If you are able to write 180 pages of your memoir without putting the pen down, I might let you live… punishment he used to give Jews at the concentration camp. This punishment makes him remember and re-live his cruelty as the concentration camp commander and as a man.
Deus Esperanca learns from his mother that what he believed to be his family’s history, was just a bunch of lies. He discovers that his real father is Klaus Holland – the sadistic Nazi fugitive.
Having this information and his father being aware of what he knows, their lives intertwine and create chaos.
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The plot is full of surprising twists, all the way to the completely unexpected ending.
Having grown up in Israel, I was drawn to this book by the subject matter of Nazi war criminals, especially considering the author and unique point-of-view used.
*** What to expect
The story is told by a Nazi war criminal, Klaus Holland, hiding in Brazil post WW2. When he’s found out and sent to trial, he’s sentenced to recounting his life’s story. The novel is therefore is autobiography, written hastily in the hours before his execution, and covers some major episodes before, during, and after the war, as well as the life of his son for whom Holland implicitly addresses his writing.
*** What I liked
This is a book to make you think. The protagonist is of the worst specimens that humanity has ever produced, and sees no wrong in his actions in life. By telling the story from this view point, Olokita will challenge you to consider morality, and the transitions from everyday human life to the worst horrors of war and genocide.
Olokita nails Holland’s point of view, in a way that makes you curious to keep reading and follow his story, despite the occasionally meandering and often horrifying events he describes.
*** What to be aware of
The narrator is omniscient, or at least tried to present himself that way. The point-of-view is first person when he tells of his experiences, and shift to third person when he accounts for events where he was not present (though he’s still very much the narrator). It makes a very interesting literary device, as the novel keeps in Holland’s voice throughout, but some readers may find it confusing.
A bigger point, for me at least, is that the plot feels meandering around the middle. There is somewhat less coherence, with some unclear points and the pace is erratic. Since the author gives little reference points, time feels a bit fluid in how quick or slow it passes between events. This occasionally gives the impression that the author is striving to reach his point quickly, with less regard to rigorous plotting or secondary-characters’ arcs.
A minor note, this is a translation from Hebrew. Some English constructs feel too cumbersome, which is probably an artefact of the translation. Considering that anyone reading this novel won’t be doing it for any mass-market entertainment value, I doubt this would stand in the way.
*** Summary
This is a very interesting novel. If you like literary fiction, of the kind that challenges your beliefs and makes you think, read it. Stick with it to the end, think of the protagonist, and think about what Olokita is saying. Remember that this isn’t escapist fantasy, but far too uncomfortable description of the lows of human condition. It might make you evaluate life and literature differently.
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Assaph Mehr, author of Murder In Absentia: A story of Togas, Daggers, and Magic – for lovers of Ancient Rome, Murder Mysteries, and Urban Fantasy.
27/1 is the International Holocaust Remembrance Day, and I would like to recommend a book that most of you probably don’t know (it was translated only a month or two ago from Hebrew into English, and I have already reread it in English.)
This is the review I published in Israel a year ago when I read the book for the first time, and at the end of the report, I added a few more insights after a second English reading. In both cases, my review will not be able to explain how much this book has caused me a profound shock, especially of myself. This is my recommendation for International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
***
When I was twelve, my mother, like all mothers, wanted me to have a party. I also wanted a big party and gifts. “It’s not right to grow differently in a group of equals,” she said, and I agreed with her.
My mother worked hard. For almost a year she worked in several jobs to raise enough money to produce the event. But, at the end of that year, she got sick, and things got complicated with daddy, so we both forgot about it, and there was no party.
Later on, she and I would talk about the days of that time, about daddy and high school, and about this party that never came true. A party she had admitted she planned for herself.
Did I ask her why?
Hell yea!
Yet she only replied that there were lies that one could not explain. “When you have children of your own, you will understand.” that’s what mother said.
Olokita’s Reasons to kill God is a book that made of lies that adults tell themselves and their children. Like Olokita’s other book, “Wicked girl,” (which I read in Hebrew) this one also moves back and forth in time and plays the reader as if he too part of the story. With excellent writing, Olokita tells a story through the eyes of an escaped Nazi criminal who was forced to bear the raising of Dios, a six-year-old boy who forced on him by brazilin law as a result of pleasures he had spent with a prostitute in Brazil. As the plot reveals, we exposed to life stories of many people, so different from each other, and they all intersect at the end of the book into one extraordinary tale.
