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    Skeletons at the Feast
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    Skeletons at the Feast
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    Skeletons at the Feast
    Audiobook12 hours

    Skeletons at the Feast

    Written by Chris Bohjalian

    Narrated by Mark Bramhall

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    In January 1945, in the waning months of World War II, a small group of people begin the longest journey of their lives: an attempt to cross the remnants of the Third Reich, from Warsaw to the Rhine if necessary, to reach the British and American lines.

    Among the group is eighteen-year-old Anna Emmerich, the daughter of Prussian aristocrats. There is her lover, Callum Finella, a twenty-year-old Scottish prisoner of war who was brought from the stalag to her family's farm as forced labor. And there is a twenty-six-year-old Wehrmacht corporal, who the pair know as Manfred-who is, in reality, Uri Singer, a Jew from Germany who managed to escape a train bound for Auschwitz.

    As they work their way west, they encounter a countryside ravaged by war. Their flight will test both Anna's and Callum's love, as well as their friendship with Manfred-assuming any of them even survive.

    Perhaps not since The English Patient has a novel so deftly captured both the power and poignancy of romance and the terror and tragedy of war. Skillfully portraying the flesh and blood of history, Chris Bohjalian has crafted a rich tapestry that puts a face on one of the twentieth century's greatest tragedies-while creating, perhaps, a masterpiece that will haunt readers for generations.


    From the Hardcover edition.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateMay 6, 2008
    ISBN9780739366240
    Unavailable
    Skeletons at the Feast
    Author

    Chris Bohjalian

    Chris Bohjalian is the author of twelve novels, including the New York Times bestsellers, Secrets of Eden, The Double Bind, Skeletons at the Feast, and Midwives.  His work has been translated into twenty-six languages.  He lives in Vermont with his wife and daughter.   Visit him at www.chrisbohjalian.com or www.facebook.com .

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    Reviews for Skeletons at the Feast

