The Beautiful Mrs. Seidenman is one of the most beautifully written novels I have ever read. The author deftly weaves together several people's lives which converge during the same time period. There are no distilled characterizations of heroes or demons; rather, fairly ordinary and yet complex people who are trying to figure out how to live and survive in Nazi occupied Warsaw. To further exemplify how ordinary the characters are, Szczypiorski projects each person into their future to let the reader know what will become of him or her. This can be an artifical plot device but in this case, it is highely effecting. Moreover, it does not take the reader so much out of the present, rather it helps one to better undertand the complexity of each character--no matter how "simple" he or she may seem. This is a very full reading experience. It is thought provoking, affect laden and a really well told story. I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in the Holocaust and/or Poland.

Figaro Magazine was right: "superb and staggering." Mrs Seidenman is at the epicenter of a collapsing world. She is beautiful and cultured, yet otherwise unremarkable. A disconnected cast of mostly ordinary, yet often remarkable, men women and children swirl about her on the brink of extinction. Seemingly underwritten, this telling of a horror for the ages almost sneaks up on you and gathers momentum until the very last page. It left me dazed and a little wiser.

I bought two copies of this book years ago so I could share it with a good friend and have someone to talk to about this wonderful, disturbing story. Sad to say, she's yet to read it. I've read it three times over the years and am moved and haunted still by the realism of the characters and their struggles for dignity and life. One day, I'll meet someone else who has read this book, and over a long cafe break, we'll discuss the imagery, the painful courage of the protagonists, and the latter day realities the Holocaust has left behind . . . . .

A Mass for Arras is a quiet book that sneaks up and mesmerizes you. For the first few pages I anticipated a heavy, philsophical book. A few more pages and I was hooked. Yes, the book is "philosophical" but in the manner of a great novel - it shows concretely how changing beliefs effect daily life. The book reconstructs history in a believable manner while clearly critizing the contemporary world - a book that works on many levels. Add it to your must read list.

I found Self-Portrait With Woman to be very confusing and very choppy. I read the first hundred pages or so and decided to stop reading because I had no idea what was going on. Kamil, the main character and story teller, is relating his life story to a woman in Switzerland so that she can get a better idea of how life was in Eastern Europe during the communist era. All of his stories are told through his experiences with women he has been involved with. I found this to be confusing becuase it was difficult to tell when these things were occuring in his life and what the women had to do with the story. Overall, I thought this book was choppy and it lacked a point.

An excellent novel that explores one man's soul against the dark backdrop of Poland's history. Though a deep portrait of one person, Szczypiorski is universal, and has universal implications. Above all, Kamil vaules his loves, and uses them as reference points in the depths of his soul, and in the darkness of his history. I recommend this novel! It's enjoyable and important. And I did not find it at all choppy. It's lyrical and beautifully written, the author paints a picture of one man, in all his humanity.