Reasons to kill God is a surprising and addictive book that read at once, like Olokita’s previous book; This book is not easy to grasp regarding content, the horrific heroes and the high level of writing.
I must admit that at first, I thought it was a book that talked about God, a guide like or a book about life. Not, This is a book about the most despicable people, as well as the good ones and the lies we all tell ourselves in our way of life.
In short, this is a book suitable for anyone planning one day to grow up.
*** After rereading the book in English I managed to get some new insights about the war, the Holocaust and people in general. And most disturbingly for me – this book made me for the first time in life to identify with the worst side of human beings, and I am shocked by myself.
I almost abandoned this book at the end of the third chapter. It was just too much for me. I am a third generation Holocaust survivor, and as a lover of historical literature (mainly fiction), I am always eagerly reading books about the period of Second World War including the crimes of the Nazis. But this book opens with a violent blow – the hero of the book is the commander of a Nazi extermination camp that manages to escape, and years later when he stands on the stand in court, he tells from his perspective the story of his life. As I wrote, the beginning was not easy for me, at least not until I remembered it wasn’t a real story. And so, because the story itself is fascinating and the writing is good, I kept reading until the end. And I’m so glad I acted this way. This book is excellent!
An excellent, unexpected thriller. The type of books that read in one breath.
No way you read it and remain indifferent.
This book deserves second and third readings. This book is a remarkable piece hidden under the guise of historical fiction.
This is a powerful book and wasn’t exactly what I was expecting from the cover, it was however, way better! I’m a fast reader but I still tend to stay clear of reading books twice as I remember them, but in this case, I may make an acceptation and read it again, I think it deserves multiple readings to ensure the reader gets everything that this book has to offer. It’s a powerful book, rich with emotions that makes the reader stop and think about the world then and how it is now. The author has done a wonderful job writing such an epic piece that held my attention and page turner as fast as I could.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
This book deserves my prize as the most different and surprising book I’ve ever read and as by saying that, I think it doesn’t matter what I’ll write here as a review since I’ll never be able to convey the feelings I genuinely contain regarding its message.
This book is a 140-pages of drama describes the perspective of its hero life from a Nazi criminal point of view. It is a story about a person whose life alienated him and turned into a monster. It is a horrible man that took his place among other beasts in Nazi party rule. Immediately after losing the war, he tries to deal with a world whose values have changed and is no longer part of the customs. The hero tells us his life story while he is on trial in the shadow of a U.S court long after World War II ended. He doesn’t renounce his actions and doesn’t even understand what was wrong with it nor regret his evil deeds. During reading, the hero tells the reader about the history of his family life.
Ostensibly, the story supposed to cause the reader a deep shock or at least a rejection because it presents the Nazi criminal as the hero of the book and thus creates him as a man deserve in living, which one can identify with, but the book won’t make you feel this way, OH NO! It did everything many other books I read couldn’t do; It retaliated my mind with feelings I thought I should never have. And yes, it is permissible to believe so, because once you do that, one realizes how much we can all be right there – walking in this evil monster’s footsteps.
Once finished reading you can finally understand how easy it is to depend on circumstances to replace one set of values with another and for a moment to confuse your role as a human being with that of other mortals God.
I am now still overwhelmed by my thoughts. These are mainly philosophies about what is permitted and what is forbidden and about the price we and our future generations will have to pay for our future actions.
Disturbing, different and thought-provoking. It is a book that describes history as an imaginative story but is much more than that. It is the first time for me to hate and love a book hero and instead of being ashamed of it I am proud to have read it.
If ignoring the background noise of the translation and the jumps between periods – this book is essential to humankind survival efforts in so many ways.
Usually, I recommend Historical fiction/nonfiction books. This time, however, I felt like sharing with you something else, a book which has its share of history, yet feels, so to speak…different. A book with slightly more profound meaning and message than those I usually read. It is shorter than the books I often read, but I was surprised at the writer’s clear and economical use of language, in unfolding a plot full of passion, drama, and suspense. Most importantly, it is full of twists on every single page, from start to finish.