    4/5

    513 ratings51 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Germany, during WWII, sets the stage for a German family fleeing from the Russians, a Jewish man who escapes from a train headed to Auschwitz, a Scottish POW and a couple hundred imprisoned Jewish woman in a concentration camp.The several different points of view expressed in this novel were some voices I have not heard before. I have read, in varying degrees, the general concept of German families, and Jewish men and women during this timeframe, but none quite like this. Bohjalian was able to describe and, in turn, make me feel the weight of some extremely difficult decision many people had to make. I don't believe he is any different from many other WWII storytellers in describing the atrocities of the holocaust, but he impressed me with how all these people fit together seamlessly. He, also, does not spare us of any grief making it very realistic, and therefore - painful. Reading Skeletons at the Feast was a suspenseful experience and I appreciated learning a little bit more about the war. All in all, it was a very good book. (4/5)Originally posted on: "Thoughts of Joy..."
    • 4/5
      Well done, as audio books go.
    • 4/5
      Nearing the end of World War II, a group of people, each from various backgrounds, make their way west across Germany in the hope that they will meet the American/British lines and thus, safety. Included in this group: a fairly well-off Prussian family consisting of a mother, daughter, & young son (left behind while the father & two oldest brothers are off fighting in the war); a Scottish POW attempting to avoid detection; and an escaped Jewish man, hiding under the guise of various military uniforms. Also paralleling this group, who travel together, is the story of a young Jewish woman who is initially in one of the labor camps but then is frequently relocated with other Jewish women, forced to walk from destination to destination, many losing their lives along the way. There are, of course, many novels about World War II, all a bit different. Some deal with the front lines, some center on the treatment of the Jews, some focus on the families left behind, and still others tell of a variety of other aspects of the war. This one, too, is a bit different. Perhaps it is more subtle, but ultimately, no less horrifying. The term "casualties of war" keeps coming to my mind, in all of its various forms. This is a somewhat slow-moving novel, but nonetheless well written.
    • 2/5
      Hmmm... I pushed myself to read up to the halfway point, but that's as far as I got. I usually love these kind of reads and this one had potential, but it followed way too many people. I couldn't connect to any of the characters because the story was so scattered. We got a little bit here, a little bit there... it was so slow paced! I loved the action parts, but those were rare. I do not recommend this book unless you like a book that pushes and pulls you in a million different directions.
    • 4/5
      So far, I've read nine Chris Bohjalian novels (including his latest, THE FLIGHT ATTENDANT, coming in March 2018). Some have been historical fiction, some suspense/thrillers, all literary. I've been impressed by every one. For example, his 2008 SKELETONS AT THE FEAST. This book is another great one. SKELETONS AT THE FEAST is historical fiction. It is not exactly based on the diary of Bohjalian's friend's grandmother, in particular, the part that describes her 1945 terrifying journey, beginning where she lived in East Prussia, westward to escape the Soviet army. As Bohjalian said, this novel had its origins in this diary.Near the end of World War II, 18-year-old Ann, her mother, her little brother, and the Scottish POW who has been working on their farm in East Prussia begin such a journey. Along their way to what is now West Germany (to, they hope, the American and British lines), a German soldier joins their group, or so they are led to believe. This newcomer is actually a Jewish man wearing a German uniform.At the same time, another story is also going on, that of a group of Jewish women under the control of sadistic guards in a concentration camp. Eventually they, too, travel west by foot.Although each of these two groups lives under terrible conditions, with their lives constantly at risk, It is the description of the Jewish women that is difficult to read.But do yourself a favor and read this historical fiction that you may not have known about. Bohjalian's novels don't disappoint.
    • 3/5
      1945 World War II about the many refugees who trecked to reach British and American lines. It was well written and very good, but horrific because that was true for so many of the jews, and many others who were caught up in the war. Listened on audio Mark Bramhall
    • 4/5
      It's not often I say this, but for once, LibraryThing's "Will you like it?" appraiser was right: I did not like this book.I never though I would say this, but I wish Bohjalian was a horribly inept storyteller. I wish his characters were flat and unbelievable and were as developed as a James Bond villain. I wish the book was as shallow as a FOX television show. I wish this story was as boring as watching cars rust. Because if all of those things were true, then nothing would've happened in Skeletons at the Feast and no one would have gotten hurt. I wouldn't have met Theo, Anna, Mutti, Uri, Rebekah, Cecile, Jeanne and I wouldn't have gotten hurt. I hate you, Bohjalian. For that, I'm only giving you 4 Stars instead of the 5 Stars you probably deserve.
    • 4/5
      It was interesting to read a book about WWII that shows how it affected so many different people. Most books I've read about WWII usually focus only on the Jews and the Nazis (Germans), but Chris Bohjalian did very well on writing this novel. The characters of the story included a wealthy Prussian family who has left their home because they were mistaken when they believed that the war would never affect them, a Scottish POW, a Jew who was fortunate to escaped from a train on the way to the concentration camp, and two Jewish women who lived, worked, and tortured in a concentration camp. The different views and backgrounds of each character in the story gives the reader a better and well rounded perspective of the war.
