It's the story of twins during what appears to be WW II (although it's never identified specifically). They are dropped off at their grandmother's house in the Little Town by their mother who lives in the Big Town. The novel is in the form of a journal written by the twins as an exercise. The twins perform "exercises" to numb their sensibilities and to create a capacity to suffer and make them totally unfeeling. They go begging not to obtain food but to test and observe the hypocritical reactions of the adults around them. They eliminate the word "love" from their vocabulary because it "is not a reliable word. It lacks precision and objectivity." They memorize the Bible. When the local priest, astonished, asks if they obey the Ten Commandments, they reply "Nobody obeys them. It is written, 'Thou shalt not kill,' and everybody kills."Occasionally, they are touched by humanity. A cobbler gives them shoes because he sees they need them. The cobbler is later hauled away and shot ostensibly because he is Jewish. One is reminded of something Primo Levi said just before he committed suicide . Levi survived Auschwitz and has written extensively about the holocaust and its effects. He wrote about the survivors that they "were not the best, those predestined to do good, the bearers of a message.. .the worst survived, the selfish, the violent, the insensitive, the collaborators.. the spies." ([book:The Drowned and the Saved by Primo Levi])
This is not a book for the faint-hearted. It is graphic in its descriptions, depressing in its conclusions and reveals a world more depraved than [book:Lord of the Flies]. I will not reveal the ending which is horrifying in its implications.