It is historical fiction by definition, yet it is more likely to be cataloged as a physiologic thriller; the main character of which is Klaus Holland, a man with a traumatic childhood who grows up to become a Nazi concentration camp commandant and escapes to Brazil towards the end of WW II, where he lives under an alias.
As part of his new life, he associates with a local prostitute named Carmela, who later dies while giving birth to his child. Just before dying she names her son Deus, Portuguese for God.
Six years later, Holland retrieves Deus from an orphanage. By then, Holland already lives with another local prostitute, Klara, who becomes Deus’ stepmother.
One day, Klara happens to tell her stepson she is a Holocaust survivor. Shortly before her death, she gives him two photos of her and Holland but dies without explaining him their significance.
Eager to learn more about the photos, Dues, now a distinguished history student goes on a quest which brings him to American Professor Gabriel Balaguer, an expert on Nazi atrocities. From now onwards, the plot thickens as more disturbing facts revealed, about all characters.
This book is a shocking, mesmerizing tale about interracial loves, hates, and acts of revenge, masterfully intertwined, which keeps intriguing you, challenging your presumption, all the way to the main character’s climactic transformation. Despite being fiction, it depicts the Nazi atrocities with blood-curdling realism.
P.S
The “God” referred to in the title is nothing like what you might have ever imagined it to be, so even true believers, of any religion whatsoever, will not find it offensive.
Powerful!
Olokita pens a magnificently powerful story in Reasons to kill God. This is one of those stories that you can’t help but not put down, but find it hard to read as well. It’s that powerful. It’s one of those historical stories that is thrilling and fascinating, but also heart-breaking and terrifying. The pain and torture that the Nazi brings to this story is overwhelmingly emotional and shocking. I highly recommend this story, and the title is definitely fitting. It may be that book, that you read repeatedly and keep on your shelf forever. I look forward to reading more by this author.
Reasons to Kill God is a book that you cannot just finish reading and move on to your next book. It remains with you for days on, haunting you with insights about the cruelty of humans (humans?) towards other humans.
The story begins when Klaus Holland, a sadistic Nazi, stands trial after having been caught. He tells the judge that “lucky prisoners” in his camp were made to write their life stories. After having done that, they were “quickly released”, meaning buried alive following the “format laws”. The judge sentenced Holland to death following the same “format laws”- he,too, was made to write his life story.
Deus Esperanca was the son Holland had with one of his many mistresses. After his mother died, he lived in an orphanage until at the age of six when his father was called to take him. He moved in with Holland and his mistress Klara who told him about the Holocaust and the tragic fate of the Jews. Two photos that his mother gave him before she died and Klara’s stories made Deus start the quest of unfolding the sad and surprising truths about his life.
Reasons to Kill God is a highly recommended book which leads both Deus and the reader in a masterly way though their quest of revealing the truth about Holland Klaus and Deus Esperanca.
I read the book in Hebrew and now also in English. As far as the subject is concerned, it is not easy and the manner of writing (by the evil man’s words) does not make life easier for me. I needed a rereading to contain the full story power, but I’m glad I did it. This book will accompany me for a long time.
After receiving multiple recommendations, I bought a paperback of it on Amazon. As one who once ran a bookshop, I examined it shortly after I took the book out of the envelope. This book is small by dimensions and relatively thin. It was still difficult for me to understand how all those compliments received by other readers converged into such a minimal size book.
Two days ago I started reading it. I finished three hours later with long lists made by me for better understanding.
1. By the name of it, I expected a book with a religious tone. There was nothing about religion in this book. There are many beliefs, but they are relevant to people and not for worshiping any God.
2. I expected historical fiction and got more of the psychological thriller. The dosage linking events regarding time sequence and tension which entangled in it is pretty accurate.
3. I feel sorry for myself for during reading I managed to pity a Nazi criminal. I think there is something fierce about the writer’s actions that made me look through the criminal’s eyes and more, actually identify with him.
4. The amount of insights I left with is enormous. One relates to female view during WW2 and specifically to the role of Jewish women in Nazi concentration camps. The second issue I want to expand on is the theory of creating the monster and whether a person has responsibility for his actions given that his parents and society have taught him to act so.
5. Some of the story and the characters are real, and I am sure of that. It doesn’t make any sense that the author made them up.
