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Raphaël Jérusalmy
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Saving Mozart Kindle Edition

by Raphaël Jerusalmy (Author), Howard Curtis (Translator) Format: Kindle Edition
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 29 ratings
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A novel of one dying man’s act of defiance against the Nazis. “This slender, confident debut novel is deliciously atmospheric and tense” (Financial Times).
 
Raphaël Jerusalmy’s debut novel takes the form of the journal of Otto J. Steiner, a former music critic of Jewish descent suffering from tuberculosis in a Salzburg sanatorium in 1939. Drained by his illness and isolated in the gloomy sanatorium, Steiner finds solace only in music. He is horrified to learn that the Nazis are transforming a Mozart festival into a fascist event. Steiner feels helpless at first, but an invitation from a friend presents him with an opportunity to fight back. Under the guise of organizing a concert for Nazi officials, Steiner formulates a plan to save Mozart that could dramatically change the course of the war.
 
“A dazzling, striking debut, as intriguing as its author . . . a compelling success.” —L’Express
 
“Steiner’s fictional diary is a brief but powerful story about a brave feat recorded for a son Steiner will never see again.” —Historical Novel Society
 
“If we can imagine a part of the contents [of the intimate journal kept by Steiner], in direct relation to the somber reality of the period, it does not reserve fewer considerable surprises that situate it well beyond a simple chronicle of the time.” —L’Humanité
 
“The strength of Saving Mozart is its focus on one man’s limited experience of horror.” —Three Guys One Book
 
“Reads like an unexpected gift.” —The Big Issue
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  1. Print length
    102 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publisher
    Europa Editions
  5. Publication date
    November 5, 2013
  6. Reading age
    18 years and up
  7. File size
    3411 KB
  8. Page Flip
    Enabled
  9. Word Wise
    Enabled
  10. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
  11. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"With its sober, sarcastic tone and feverish rhythm, this concerto of a single voice is undeniably a success."
--"L'Express

"If we can imagine a part of the contents [of the intimate journal kept by Steiner], in direct relation to the somber reality of the period, it does not reserve fewer considerable surprises that situate it well beyond a simple chronicle of the time."
--"L'Humanite""

About the Author

Raphaël Jerusalmy is a graduate of the Ecole Normale Supérieure and the Sorbonne, has made a career in the Israeli military intelligence before conducting humanitarian operations and education. He is now old book dealer in Tel Aviv. Saving Mozart is his first novel.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B07PPBGWJH
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Europa Editions (November 5, 2013)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ November 5, 2013
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 3411 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 102 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 29 ratings

About the author

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Raphaël Jérusalmy

Raphaël Jérusalmy

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Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
29 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Christopher Evans
5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing
Reviewed in the United States on January 24, 2014
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I loved it.Have recommended it to many.Just so sensitively written.It seemed to me it was very easy to feel to hear to see to sense all thru' the book
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Carmela Devito
4.0 out of 5 stars pretty good
Reviewed in the United States on March 7, 2014
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Overall this was pretty good. The author seemed to capture life during the war quite well and his protoganists illness very well the main reason I won't rate it excellent is the way it ended-it just ended. Disappointing ending to a good book
One person found this helpful
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D. Jean- Louis
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on August 13, 2015
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Good Story, quite original
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Patricia
4.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable
Reviewed in the United States on November 18, 2013
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An enjoyable short book in which the structure and plot surprise reminded me of the unexpected twist in "Address Unknown." A lot packed into a short read.
One person found this helpful
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felicity
3.0 out of 5 stars Something different
Reviewed in the United States on January 8, 2014
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A "little" man rising above himself, taking a risk well beyond his comfort level. Another side of anti-Semitism from WW11
One person found this helpful
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Jan Mal
4.0 out of 5 stars Four Stars
Reviewed in the United States on October 12, 2014
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For anyone who loves Mozart and has an interest in musicology, and history, this is a fascinating book.
One person found this helpful
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fay lutchner
2.0 out of 5 stars saving mozart
Reviewed in the United States on January 11, 2014
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too many interruptions to the narrative and if that's how ordinary germans lived during the war-no one can claim not to know what went on
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Mary Whipple
3.0 out of 5 stars "Strange that the Germans should be such music lovers. Music is a constant process of trial and error."
Reviewed in the United States on March 24, 2014
Though few people know of his Jewish background, Otto J. Steiner, an Austrian music critic in the 1930s, is a pariah. He is dying of tuberculosis and is confined to a sanatorium, not allowed to mix with the general population unless he leaves under his own power for occasional walks. The immediate problems Steiner faces - isolation, declining finances, the delayed rent owed him by a young couple living in his apartment in Salzburg - complicate his life in the hospital and may end his ability remain in a single room. The only thing that keeps him going is his love of music, the recordings he has brought with him, his phonograph, and his desire to go "one last time" to the big Festspiele music festival, which will be held in Salzburg in six months.

