The Book of Aron

A Novel

By: Jim Shepard

Narrated by: Michael Goldstrom

The acclaimed National Book Award finalist—“one of the United States’ finest writers,” according to Joshua Ferris, “full of wit, humanity, and fearless curiosity”—now gives us a novel that will join the short list of classics about children caught up in the Holocaust.

Aron, the narrator, is an engaging if peculiar and unhappy young boy whose family is driven by the German onslaught from the Polish countryside into Warsaw and slowly battered by deprivation, disease, and persecution. He and a handful of boys and girls risk their lives by scuttling around the ghetto to smuggle and trade contraband through the quarantine walls in hopes of keeping their fathers, mothers, brothers, and sisters alive, hunted all the while by blackmailers and by Jewish, Polish, and German police, not to mention the Gestapo.

When his family is finally stripped away from him, Aron is rescued by Janusz Korczak, a doctor renowned throughout prewar Europe as an advocate of children’s rights who, once the Nazis swept in, was put in charge of the Warsaw orphanage. Treblinka awaits them all, but does Aron manage to escape—as his mentor suspected he could—to spread word about the atrocities?

Jim Shepard has masterfully made this child’s-eye view of the darkest history mesmerizing, sometimes comic despite all odds, truly heartbreaking, and even inspiring. Anyone who hears Aron’s voice will remember it forever.

©2015 Jim Shepard (P)2015 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

Winner of the 2016 PEN New England Award

An ALA Notable Book of 2015

Winner of the Sophie Brody Medal for Excellence in Jewish Literature

Finalist for the Jewish Book Award

“Shepard’s harrowing, comic, and deeply human story of a boy in the Warsaw ghetto crushed me. This book needs to be read.” —Anthony Doerr (Favorite Reads of 2015)

“A masterpiece. . . a remarkable novel destined to join the shelf of essential Holocaust literature. . . . a story of such startling candor about the complexity of heroism that it challenges each of us to greater courage. . . . Shepard has created something transcendent and timeless.” —Ron Charles, The Washington Post

“Shepard is a flat-out brilliant and deeply empathetic writer [who] puts the reader inside a known enclosure and yet makes us feel anew the bewilderment and horror of that time and place. . . . The Book of Aron is a worthy, necessary addition to the literature of the Holocaust.” —Rob Spillman, Guernica

heartbreaking masterpiece

I had to read this book for school, but I really loved it. it's deviating. so beautifully written though. I would absolutely recommend this book

Reading doesn’t do the writing justice

Jim Shepard is understated, nuanced, and smart. In order to get his dark sense of humor, it’s important to read with a certain pace and tone. I stopped listening to the audiobook about a third of the way through and finished it in print. The dialogue moves much faster in print. The reader goes too slowly and misses the punchiness. The book is so damn good.

A Child of our times

What did you love best about The Book of Aron?

Aron's experience opens up an entirely new perspective on the tragedy of WWII and most specifically, the Warsaw Ghetto.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Book of Aron?

When Aron betrays his friend to the Nazis

Have you listened to any of Michael Goldstrom’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

good performance

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Every second, every moment, every description and action in the book are terribly moving and important.

Absolutely heartbreaking.

The clarity of the prose, the starkly candid voice of Aron, and the unbearably sad historical circumstances make this an unforgettable experience. Beautifully read; beautifully written.

a different view of the Holocaust horror

I've read a number of WWII books, describing both the European and the Pacific theatres. This is the first one that offers an almost neutral viewpoint (I know, I didn't read any other reviews that agree with me, either) . There are Jews who betray each other and there are Nazis who are sympathetic towards the Jews. It seemed more like a study of how human beings might choose to behave when challenged, rather than another indictment of the Third Reich. As either one--a psychological invention or a 'Holocaust novel'--I found it weak and uninvolving. Read anything by Elie Wiesel instead.