6. Until the last page of the book I had some assumptions about what would happen next, and at the end of it, they all shattered. It happened several times during the reading, and when I skimmed back to expose authors credibility, I realized that it was in front of my eyes and just missed it. At first, I thought it was my fault, but then I realized that this was probably a method that the writer deliberately used (the last place you look for is in front of your eyes).
7. Language – I don’t know yet what to think of its style of writing. It is unusual, on the other side it is sometimes very outdated. There are no grammatical errors or time problems that I’ve noticed, so I tend to believe that the writing work, deliberately done in such a manner. Anyway, it didn’t diminish the pleasure of reading and in some places even added some authenticity.
“For those who smile, wherever they may be.”
This is the dedication of Reasons to Kill God, one of the most fascinating and thought-provoking books I’ve read recently.
To begin with, this is the most original dedication I have ever read. Instead of dedicating his book to one’s ever-loving wife, supportive friends, or trusty editor, the writer prefers to convey a heartwarming message to all humankind, while slightly hinting about the plot.
I read this book twice in a row. At first, I had to read it very, very slowly. Not especially long, this book is nevertheless as deep, powerful and surprising as an ocean. Just like an ocean, its seemingly calm surface conceals turbulent deep. Like an ocean, it will make you gape for air, only to stand all the twists in the plot. Reading it, I recalled Columbus’ saying, “you can never cross the ocean unless you have the courage to lose sight of the shore.” In other words, to fully understand this book, you must open your mind and forget all your conventions regarding good and evil, love and hate, and even God. All its characters, even those hard to sympathize with, like the main character, are unconventional, richly described, and intriguing.
Its very title, “Reasons to Kill God,” provokes a variety of emotions, ranging from fear and resistance to acceptance. But it mostly generates a response which is beyond words.
It is a masterpiece written in a fluent, fascinating way. It just “feels real,” which is what I appreciate the most in books.
I received this book through Booksprout as an Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) in exchange for a review. I received no compensation other than the fun of reading the book. This was a challenging book to read for two main reasons. The style of writing in which the story was written made it occasionally difficult to determine which character was dominant and presenting a point of view. The second difficulty might be due to the format of an ARC. There are distracting spelling irregularities and clumsy phrasing such as “Could have they come all the way here …” (Kindle locations 1814-1815). While I do not consider the phrase wrong, it reads like an outdated, formal style. I don’t know whether changes are planned before final publication but I feel this novel should go through one more examination by a copy editor. Otherwise, it reads as if it were written by an accomplished writer whose second language is English.
This is a 4.5 Amazon star read. I would give it five stars if there were changes to some of the phrasing. The story is very interesting with small surprises occurring throughout and two huge surprises at the end. The last surprise is presented in the form of a question and should provoke a lot of reader thought. The story’s surface level is well presented in Chapter One, The Trial. The protagonist, Mateus Esperanca, has a name that the reader can almost safely forget. His real name is Klaus Holland, a former commandant of a Nazi death camp. He had been living under the name Esperanca in Brazil until his true identity was discovered and reported to authorities. In Chapter One we read Holland’s methods of deciding who would die and when. There was no question that everyone would die, but they would die according to Holland’s “format,” a method he detailed to the court with pride. The court accepted his guilty admission of killing more than three hundred thousand Jews and sentenced him to death by a unique method. First surprise. This is the only chapter where the story is told on a surface level but the “hook” presented spurred me to read the novel in one session.
Over the next ten chapters, the story is told on a surface and secondary, deeper level in tandem. In print, the book is ninety-nine pages so it could theoretically be a fast read. If a reader accepts the author’s invitation to examine on a deeper level the motivation of several characters for their actions, the novel will take longer. I could not find any character that could be described as “normal.” Every character was twisted either as they embraced their flaws or were forced to act in terrible ways for their survival. Klaus Holland’s casual acceptance of death and complete willingness to kill to avoid possible, not certain, future problems is a horror show all by itself. His very existence dooms anyone in his realm of relationships to either physical or moral extinction.
Readers who will enjoy this novel are fans of philosophy and logic. Klaus knows that his actions are outside what is acceptable behavior to most. He rationalizes it through detailed internal dialogues and these are fascinating to read. This is a character no one would want to meet; they probably would not know the true character if such a meeting took place. I highly recommend this novel despite phrasing and writing style. It is a psychological thriller without claiming to be one.