    • 4/5
      It is close to the end of World War II. 18-year old Anna and her family are German farmers. They have prisoners of war helping out at their farm, including a young Scottish soldier, Callum. Uri is Jewish and has escaped from a train moving Jews to a camp; he must spend the rest of the war hiding the best he can. Cecile and Jeanne are Jewish girls in a camp. All three storylines are happening simultaneously and all three eventually come together. This was very good. Bohjalian is very good at realistic descriptions, yikes! I will admit that it took me a little bit to really get into this one, and with the three different storylines + me listening on audio, it was a bit confusing at first (which really is why it took a while for me to get into it). But once I started to know who was who and figure it all out, it was really very good.
    • 5/5
      Chris Bohjalian has written another page turner! The "good" German civilians who lived during WWII are seldom studied, and their hardships as Germany was retreating and the allied forces made their way to Berlin have not been acknowledged. Bohjalian examines one families retreat from the Russians, the brutality they encounter not only from the "enemy", but also from their own forces. Another journey at the same time examines the evacuation of one of the work camps and the forced death march of the young Jewish women during the dead of winter. The emotions and involvement of a Scottish POW, and Manfred, a Jewish escapee disguised as a German soldier, who become part of this exodus, are all woven together as they work their way across the country fleeing the Russian "invasion". This is a fantastic story of bravery, brutality, and an examination of survivial under extraordinary circumstances. I could not put this book down.
    • 3/5
      This book seems to me to be a cross between a romance and a "Boy's Own Adventure", with a lot of graphic violence thrown in. I am not really a big reader of either romances or war novels, and I shut my eyes in the movies when the violent bits come on. Therefore, this book won't be on my "favourites" list. Nonetheless, it did offer some interesting insights, reflecting on the futility and stupidity of nationalism and war, and the transcendence of individual human relationships. Also, seeing WWII from a German or Polish perspective is relatively rare in popular American literature.This is my first Bohjalian book, and I think I need to read more of his work, in different genres, before I make a judgment about whether I'll regularly visit the "B" section in my local library. This one was easy to keep "reading" - I had uploaded it from the 10 library CDs onto my iPod and I listened while I had my daily exercise.
    • 4/5
      It's not often I say this, but for once, LibraryThing's "Will you like it?" appraiser was right: I did not like this book.I never though I would say this, but I wish Bohjalian was a horribly inept storyteller. I wish his characters were flat and unbelievable and were as developed as a James Bond villain. I wish the book was as shallow as a FOX television show. I wish this story was as boring as watching cars rust. Because if all of those things were true, then nothing would've happened in Skeletons at the Feast and no one would have gotten hurt. I wouldn't have met Theo, Anna, Mutti, Uri, Rebekah, Cecile, Jeanne and I wouldn't have gotten hurt. I hate you, Bohjalian. For that, I'm only giving you 4 Stars instead of the 5 Stars you probably deserve.
    • 3/5
      A well-conceived plot with beautiful, lyrical prose. Yet somehow I never managed to care. Bohjalian crafts the place and the mood vividly, but never manages to get to the core of his characters. Frequently, characters were left undeveloped or the only details of their inner lives were cliches. I consistently felt that the narrator was outside looking in, telling us "This is how you're supposed to feel now." As a consequence, I never felt anything except apathy towards what, by all rights, should have been a fantastic read.
    • 4/5
      A bleak and often shocking depiction of Germany at the end of WWII, seen through the eyes of a German family fleeing the advancing Red Army, a Jew who has escaped transportation, a British POW and a French Jew in a labour camp. It would be fair to say that the atrocity count is quite high. The different viewpoints enable to author to explore attitudes of the time, particularly towards Hitler's treatment of the Jews, which the family at the centre of the story are all but unaware of. It is well written and illuminating, but I suspect it will be the shocking images that will stay with me.
    • 4/5
      A well told story of the impact of World War II on the average German family as they become refugees fleeing the Russians and eventually their own countrymen as the war draws to an end. This is the first novel I have read about this war from the perspective of the German. Mr. Bohjalian is a wonderful story teller and historian. This is the 3rd book I have read by him and I will read more.
    • 5/5
      I just finished Skeletons at the Feast by Chris Bohjalian, and it will definitely be on my list of favorites for 2009 and possibly, all time favorite books. The story covers a difficult setting - Germany, during the end of WWII, and one family's flight from the Russian invasion. This story is vivid and heart-wrenching. If you were moved by Stones from the River or The Book Thief, then you will want to listen to this book. Narrator Mark Bramhall does a great job with a wide range of voices and accents and lets you lose yourself in this poignant story. 5 stars.


