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    The Castle in the Forest
    The Castle in the Forest
    The Castle in the Forest
    Audiobook15 hours

    The Castle in the Forest

    Written by Norman Mailer

    Narrated by Malcolm Hillgartner

    3/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    The final work of fiction from Norman Mailer, a defining voice of the postwar era, is also one of his most ambitious, taking as its subject the evil of Adolf Hitler. The narrator, a mysterious SS man in possession of extraordinary secrets, follows Adolf from birth through adolescence and offers revealing portraits of Hitler’s parents and siblings. A crucial reflection on the shadows that eclipsed the twentieth century, Mailer’s novel delivers myriad twists and surprises along with characteristically astonishing insights into the struggle between good and evil that exists in us all.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBrilliance Audio
    Release dateApr 4, 2017
    ISBN9781522637677
    The Castle in the Forest
    Author

    Norman Mailer

    Norman Mailer (1923-2007) ha sido uno de los mayores escritores norteamericanos contemporáneos, así como una figura central en el panorama cultural: novelista, periodista, director de cine, activista político, aspirante a alcalde de Nueva York y enfant terrible todoterreno. Su primera novela, Los desnudos y los muertos, sobre la Segunda Guerra Mundial, que lo catapultó a la fama, ha sido publicada por Anagrama, donde también han aparecido Los ejércitos de la noche (Premio Pulitzer y National Book Award), La Canción del Verdugo (Premio Pulitzer), Oswald. Un misterio americano, Los tipos duros no bailan, El parque de los ciervos, El Evangelio según el Hijo, El fantasma de Harlot, ¿Por qué estamos en guerra?, América y El castillo en el bosque.

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    Reviews for The Castle in the Forest