As author Raphael Jerusalmy develops Steiner's story through Steiner's diary from July, 1939, to August, 1940, he makes the entries come alive through their many small details of daily life, along with the variety of people who live and work in the sanatorium, all drawn together because of a terrible illness and not for political or religious reasons. By limiting Steiner's "world" to the sanatorium, his illness, and his dedication to music, the author avoids repeating many of the details (and clichés) so common to "Holocaust novels."

In February, 1940, Steiner is visited by his friend Hans, who, like Steiner, is a music critic. Hans has been preparing the program for the next music festival set to occur in Salzburg in late July, and he tells Steiner that the audience will consist primarily of Nazi officials and military. The entire music program, usually heavily Mozart (an Austrian), has been changed into a propaganda tool by the German occupiers, "an entertainment for the troops." Steiner is outraged: "Taking Mozart hostage...This farce must be stopped...Mozart must be saved."

Saving Mozart is closer to a novella than to a novel, and though the author does include many details from the life of Steiner, and two long letters to his son, some readers will still have a hard time identifying with Steiner, a Jew who becomes outraged, not by the forced removal of Jews from his city, but by the "insult" to the musical heritage of Mozart. The author does present issues of the Holocaust from a new and different perspective, but some readers will find the focus on a music festival and its selection of music in 1940 to be unimportant when compared to the real-life "insults" to the Jewish populace of Austria during this same period. (And if the author is deliberately focusing on the "insult" to music in order to provide a darkly ironic comment about the Austrian populace and its support of the Nazis, that irony is not obvious here.) Fast-paced and easy to read, the novel's style has the clarity of young adult fiction, while avoiding the very real, very big, and very human and social issues of the period.
3 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Malx
5.0 out of 5 stars a must READ ....
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 27, 2013
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The book is set in Salzburg at the start of the Second World War and is written as the diary of Otto Streiner. Otto was a music critic before the war but as a result of TB is now in a sanatorium with music his only form of escape. He has no family or friends nearby and he is angry that music is being used as a political weapon. He has an opportunity to become a significant player in history and although the result isn't what he wanted, he does coincidentally gain more privileges. As a consequence he makes his own effective stand against the Nazis, showing that however "small" you may think you are, any resistance against evil is important.

I can't believe that this is Mr. Jerusalmy's first book - he has a delightful style making you wish the book was at least twice as long as it is!
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J. D. Lewis
5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful achievement
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 7, 2014
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I hadn't realised that this would be such a slim volume and I won't precis the plot, as that has been done. However, to my mind, not only is this angle on the third reich original and compelling, but the style could not be more appropriate to the content, the economy of words enabling the reader almost to smell conditions in the sanitarium, the staccato diary entries builing to the crescendo of longer letters detailing the festpiele climax.

This short book would be an astonishing achievement for any author, let alone a first-timer. The blend of skilful writing and quietly dreadful plot made me shudder.
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