Rating: 
Summary: dark
Review: You can't help but wonder how much of this Kozinski experienced himself. This is the book that makes any reader an instant devotee of this author. There are images and scenes that stay with you -- the Nazi officer enticed into the rat trap; the Cossack raid of the village. It is amazing this has never been made into a movie. Sadly, it appears to be more of an inspirational handbook for the dark forces who invade an enemy land.
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Summary: A nightmarish modern classic.
Review: Jerzy Kosinski is graphically realistic in his hellish depiction of the violence and dehumanization of one boy's experiences during World War II. The story is captivating, shocking, and told with the violent realism that is Kosinski's trademark. The language of the novel is beautiful and well-thought-out; it adds so much to the atmosphere of the book. Although "The Painted Bird" is not a book for the conservative or the squeamish, no author has captured the horrors of war in a more poignant and startling manner. "The Painted Bird" will make you question, ponder, and value every moment of your existence. What a tragedy that Kosinski had to leave us so soon.
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Summary: Child puzzles over reasons why groups are scapegoated.
Review: As each event unfolds, the bestiality changes or increases. People never question the outsider but assume he will bring the evil eye, attract the enemy's attention, or simply enjoy the mortification or torture of the helpless outsider. Using the young child to question the reasons for sadism is an effective way for us to question our own behavior.
Rating:
Summary: A must-read!
Review: This is one of these books you'll never forget! The Painted Bird has haunted me ever since I read the book more than 15 years ago
Rating:
Summary: Kosinski: Man and Myth
Review: One of my favorites because it has "disturbed" me as few other books have. An unflinching exploration of the depths of human evil with an ironic twist--it is viewed from the unprejudiced eye of a child. Echoes of everything from <Huckleberry Finn> to <The Catcher in the Rye> to <American Psycho> abound in Kosinski's provocative use of first person point of view. I use this book with my World Lit. students, who never cease to be "blown away" by it. Significant as "literature" despite the common but fallacious criticism that Kosinski didn't himself experience what he depicts in this book. But of course he didn't--it's FICTION! Best exploration how the 20th century world can be "medieval" that I've ever read. Like walking into a Bosch painting
Rating: 
Summary: Fraud - fantasy passed off as history
Review: This book is mostly lies, and I don't mean the subtle kind common in such works - I mean flat out fabrications and inventions. It isn't worth a real review. For G-d's sake, if you must read it, check it out from a library or buy it used.If you don't believe me, check around, that's what Google is for. This fraud, Kosinsky, defames all those who suffered in WWII with his shameless gold-digging.
Rating:
Summary: Hauntingly brilliant, but not for the weak of stomach!
Review: "The Painted Bird" offers a haunting, deeply disturbing look into the psychological impact of war, and how it can drive even the most civilized and the most innocent of people to do unspeakable things. The book opens in the fall of 1939. An unnamed, black-haired, dark-eyed 6-year-old boy is separated from his parents at the beginning of World War II. Wandering the countryside alone, the boy is mistaken for a Gypsy or a Jew by the fair-haired, blue-eyed rural villagers, and accordingly shunned. Even those who do shelter and feed him usually treat him with cruelty. But, even more disturbing, the boy's eyes are opened to the superstition-driven brutality with which these country folk treat their own neighbors, and even their own family members.
This is not an uplifting read. The cruelty the boy witnesses and experiences often defies the imagination. Kosinski makes no attempt to censor his gruesome descriptions, nor should he. To gloss over the atrocities of World War II would be an injustice to those who suffered through it. Though the book is not, as some would argue, autobiographical, events like those depicted here did indeed happen during the war. It is probably safe to assume that the story takes place in Poland, though Kosinski has deliberately left out place names in order to keep the narrative separate from his own life. As he says in the author's note at the beginning, he intended the book to stand alone.
The story actually spans the entire war, taking the boy from age six to age twelve. Over the course of the book, we witness his gradual loss of innocence. He tries repeatedly to make sense of a senseless world. For a while he throws himself fully into church, hoping that endless prayers will deliver him. When this fails, he decides that the only way to escape suffering is to make a pact with the devil. And when this, too, fails to relive his misery, he becomes entirely disillusioned with humanity. We see him begin, bit by bit, to embrace the very violence that has caused him so much pain. It is the only way to survive in the war-torn world around him.
"The Painted Bird" is tragically disillusioning, yet weaves a brilliant picture of the boy's psychological transformation. It will leave you feeling empty, but raises crucial issues to the reader's attention. Kosinski has deliberately used a very young, innocent child as the protagonist in order to emphasize the destructive, corrupting nature of war. At a time when war is a distant thing, taking place on other continents, it is easy to glorify it and to forget what a hell it is for those experiencing it first-hand. For this reason, books like "The Painted Bird" are especially necessary, forcing us to look at the physical and emotional havoc war can wreak on a person. Though I would highly recommend the book to anyone, it is not for the weak of stomach. Be prepared for a dark and disturbing journey.
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Summary: Plot-less violence
Review: Maybe it would help if I weren't a sophmore reading this for history class. I have never enjoyed manditory reading. Then again, maybe not. This book had no plot. Almot every chapter had the young boy in a different situation, the author seems to have wanted to show as many horrible situations as possible. The violence, even if it was true to the time period, was incredibly graphic and drawn out. I get nauseous whenever my thoughts accidently flip to the eyeball scene. Besides, every young boy I know would have fainted dead away if he saw what the boy saw. I don't know, nor do I much care, if Kosinski made up every single word (it's a novel: historical FICTION). But for anyone who dislikes being made to feel sick and enjoys a plot should stay far away from this book.
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Summary: Jerzy Kosinski's most moving peice.
Review: READ IT! In warring states, a boy is taken in by an old woman, later a man who captures birds, then a red haired family.. etc. He finally ends up in an orphanage after surviving a very harsh life on his own. This novel is very graphic and there are some scenes that could make one sick to the stomach but all in all it's one of my favorite novels of all times. Refrences to sex, abuse, neglect, murder, rape, etc.
Rating:
Summary: Never Again! Wish I could RETURN IT!
Review: I had to read this for a gothic lit class. Words cannot describe the horror, the perversion, the disgusting nature of this book. Perhaps I am a little delicate, or perhaps I know GOOD literature when I read it. This is too graphic to even work with the plot. All you can remember is the sequence of horrid images. NOT RECOMMENDED...unless you are an insatiable sick minded creep.
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