) presented within. Also there's a hilarious anecdote of Malaparte trying for all he's worth to avoid a meeting with Himmler. What a bizarre individual Malaparte was.