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Rating: 
Summary: What a life; What a movie
Review: I want to say that I really loved this book. The author takes us on one of the best adventure stories of human life that I have read in quite some time. Even though the central theme is his holocost survival he does not dwell on the subject too long, or I should say just long enough. His real adventure begins when he gets out. Learning to survive in the camps gave him the ability to achieve and become successful in life.I hope Hollywood picks this one up. I'd love to see it on the screen.
Rating:
Summary: Blurs line between fiction and memoir
Review: I'll mention it, since none of the other reviewers thus far have done so, that this book is listed in its cataloging information as a NOVEL, even if it does read like a memoir (and what a memoir--full of narrow escapes, and the narrator doesn't attempt to shield himself from the moral disapproval of a reading audience that watches helplessly as he moves from woman to woman) in many instances. BUT, and I think this is important, it also reads like a picaresque novel. (Part of me wonders whether this was officially titled a novel in the wake of all of the controversy over _The Painted Bird_). This is a recent trend in Holocaust literature (the mixing of memoir and fiction) and it's not necessarily bad (although it's troublesome if you're trying to teach a history class on the Holocaust), but it should be noted.
Rating: 
Summary: brilliant holocaust memoir
Review: I've read lots of Holocaust memoirs, and this one truly stands out. I picked this book up at a Barnes and Noble just before going to the SF airport, and I couldn't put it down. You can just feel the author's honesty when reading this. He doesn't hide anything, not even about himself. He brings up several issues not always not always found in other memoirs. There are several different plots going on, so you'll want to continue reading in order to keep up with them all.
Rating:
Summary: A compelling Holocaust account.
Review: There is no doubt that this is one of the most compelling holocaust volumes that I have come across. I am sure that of the volumes that seem to appear from time to time, each account is different and opens up a new insight into the atrocities that were part of western civilisation(?). The book is eminently readable, possibly due to a fine translation from the hebrew, which, in terms of some of the vocabulary and syntax, seems to have the American reader in mind. However,this will be one of those books that I will always keep. The style of the book with the narrative moving around in time from the war to Poland in the fifties during that uncertain period of post war communism, makes it even more " nonputdownable". Being of Polish extract, I found the references to Polish anti-semitism diifficult to come to terms with. After all it was the Poles who gave the "East European Jew" the opportunity to settle in the land. Even so, Frister was also quick to point out the cruelty meeted out by fellow Jews and his own "rape" was committed by one of his own people. Frister brings us close to the loves of his life and one could not help but feel sorry for the loss of those he had loved. You could do worse than buy this book. I commend it to anyone with a feeling towards the end of human suffering at the hands of our fellow man.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting work of fiction
Review: This is a fascinating work of fiction undoubtedly based on a great deal of real-life experience, or if you prefer, it is an autobiographical work with a few fantastic anecdotes included. Like all holocaust survivor tales, it includes numerous near misses and miraculous lucky breaks. People who survived ghetto life, concentration camps and death marches to write about their experiences were the exceptions, and invariably their stories include such amazing incidents. However, a few incidents read like pure wishful fantasy. I do not believe for example that Roman Frister actually snatched his girlfriend as she emerged from her marriage ceremony and drove her off for a three-day tryst in the mountains, before returning her to her groom... Ultimately the fact that his narrative seeks to define its own reality is what makes the book very interesting. The book is about what defines the self, what memory means, what is real, and what, if anything, really matters. The book reminds me in this way of Robert Musil's "Man Without Qualities."
Rating:
Summary: Interesting work of fiction
Review: This is a fascinating work of fiction undoubtedly based on a great deal of real-life experience, or if you prefer, it is an autobiographical work with a few fantastic anecdotes included. Like all holocaust survivor tales, it includes numerous near misses and miraculous lucky breaks. People who survived ghetto life, concentration camps and death marches to write about their experiences were the exceptions, and invariably their stories include such amazing incidents. However, a few incidents read like pure wishful fantasy. I do not believe for example that Roman Frister actually snatched his girlfriend as she emerged from her marriage ceremony and drove her off for a three-day tryst in the mountains, before returning her to her groom... Ultimately the fact that his narrative seeks to define its own reality is what makes the book very interesting. The book is about what defines the self, what memory means, what is real, and what, if anything, really matters. The book reminds me in this way of Robert Musil's "Man Without Qualities."
Rating: 
Summary: The line is indeed blurred . . .
Review: This is one of the best autobiographies ever written, and I have read many. Images from this book will stay in my mind forever, and puts all other troubles and accomplishments into prospective. Frister's eyewitness account proves that there can never be vindication enough for the victims of the Nazi regime.
Rating:
Summary: THE LIFE WISH
Review: To what purpose a clean conscious, to what purpose having been a hero, when you're dead? Roman Frister, author and protagonist of The Cap, is an artist of survival: in him, the wish to exist, to enjoy a beautiful view or a beautiful woman is stronger than any other impulse. The extraordinary vitality of boy Roman, as well as his handsome face, his perfect knowledge of various languages, his educated and captivating manner make him the ideal candidate to escape the mortal traps the Nazi occupants set up every single minute to snare the Polish Jews. Thus, when the trap will close on him and his family - and in a dark place two Gestapo men will order him to take down his trousers in order to check whether he's circumcised - Roman will not be overcome and will bring with him to the lager his animal-like, desperate will to survive at any cost. What is the price of a life, then? Any reader immersing into Frister's narration, is forced to honestly answer this question. Moreover: in the concentration camp, are the moral principles those of the "normal" people? Is it right to condemn to certain death a camp-mate in order to save oneself? In the lager, the motto "live and let live" has no sense whatsoever: you need only decide whether to die or continue fighting. The Cap does not end in 1945, as you may expect, doesn't close with the Nazi defeat and the liberation of camp prisoners. This is one of the attractive points of this book: existence, suffering, and the wish to be happy of those who have survived extermination are not dissolved with the transformation of lagers into museums. In Frister's excellent work, a true novel of a real life, we can find all the passions and pains of our past century. It is with uncompromising candour that the author charts his extraordinary life story, causing a sensation on its first publication - due to its unequivocal frankness - this is a worthy addition to the growing number of WWII testimonials. Wishing to record what he terms "the extermination of a human spirit", his firm refusal to cloak his memoirs in anything but the crudest colours displays a rare courage and while this makes deeply disquieting reading, its fortitude says more about his tenacity than he would perhaps care to acknowledge.
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