THE CASTLE IN THE FOREST by Norman Mailer

Join Quality Paperback Book Club for a great deal on THE CASTLE IN THE FOREST

"I’ll be frank: it’s been a while since I chose to read a book by Norman Mailer. The Naked and the Dead, The Deer Park, Executioner’s Song—I loved them. But some of the later novels just seemed impenetrable. Then I picked up The Castle in the Forest. The only possible reaction is Wow!

He has taken on Hitler; not just young Adolf, but his parents. In Mailer’s version, Hitler is not, as some suspected, the illegitimate product of a Jewish father, but is rather the result of incest. His father, Alois, a bullying and abusive womanizer, beds the daughter of his own sister. All of this is observed by the narrator, who is himself a demon. As we leave him, Adolf is both a hypochondriac and a malingerer, but Mailer’s insights leave you very clear about the forces that lead him to the hell he will create.

Having said all that, the truth is that The Castle in the Forest is both a literary tour de force and an amazingly entertaining novel. I don’t know how much of this is historically based and how much is Mailer’s astounding imagination, but it stands as an enthralling and brilliant crown on an extraordinary career. In fact, I think this will be considered the finest of Mailer’s career."—Victoria Skurnick, Editor-in-Chief

Visit Quality Paperback Book Club for more information