    • 4/5
      Excellent audio production. Nothing is glossed over - the descriptions of the violence perpetrated are graphic and painful. The surprise ending seemed a little tacked on, but fine just the same. Still hard to imagine how it was possible.
    • 2/5
      I had to keep reading sentences over again because they were so freakin long! Because of that, I focused on his writing style and not the story. I'm sure it's a great story but I can't get past the run on sentences - too much work!!!
      There was a passage I found very disturbing that stayed with me. I know there were many horrors of WW2, but it was a little too much for me.
    • 4/5
      I enjoyed this book a lot more than I thought I would. This book takes place during World War II and tells the story of a German aristocrat family fleeing their home in the final days of the war. They are accompanied by a Scottish POW and a Jewish man masquerading as a German soldier. It gave an interesting perspective of a German family beginning to see through the propaganda of the Nazi regime and trying to come to terms with what their country has done during the war. The novel is set when the Russians are beginning to advance on Eastern Germany and commiting many atrocities against German civilians. There are a lot of fairly graphic scences of torture and brutality and much of the novel was really sad to read, but it really gave an interesting historical depiction of the war.
    • 5/5
      This is the story of a German aristocratic family living in Poland, a Scottish POW, an escaped Jewish man, and two young Jewish girls living the horrors inflicted by the Nazi. This is the story of how families are ripped apart by war and how war can cause strangers to become family. Although I’ve read a number of Holocaust stories, I’ve never read one coming from this angle. The Emmerich family had a successful farm once under the Polish government, but Germany under Hitler reclaimed that land and once again, to their relief, they are German citizens. Although they sometimes hear hard-to-believe rumors, all appears to be well from the viewpoint of a rural family living far from the center of German control. It isn’t until a young POW from Scotland is sent to help on the farm that they begin to have questions as to what is really occurring in Germany. It isn’t long before the war comes to this family and life takes them on a horrific journey of fleeing their land in advance of the Russian army. At the same time, a young Jewish man is able to escape the trains heading for the camps. Finding a German army uniform, he renames himself and manages to allude capture by posing as a German soldier. Soon the Emmerich family, the Scottish POW and the “soldier” find themselves on the same march westward all the while that two young Jewish girls are being marched eastward to work camps.There are scenes in this story that are horrific. Sometimes I felt the author attempted to include every degraded act possible; however, I can only imagine when circumstances are so dire that almost anything is possible. At the same time, this is a love story. A love story between two unlikely lovers, a love story of sister to brother and mother to daughter and friend to friend, and a story of respect and brotherly love evolves between two very unlikely young men. This is well researched and well written. Not only did I appreciate the story line, but it gave me a better sense of how complicated the war’s effect on average citizens really was.
    • 4/5
      This is one of those books that follows such a horrific topic that it really isn't a book to be enjoyed but one to be moved by. Usually when I read WWII historical fiction it is from an American or Jewish perspective so this was a bit different for me as most of the time it is told from a German perspective. The characters in this book are so easy to connect with and it almost feels as though they are your family. It was heartbreaking what ends up happening to some of the characters in this book (it is also heartbreaking that events like these took place in real life). I was touched by this book and its ending and would definitely recommend this book to WWII historical fiction fans.
    • 4/5
      Most works of literature are an interpretation or a response to life. Historical novels about WWII continue to be an important part of the literary fabric and Skeletons at the Feast is no exception. We must never forget the Holocaust, nor can we downplay the atrocities that occurred during this dark period of time. While it may have been difficult to read some of the parts in Chris Bohjalin's novel, I didn't find the violence or descriptions of what occurred gratuitous in any way. Actually, just when the reader thinks they've had enough is when he releases us and focuses on the other part of the story- that of family connections, unlikely friendships, and romance.

