Stalemate

By Icchokas Meras

Book Overview

A classic of Holocaust literature from "one of the great masters of the short novel." --The New Yorker In the Vilna Ghetto during World War II, Nazi Commandant Schoger demands that all children be sent to the death camp. When Abraham Lipman pleads with him to spare their lives, Schoger reconsiders, and tells Lipman there will be a chess match between himself and Lipman's only surviving son, Isaac, a chess prodigy. If Isaac wins, the children will live, but Isaac will die. If Isaac loses, the children will die, but Isaac will live. Only a draw will save the ghetto from this terrible predicament. The chess game begins: a nightmarish contest played over the course of several evenings, witnessed by an audience impotent to act, staking the lives of their children on a stalemate. This is a moving story of a father and a son who shame their cruel perpetrator with their dignity, spirit, and extraordinary courage. Stalemate speaks to the power of humor even under the direst circumstances. As a parable that gives voice to the unspeakable, Stalemate is an antidote to despair. "Gripping . . . a truly memorable work." --Booklist

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1590511565
• ISBN13: 9781590511565
• Release Date: November 2005
• Publisher: Other Press (NY)
• Length: 166 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.2" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

packs a punch you wont forget

The review by Karen Breda is pretty comprehensive, I dont know how much there is to add, but this short novel really impressed me. I've read a lot of books about the Holocaust, both fiction and nonfiction, and this story, told as a simple parable, is one of the most powerful. There is the story set in the Vilna ghetto and the Biblical parallel of Abraham and Isaac. The author names the father and son Abraham and Isaac. This is a book that is not to be read literally for plot, although the author apparently survived the Vilna ghetto. Atrocities committed by the Nazis are more hinted at than described, which to me makes the story more effective. I also think the author was showing people as they should act, rather than as they may actually have acted. With each chapter he raises a moral dilemma. If you are looking for a realistic story about Vilna during the Second World War, I'd say try Anya by Susan Fromberg Schaeffer. That is not the intent of this book, but it is thought provoking, comparing life to a game of chess.