Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
During WWII, British soldier Denis Avey was imprisoned at E715, a labor camp near Buna-Monowitz, the concentration camp known as Auschwitz III. While at E715, Avey decided to break out of prison and into Auschwitz to see its horrors firsthand. After disguising himself as a Jewish inmate, Avey entered Auschwitz and even witnessed the death march, in which thousands of prisoners were slaughtered in the face of advancing Soviet troops. James Langton ably narrates this audio version of Avey and Broomby's international bestseller. Although Langton's mellifluous tones-his voice light, fluting, and delicate-are occasionally at odds with the brutal ugliness of the tale, his narration is well paced and steady. Additionally, Langton uses the silence between sentences to punctuate the narrative, allowing those pauses to remind listeners that behind the story's excitement and valor remained a regular man who bore witness to the horrors of the Holocaust. A Da Capo hardcover. (July) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
Auschwitz and the horrors of war retold in this first-person account are so unspeakable that Avey only felt comfortable sharing his story at age 90. A British POW in -Auschwitz, Avey befriended and traded places with another prisoner to spend two nights in the Jewish sector in order to witness the atrocities. Only a small portion of the book deals with Auschwitz, but Avey's description of life during and after wartime is priceless. Avey's message to the world: everyone must fight to correct wrong and never assume that the unthinkable will not occur where you live. Narrator James Langton covers diverse cultures, accents, and situations with great skill and compassion. His outstanding delivery enhances this moving story immeasurably. Recommended for World War II and Holocaust enthusiasts. This program should be required reading for the military and war industry.-Susan G. Baird, formerly with Oak Lawn P.L., Chicago (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Submerged memories of a remarkable encounter in Auschwitz drove an aged British World War II veteran to reveal his plainspoken, moving storyassisted by BBC journalist Broomby.Avey admits he did not join the army in 1939 "for King and Country," but rather for adventure; as a strapping farm boy, he proved a crack rifleman and a natural-born leader. After ordeals fighting Mussolini's forces in Libya and General Rommel's forces in North Africa, he was taken prisoner in 1944 and transported to Auschwitz, where he was enlisted to help build a massive rubber factory by the IG Farben company. Though English prisoners were treated fairly well, they toiled alongside a separate group of miserable, starved wretches the English called "stripeys," because of their tattered pajama-like outfits, hardly human "moving shadows" who were barely strong enough to lift anythingthe Jews. Gradually, Avey befriended several of the crew, including a man named Ernst and learned that the Jews were simply worked to death (unlike the Englishmen), then vaporized "up the chimney," sending out the sickly sweet odor Avey had noticed. "The scales were lifted from my eyes," he writes, and he arranged with another Jewish prisoner, Hans, to switch clothing so that Avey could infiltrate the Jewish barracks for a night and Hans could eat and rest in the British prisoners' camp. It was a perilous ploy, but it worked, and Avey was duly horrified by the brutal conditions and life-saving mechanisms. He wrote to his mother in coded language about the camp details and to contact Ernst's sister in England. Upon liberation, both Avey and Ernst were force-marched west, but neither knew what happened to the other. The author's post-traumatic torment after the warwhen no one wanted to listen to the truth so that the young soldier simply sealed upunderscores the importance of treatment for soldiers and prisoners.A unique war story from a brave man.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
