emil and karl

my new found (need to be) thriftiness has seen me entering second-hand bookshops
not to mention the local library (more coming on that front)
i've found a second-hand shop in my current town of domesticity
that is very well organised and has a large number of titles on offer
so as is my want when on a mission to get into a book
i enter the shop with the promise to not exit until a book is in hand
this approach has worked well in the past at airport bookshops, etc
it means on occasions a title is purchased that may not otherwise be
if given the chance the spirit of procrastination means leaving empty-handed
rather than take a chance on something not totally convincing
which means of course possibly missing a gem of a book
so after a good hour or so in the second-hand shop
i decided on a book titled emil and karl
written by an unknown author named yankev glatshteyn
a polish jew who wrote this book just prior to world war 2
a stark and brutal portrayal of the darkest hour in human history
is written in sub-titled text on the front cover
emil and karl are 2 austrian schoolboys
swept up in the nazi clampdown on jews
emil is a jew whilst karl is his loyal and best friend
i'm not entirely sure why i decided to give this book a read
war books and films are something i tend to want to avoid
i think purely on the basis i just don't want to be reminded
of what terrible things us humans are capable of doing to each other
but the innocence of the child in an adult world is an appealing subject
with some recently seen foreign films fresh in the memory
further investigation of this book offers some further insight
only just recently translated from yiddish
it has been a staple read in yiddish culture since it was written
what i had not expected though
was that in fact it is written with children as the target audience
presumably to provide a tale of friendship transcending culture or faith
for this i enjoyed the story and the comradeship on display
there is also the enjoyment of reading of adults being softened
by the innocence of these two boys and their need for shelter
however it is a very simply written tale
so the book can be consumed in one take over a few hours
something a bit different