{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"Your Book Review: The Escape Artist","description":"[This is one of the finalists in the 2026 book review contest, written by an ACX reader who will remain anonymous until after voting is done. I\u2019ll be posting about one of these a week for several months. When you\u2019ve read them all, I\u2019ll ask you to vote for a favorite, so remember which ones you liked] Holocaust stories, both true and fictional, tend to repeat the same few clich\u00e9s over and over. There\u2019s the innocent child who only partially understands what\u2019s happening (Diary of Anne Frank, Boy in the Striped Pajamas). There\u2019s the sentimental redemption story that focuses on a small individual act (Life is Beautiful, The Book Thief). And of course, there\u2019s the good German, or at least the morally conflicted one (Schindler\u2019s List, The Reader). You won\u2019t find any of these tropes in The Escape Artist. This 2022 book by Jonathan Freedland1 tells the true, and largely unknown, story of one of the few Jews ever to break out of Auschwitz. The details of his improbable escape are remarkable enough, but what really makes the story fascinating is the way it so thoroughly defies every single expectation we have of a Holocaust narrative. Its deeply unlikeable protagonist eventually alienates every friend and supporter he has, and dies a bitter old man, almost completely forgotten by history. His story lacks not only good Germans, but even good non-Germans, with his harshest criticism saved not for the Nazis, not even for the dithering Allies, but for the Jewish leaders of Europe. And though one could see the story of his escape as a triumph, in his own telling, it\u2019s a failure, for although he makes it out of Auschwitz against all odds, he fails at his larger mission: to stop the Holocaust. There\u2019s no redemption here, no moral uplift, no lessons save for perhaps the grimmest and most nihilistic \u201clesson\u201d I\u2019ve ever encountered in any story, Holocaust-related or otherwise: that when confronted with the unthinkable, most people\u2019s natural tendency is denial. But we\u2019re getting ahead of ourselves. To get out of Auschwitz, first you have to get into Auschwitz\u2026 https:\/\/www.astralcodexten.com\/p\/your-book-review-the-escape-artist ","author_name":"Astral Codex Ten Podcast","author_url":"http:\/\/sscpodcast.libsyn.com\/website","html":"