Searching for Schindler

by Thomas Keneally

Paperback, 2007

Status

Available

Call number

823

Genres

Biography & Memoir

Biography

Fiction

Publication

Sceptre, Edition: Export/Ireland ed

Description

A memoir of Tom's journey around the world to discover the complete story of Oskar Schindler and those on his now-famous list. In 1980, Tom Keneally walkted into a store in Beverly Hills owned by Polish Jew Leopold Pfefferberg Page to buy a new briefcase. For the next few years, Tom's life was taken over by this charismatic and driven man, known as Poldek, and the story he wanted shared. The resulting book was Schindler's Ark, which went on to win the Booker Prize and ultimately became the Oscar-award-winning film Schindler's List. Tom and Poldek travelled across the US, Germany, Israel, Austria and Poland, interviewing survivors and discovering their extraordinary stories. Searching For Schindler is very much Tom's journey; he reflects on his early days as a successful but less than confident writer, and thow this book, the film it became and the people he met, changed his and his family's lives forever. "Had I read Searching For Schindler before making the film, I may have made it an hour longer. I owe you so much. The world owes you more." - Steven Spielberg… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member dcoward

This book by the author of Schindler's List details the researching of the book and the process of making the book into the movie. The highlights are the details about Poldeck, the Holocaust survivor who introduced the author to the story of Schindler and helped him research the book. Poldeck is

indiscouragable and seemingly endlessly optimistic about getting an "Oscar for Oskar", and sounds like a fascinating man. What is odd about the book though is that is seems to be more a recitation of the facts of researching the book with a few more detailed stories thrown in than an actual memoir. The author briefly mentions the nightmares that plagued him while writing the book and even more briefly mentions a breakdown after the deaths of people close to him, but these are some of the few personal details mentioned. Still, a good read for fans of the book or the movie.

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LibraryThing member BillPilgrim

I enjoyed the book. The way that Keneally discovered the Schindler story was amazing. A total coincidence, a synchronicity of events. He seems like a most likeable person. I have not read any of his other works, but i am interested in doing so now and hope to read something else, one of his novels

probably, in the hear future. there are just too many books to read.

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LibraryThing member Lit.Lover

I found this book deeply moving, not only because of the central story - the Holocaust and its survivors - but the deep friendship that developed between Poldek and Thomas Keneally. Keneally's acceptance of Poldek's invitation to publish Schindler's story and to have it made into a film leads to

many new precious and enduring relationships . It takes a little reading between the lines to understand the personal cost to the author of all the travel, painful interviews, separation from his own family and sheer physical exhaustion but the reward is a deeper and more detailed understanding of the Shoah - especially for the generations born since that time.

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