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Cover of The Painted Bird

The Painted Bird

Historical Fiction

Published: Print | Print · 1967 | Print · 1970 | Print · 1972 | Print · 1976 | Print · 1978 | Print · 1979 | Print · 1981 | Print · 1983 | Print · 1995 | Print · 1996 | Audiobook · 2010 | Audiobook · 2021 | eBook · 2007

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Jerzy Kosinski's mythic, master-work of a shattered post-War Europe. Originally published in 1965, The Painted Bird established Jerzy Kosinski as a major literary figure. Kosinski's story follows a dark-haired, olive-skinned boy, abandoned by his parents during World War II, as he wanders alone from one village to another, sometimes hounded and tortured, only rarely sheltered and cared for. Through the juxtaposition of adolescence and the most brutal of adult experiences, Kosinski sums up a Bosch-like world of harrowing excess where senseless violence and untempered hatred are the norm. Through sparse prose and vivid imagery, Kosinski's novel is a story of mythic proportion, even more relevant to today's society than it was upon its original publication.

Favedom Gravity: Not Yet Ranked
NotableEmergingEstablishedDistinguishedHighest
FormatPublisherYearLanguageTerritory
PrintBantam—English—
PrintCorgi1967English—
PrintModern Libr.1970English—
PrintCorgi Books1972English—
PrintCorgi1976English—
PrintBantam Books1978English—
PrintBantam Books1979English—
PrintBantam1981-08English—
PrintBantam1983-03-01English—
PrintBantam Books1983-03English—
PrintModern Library1983English—
PrintGrove Press1995-08-09English—
PrintGrove Press1995English—
PrintBlack Swan1996English—
AudiobookHighBridge Audio2010-03-30English—
AudiobookHighbridge Audio and Blackstone Publishing2021-03-01English—
AudiobookHighbridge Audio and Blackstone Publishing2021-03-01English—
eBookOpen Road Integrated Media, Inc.2007-12-01English—

Sources

1
Grove Atlantic
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