Kosinski’s first novel, published in 1965, is a powerful, thought provoking and disturbing work. The plot is simple: “In the fall of 1939, a six year old boy from a large city in Eastern Europe is sent by his parents, like thousands of other children, to the shelter of a distant village,” and through a series of circumstances he moves from one village to another over the course of World War Two. The boy witnesses and is subject to different (often sexual) atrocities in each village, and although the Germans and Russians are identified directly, most of the settings and characters are nameless but representative. The graphic cruelty of war is central to many other books and movies - both fact and fiction - but because Kosinski narrates from the perspective and with the vocabulary of a young boy - vivid, horrific, and a bit fantastical, but simplistic - readers are quickly drawn to the book’s symbolism and underlying theme. The book’s title, Kosinski explains, refers to a bird that is captured, painted bright colours, released back to its flock, and subsequently rejected and often killed by its kin. It is the inhumanity of individuals and groups due to superficial (painted) differences, rather than the graphic acts themselves that prove more disturbing. And though the narrative viewpoint is that of a young boy, Kosinski’s personal anger is pervasive, again heightening the inhumanity of the war rather than any of the book’s particular events. If William Golding is philosophical about human nature, the breakdown of society, and our regression to savagery in "The Lord of the Flies", Kosinski thrusts the savagery at us - not fiction on a fictional desert island, but fictional descriptions of real savagery set in a real place in our lifetimes. This second edition features an excellent preface by the author. It provides detail about his personal life that is helpful to understanding why he wrote the book, as well as a denial that the book depicts his personal experiences. Particularly interesting is Kosinski’s description of the furor the book caused at the time in Eastern Bloc countries - the setting for the unnamed villages in which the story unfolds - and one is left wondering if the regimes were most upset about the graphic plot or the even more disturbing and damning theme. An extremely powerful and moving book.

Not for the weak of heart. This is one of the most brutal books about the terror and physical cruelty of World War II. Escaping the Holocaust, a dark haired olive-skinned boy ( maybe a Jew or a Gypsy ), wanders through war-torn Slav villages. The boy is sometimes hounded and tortured, other times sheltered and taught. This is an uncompromisingly savage book and a chapter of the Nazi experience that no reader will ever forget. Grim. Intense. Terrifying. In the end, for all it's brutality, this novel is still a testament and celebration of the individual will. This is a triumphant work of art and the most macabre odyssey.

This book is Kosinski's first published success. The grittiness and graphic horrors portrayed in the book are trademarks for this writer. Whether or not this is a hidden autobiography of his wartime childhood - it is a well written and disturbing book. An in your face reminder of the brutality of man and the ravages of war.