The Collaborator

First off, it was frustrating as the release date for Kindle continued to get pushed back and I realize that has no bearing to the value of this book. However, the wait was well and truly worth it.

From the moment I opened the book on my kindle to just now, five minutes ago after finishing the story, I couldnt put it down. The author has done an incredible job of interweaving a historical figure with literary latitude and it kept me on the hook throughout. It is written in a past to present format with the story cutting back and forth in appropriate moments to tell a tale that eventually meets in the middle. The book adequately conveys emotional situations along side of historical facts and shows us that it is possible to see many sides of history through different perspectives of the same event, depending on who is telling their story. The Holocaust has many sides and facets to it. To successfully tell a story that evokes emotional response other than expected is somewhat brilliant.

There is a plot twist that occurs in the latter part of the book that made me put my kindle down and just shake my head in a realized revelation. Well done to the author…

Family secrets are a rich source of material for novelists, as are events surrounding the Holocaust. So Diane Armstrongs The Collaborator raises the readers expectations, and this reader was not disappointed. Annika is a 40 year old magazine editor who in 2005 finds herself in a mid-life crisis and decides to find herself through exploring a mystery involving her grandmothers escape from Hungary while under Nazi occupation. The narrative splits into three strands, Hungary in 1944, Israel in the early 1950s, and Annikas 2005 journey from Sydney to Budapest and Israel. The split narrative is very well handled, and the reader is able to shares Annikas quite extraordinary discoveries about her ancestors. The person who facilitates the escape of a large number of Jews from Hungary, Niklos Nagy, is well drawn but remains slightly enigmatic to the end. We learn in the epilogue that he is based on a real person, and my only slight quibble is that the fictional personal involvement of Annikas family is hard to separate from the actual historical facts. Annikas research into the past seems to be facilitated by more good luck than most researchers would encounter, but this at least moves the narrative along.

The setting and travels to Budapest and Israel were interesting. A man attempts to ssave Jewish people from certain death. The book records the misunderstanding of the methods used to free people. So sad that he was ridiculed for what he did. His reputation torn apart. Ultimately it is his granddaughter who goes on a search for information about his movements and helping free people in the holocaust. An intriguing book. I so enjoyed the story lines. What things may seem, are often mistaken, and can destroy many aspects of life. Thank you to the author.

Ms. Armstrong has created out of the unbelievable truth that is stranger than fiction, a fiction work of honor and dignity. The story ,told in various flashbacks, traces the vulnerabilities, perfidies, slights and deceits that make up a story of life lived in the public eye. She has written a story for me to remember and learn from. A personal story interwoven throughout becomes the avenue of forgiveness and bittersweet honesty, long sought, but never achieved in the late heros lifetime. Nice threading and weaving made the story easy to follow, and almost painful to experience, but I couldnt put it down. Thanks.

This novel attempts to wrap a cliche-burdened utterly predictable ____load of pseudo romantic drivel around the Kastner story of the deal he may have made with the Nazis. This remains one of the most examined, analyzed (academically, journalistically and historically) episodes of the Holocaust in Hungary and its aftermath. For the author to attempt to present it as amateur original research is incredibly fraudulent. How can she depend so utterly on an ignorant audience?

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