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Itâs 1975, and Shaltiel Feigenbergâprofessional storyteller, writer and beloved husbandâhas been taken hostage: abducted from his home in Brooklyn, blindfolded and tied to a chair in a dark basement. His captors, an Arab and an Italian, donât explain why the innocent Shaltiel has been chosen, just that his life will be bartered for the freedom of three Palestinian prisoners. As his days of waiting commence, Shaltiel resorts to what he does best, telling storiesâto himself and to the men who hold his fate in their hands.
With beauty and sensitivity, Wiesel builds the world of Shaltielâs memories, haunted by the Holocaust and a Europe in the midst of radical change. A Communist brother, a childhood spent hiding from the Nazis in a cellar, the kindness of liberating Russian soldiers, the unrest of the 1960sâthese are the stories that unfold in Shaltielâs captivity, as the outside world breathlessly follows his disappearance and the police move toward a final confrontation with his captors.
Impassioned, provocative and insistently humane, Hostage is both a masterly thriller and a profoundly wise meditation on the power of memory to connect us to the past and our shared need for resolution.
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Creators
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Publisher
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Awards
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Release date
August 21, 2012 -
Formats
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OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9780449009505
- File size: 197760 KB
- Duration: 06:51:59
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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Performing a book by Elie Wiesel requires a combination of talents, including the ability to create different voices, to employ a range of accents, and to move smoothly between English and other languages. All of these are expertly handled by Mark Bramhall in his performance of Wiesel's latest novel. The book, which focuses on the kidnapping of Shaltiel Feigenberg by an Arab and an Italian, is a complex yet accessible thriller that compels the listener to confront many issues that connect the past with the present. As the story progresses and Feigenberg confronts his past and attempts to reconcile himself to his captivity, Bramhall's performance permits the listener to bond with Feigenberg and to understand his predicament and the memories that haunt him. D.J.S. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine -
May 21, 2012
A provocative âwhat-ifâ premise propels Nobel laureate Wieselâs (Night) latest novel. In 1975, an Orthodox Jewish man, Shaltiel Feigenberg, is kidnapped from a Brooklyn street and held hostage by two terrorists, an Arab and an Italian, who demand the release of Palestinians and threaten death if their demands arenât met. Shaltiel, a kindly storyteller, ruminates on the blessings of Judaism and recalls the words of Jewish prophets, philosophers, and mystics with nostalgia. He also remembers the moral ambiguity of being hidden in his native Galicia by a Nazi officer while his family labored in Auschwitz. Wiesel deplores ideologies that mislead and betray, including the communism that lured Shaltielâs brother in the 1930s. As Shaltielâs Arab captor spews hatred and his Italian captor speaks for international terrorism, Shaltiel claims that the excesses of Israelâs treatment of Palestinians are unavoidable safety measures. While the clock ticks closer to the deadline, Wieselâs narrative skills fail to create tension, and Shaltielâs rescue is perfunctory. Instead of a literary thriller, we get a didactic defense of the Jewish state and its timeless vulnerability. Agent: Georges Borchardt. -
November 26, 2012
Wieselâs novel, set in 1975, recounts the fictional biography of Holocaust survivor Shaltiel Feigenberg, who recalls the story of his life after he is abducted from his home in Brooklyn, N.Y., and held captive by extremists. Unfortunately, award-winning narrator Mark Bramhall isnât at his best here. Early on, some listeners will tune out; Bramhallâs performance of Feigenbergâs Italian and Arab abductors is disappointing: at times, he makes the Islamic terrorist sound almost Russian. Although Bramhall does a bit better subsequently in flashback scenes featuring German characters, the damage has already been done. Additionally, the flatness of his narration is not engaging. While Wiesel has given him dramatic material to work withâhis protagonist recalls hiding from the Nazis and pleading for his freedomâBramhallâs uninspired delivery robs the text of its power. A Knopf hardcover.
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