    • 5/5
      The story takes place as WW II is coming to a slow end. Bohjalian brings together a group of people who are all, for different reasons, trying to reach the allies instead of being captured by the Russians. There is an escaped Jew who has been on the run for 2 years disugising himself and hoping to find at least his sister Rebekkah surviving. There is a Scottish POW who has been working as a prisoner on a farm where he meets a German family. The German family itself who have sent their sons and husbands to fight but then must try to outrun the Russians. Bohjalian than takes you to another location and a young Jewish woman who is a prisoner in a work camp. How they all come together and what happens to them shows you the horror and sometimes the caring that occured during that era in history.
    • 5/5
      This was hard to put down even during the very graphic scenes of death and violence. I fell in love with all the characters and how they dealt with their predicaments. There was an interesting perspective given on the whys and wherefores of the Russian army's treatment of the Germans--that the Germans simply had asked for it. Not to over-simplify things, but, yes, the Russians were barbarians, but so were the Germans. Then the English were accused of the same when they bombed the crap out of Dresden. And so you fight barbarism with barbarism. But is that the best way? It makes me wonder, and a book that makes me stop and think, or stop and cry a couple times--and Skeletons did--deserves 5 stars.
    • 4/5
      It is 1945, Poland is being overrun by the Russians; Germany is losing the war. This story begins as a mass exodus of German refugees, from the countryside, is in progress. They are attempting to escape the army of “Ivan”, the Russian soldiers, as they advance, having defeated them. It is unlike most Holocaust novels since the theme concentrates on how the war affected four different kinds of characters from different backgrounds, each of whom experienced the effects of the war in their individual way, each fight for survival was unique.. We learn about Uri Singer, a 26 year old, German Jew, who has unbelievably escaped fairly unharmed, from a cattle car, by throwing himself out with the waste bucket. He is searching for his sister, Rebecca, but he has pretty much given up hope for her and his parents who had weakened already, before being “relocated”. He goes through many personas, often taking on the character and name of a soldier he has killed or a soldier who has brutalized Jews or attacked him or one he finds brutalizing others. Morphing in this way, from person to person, he has so far survived this war by being either a German or a Russian soldier, but certainly, not a Jew. Then there is the 20 year old, red-headed Scottish Soldier who parachuted into a swamp and barely rescued himself before he was captured and became a German POW. In that capacity he was sent, with others, to work on a farm estate, in order to help the family with their sugar beet crop since their older sons were fighting in the war effort. When it came time to send the prisoners back, the respected owner of the estate, Rolf Emmerich, persuaded the German government to allow them to keep one, Callum, to continue to help them. Anna Emmerich lives on the estate her family has owned for generations. Her mother is Prussian. She is enamored with Hitler and quite happy because when he invaded Poland, her farm, which was located on land that was given to Poland after WWI, was restored to its rightful place in Germany, once again. Her father, older brother and twin brother, are all engaged in Germany’s war. Anna is naïve and really doesn’t understand the reasons for, or the consequences of, this war. She is blind to the hardship, and living in the countryside, she is largely unaware of the atrocities being committed elsewhere, although there are rumors she has heard but does not believe. Theo, the youngest, at the age of ten, often has the clearest assumptions about the war, and in his simple innocence and understanding, draws conclusions some adults fail to see.Cecile is part of a group of female Jewish prisoners who are transported like cattle from place to place or marched from factory to factory. The cruelty they witness and endure is unspeakable. She hopes to survive, but often, she despairs and life seems too hard to contemplate for herself and those around her. She, like other Jewish victims of the war, hopes to survive to bear witness against those who committed the atrocities, so that the world will know.The story is carried forward by the way in which the lives of these characters intersect. The author has deftly woven the Aryan point of view with that of the Allies, the Jewish prisoners in the work camps and the POWs. Even the resistance movement is touched upon. Each experiences the brutality of this war in a different way, and how they interact with each other truly exposes the stupidity and futility of war. I really thought that this book got under the skin of the Holocaust to expose its very core and to enlighten the world to the workings of the minds of madmen, and others, who are often simply ordinary men who are driven mad by circumstances, in order to survive another day. What are we humans capable of in different situations of real or perceived danger? How do we humans survive inhuman and brutal behavior in spite of its horror, so that we can continue to have a normal life afterwards. In the end, it offers hope. There are survivors in the least expected places. Is there guilt, shame? Is there forgiveness? Was it really possible that some people had no idea that anything so cruel was taking place, that they didn’t wonder where all the Jews and others had gone? Were they complicit or simply afraid to speak out? Inspired by a diary from World War II, this book will help to answer these questions.
    • 4/5
      I find his novels compelling and this did not disappoint. I especially like that the story was based on an actual diary.
    • 4/5
      Skeletons at the Feast is a well-written story about people with different backgrounds in the final months of WWII. It shows, in a very elegant way, the different sides in this war, and how almost everyone suffered from it. However, the book never gripped me as I hoped it would, probably beacuse the characters are a bit flat. All in all, I would recommend this book, but it will not blow your mind away.
    • 4/5
      A story set in Germany in the closing days of World War II, as a German family attempts to flee east away from the advancing Russians, whose treatment the German people have reason to fear after the deprivations visited upon the Russians by Hitler's invading armies. The family is joined by a disguised Jew who has escaped from the prisoner trains and is seeking his sister, and Callum, a young Scottish soldier/prisoner who has been furloughed to the family for farm labor, and is now being hidden by them as they flee, hoping he will be their safe passage when they reach the Allied troops in the west. This is a mature, finely-written novel that I like more than any other Bohjalian book I have read, laced with love and fear and courage and cowardice in the shadow of the darkest drama of the 20th century. The ending is perfect: tragic, hopeful and wrenching, it speaks for the capacity of mankind to find love and happiness after the darkest brutalities that humanity can inflict upon its own kind.
    • 4/5
      It was interesting to read a book about WWII that shows how it affected so many different people. Most books I've read about WWII usually focus only on the Jews and the Nazis (Germans), but Chris Bohjalian did very well on writing this novel. The characters of the story included a wealthy Prussian family who has left their home because they were mistaken when they believed that the war would never affect them, a Scottish POW, a Jew who was fortunate to escaped from a train on the way to the concentration camp, and two Jewish women who lived, worked, and tortured in a concentration camp. The different views and backgrounds of each character in the story gives the reader a better and well rounded perspective of the war.
    • 5/5
      A holocaust/WWII story seen from different points of view that end up coming together. Dragged a little at times but well organized. Learned a lot, I like that.