Kaddish for a Child Not Born

Imre Kertesz's mesmerizing novel is a tale of identity and memory--the story of a middle-aged man taking stock of his life in the ever-present shadow of the Holocaust. The story unfolds at a writers retreat as the narrator, a survivor of the Holocaust, explains to a friend that he cannot bring a child into a world where the Holocaust occurred and could occur again. In an intricate narrative, we learn of the narrator's myriad disappointments: his unsuccessful literary career, his failed marriage, his ex-wife's new family and children --children that could have been his own. Kaddish for a Child Not Born is a deeply introspective, poetic yet unsentimental work.

'This stunning recitation . . . resembles . . . other memorably declamatory fictions as . . . Dostoyevsky's Notes from the Underground. Yes, Kertesz's Kaddish is that good.' --Kirkus