Schindler's List

By: Thomas Keneally

Narrated by: Ben Kingsley

Length: 4 hrs and 43 mins

Publisher's summary

During the Holocaust at the German concentration camp near Plaszow, thousands of Jews lost their lives at the hands of the Nazis. More than a thousand others were spared thanks to a womanizing, heavy-drinking, German-Catholic industrialist and Nazi Party member named Oskar Schindler. One of the most remarkable narratives of the Holocaust, Schindler's List masterfully recreates the daring exploits of Schindler, who used his enormous fortune to build a factory near the concentration camp and his influence to save the lives of more than 1,300 Jews. It is an absorbing, suspenseful, and moving account of Schindler's legacy of life.

©1993 Serpentine Publishing Co. PTY LTD. All Rights Reserved (P)1993 Simon & Schuster Inc., All Rights Reserved

Critic reviews

• 1982 Man Booker Prize Winner

Overly shortened.

I saw the movie, now I wanted to hear the book. It was cut far too short without mentioning it was abridged. Not enough detail.

Schindler's List

This is one of my favorite movies of all times. I'm too old and my eyesight is too bad to read the book now so I was very happy to find this audiobook. The story is great. Schindler was a wonderful man.

Moving

Before this, I had never read or watched Schindler's List. I'd always wanted to, but was afraid material would be too haunting. I felt this medium gave me that opportunity. I'm glad I listen to it. Thank you. God bless!

We are all capable of cruelty and compassion

Thomas Keneally always has a message and a challenge for his readers. The challenge here is to acknowledge that all of us are capable of cruelty and compassion. The challenge for all of us is to find that middle road so that at our death they may say of us "he was a good man".

Reading along.

I like the book. I was trying to read along with the physical book itself but there were many parts when it skipped large chunks and added a few words that were not in the physical book. I was a little confused every once in a while but I liked the story.
I'm reading this for my 8th grade Language arts class with our WWII unit.
We read the book night by Elie Wiesel as a class and I chose this is my individual book.

But how is the movie so long?

I purchased this audio book because I'd never seen the film and wanted to know what all the buzz was about. Shockingly the book is a quick read and a really powerful story. Schindler is a very complicated character and I love a story that's not so black and white. However, I'm shocked that the book is less than a 5hr listen, while the film is over 3 hrs. How!?

A great companion to the movie

Fills in the blanks from Spielberg's film and provides an excellent read.

Obviously outstanding

A must read. Ben Kingsley is superb. Emotionally draining but definitely worth that trivial payment

Very touching

What a great story about a terrible tragedy and the risks that were taken to find victory.

Astounding

I've not seen the movie so this was my first exposure to the story of Oscar Schindler and the Jews of Krakow. The story's slow buildup is what sticks in my mind. No one in Krakow new, of course, what was going to happen. Each new regulation (Jews can't have more than xxx marks in their bank account) was greeted with a kind of resignation -- maybe this one will be the last. The tale is told with a neutral tone that only increases the feelings in the reader of foreboding, shock, and sadness. This book, more than any other, reveals the beurocratic nature of the holocaust, and how it used the existing government and industrial system, of ordinay people, to follow an agenda of madness.