    3/5

    236 ratings20 reviews

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    • 3/5
      I felt cheated that it didn’t go further in Adolf’s life. If he intends to follow up in a second book, then I am off base.
      If that is not his plan then this book was not worth the time spent.
    • 1/5
      I know Mailer is a fine writer, But halfway through this novel, I just had to quit and go scrub myself down in the tub. Fine, Norman, you can describe every bodily fluid in fine prose, but eventually, the characters are just one-dimensional props for middle-school level hangups. Os.
    • 4/5
      What a sick bastard. I'm of course talking about Norman Mailer.
    • 2/5
      Interesting premise (devil observes life of young Hitler) but very bizarre and dull digressions. Lots of talk about piss and Nicholas II. Come on, Norman, you could've done better than this.
    • 3/5
      There has always been something pre-Judeo-Christian about Norman Mailer's imagination. He has a Homeric sensibility that is also at home in ancient Egypt. Monotheism hardly appeals to the Manichean Mr. Mailer. So it does not surprise me that a devil masquerading as a member of the Nazi SS narrates Mr. Mailer's first novel in more than a decade, "The Castle in the Forest" (Random House, 496 pages, $27.95).Modern psychology, Mr. Mailer implies, cannot account for the rise of Adolf Hitler. He has a point. There are many explanations for Hitler's rise to power, but no interpretation dominates the field. Mr. Mailer knows as much because he has poured over the contemporary literature on the Führer. The novelist appends an extensive bibliography to his work, even marking with an asterisk those books he drew on for inspiration and data.But why the devil? Because no God-centered universe could possibly produce a Hitler, Mr. Mailer implies. Such evil is only conceivable in a divided cosmogony, in a contest between God and the E. O. (Mr. Mailer's acronym for the Evil One). For decades he has championed the idea of a seesaw conflict between the forces of good and evil. The devil in "The Castle in the Forest" is like one of those Ancient Greek gods who takes a special interest in a particular mortal and helps him out when it seems the human's strength of purpose may flag.So Adolf — enabled but also enervated by mother-love — needs a dose of the devil to enhance his prospects. Those who know Mr. Mailer's life story might think of Fanny Mailer, the maternal sentinel who presided over her son's rise to fame. Needless to say, Mr. Mailer is not equating his experience with Hitler's, but he seems to be pursuing a parallel. Remember that Mr. Mailer is also the author of "Portrait of Picasso as a Young Man" (1995), another work that attempts to fathom the origins of the artist's power. Indeed, Mr. Mailer is fond of analogizing: "Put an artist on an artist," he asserts by way of justifying his unique take on Marilyn Monroe, whom he portrayed as consumed with Napoleonic ambition in "Marilyn" (1973). To explain Mr. Mailer's choice of Hitler, the best source is Mr. Mailer's confession in "Advertisements for Myself" (1959): "The sour truth is that I am imprisoned with a perception which will settle for nothing less than making a revolution in the consciousness of our time." That kind of megalomania belies the ambition required to undertake "The Castle in the Forest."Norman Mailer's great contribution to American literature is his effort to encompass large subjects. His aspirations are so high that he is bound to fail by any conventional standards. As soon as the SS man explains he is a devil on assignment from the E. O., my interest in his story slackened. Making Hitler a product of evil, rather than an originator of same, is troubling — because it denies the force of evil any human agency.Much of the novel is third-person narration recast in the voice of the devil. Mr. Mailer has often found speaking in the third person inauthentic because he could never accept the authority of an omniscient narrator. In "The Castle in the Forest," the author has neatly solved the problem by making the narrator's voice supernatural.The biographer in me, though, rejects the devil and wants to know more about the devil's beard, the SS man. What happens among the congregation of the devils (it has to be kept vague, lest trade secrets become known) did not interest me — I felt I was due back on planet Earth. I responded with a virtual shrug, for example, to the secret that devils call angels "the cudgels."And yet the richly imagined terrestrial details — the depiction of Adolf's father, Alois, for example — marvelously re-create the Hapsburg world. The sex scenes involving Alois have the ribald verve that is vintage Mailer — and more humor than you would expect in the novelist's evocation of the petty despotisms of domestic life.Enjoy this novel for its deep learning and its well-wrought characters, if not for its factitious ontology.
    • 4/5
      An engrossing book if disturbing, a fictional working of Adolf Hitler's early life that rings surprisingly true. Really delves into the making or revealing? of a pyschopath.
    • 4/5
      I really enjoyed this book. All the reviews are true-- it is full of raunchy, graphic perversities. But, Mailer's eloquent verbiage and dry wit make you laugh in spite of yourself. It is also intelligent. The events that subtlety over time craft an evil human are really scary. No one thing did it; it was the perfect culmination of genes, familial relationships, and social situation. The narration (by a devil who both watches and influences) was OK but was the weakest aspect of the book. It was original but distracting.I haven't done my homework yet to see how much of the story is historically accurate, possible, and complete fiction. I can't say I care. The book would be good even if it were about a fictional character instead of Hitler. I can't whole-heartedly recommend this book to many people because it's too shocking. But if you're up for that then read it, you'll love it. 4 stars.
    • 4/5
      Smut smut smut smut smut smut smut and Hitler.But in all seriousness, this book is either brilliant, or an exploitative romp. Not that it is disrespectful of the gravity of its subject matter -- Adolf Hitler's family and childhood -- but it is dripping with nearly excessive levels of sex and excrement. Then again, that may be the point, as this story is told from the pen of a devil viewing and manipulating humanity from the ground up; Mailer has a point of how ubiquitous these factors are in life, even if we do all we can to hide them. Indeed, whatever interest the sick family drama has, more engrossing are the asides by the demonic narrator and his explanations of infernal/heavenly politics. Mailer approached the subject with a fascinating seriousness that makes those chapters almost superior to the ones centered on the Hitler clan.A contentious book in my mind, though not possibly offensive for the reasons you might think. I spent the entire 450 pages deciding if I liked it, but that didn't stop me from devouring every word.
    • 3/5
      Perhaps when you are Norman Mailer, publishers consider every word sacred and skip part of the editing process? I have not read a more uneven story that challenged my patience in a long time.The premise seemed interesting. The narrator introduces himself as a former SS officer, once given a task by Himmler to compile a history on the early years of Hitler's life. Alluding to unique sources that would be hard for Himmler to verify, it seems "Heine" never got the whole story. Now, in his late years and living in America, he figured the story was finally worth telling.The unique source -- and most interesting premise in the book, is a devil. This devil is occupying the body of the former SS officer, but this was not always the case. Shortly after his birth, this devil was assigned by "The Maestro" to watch over the development of "Young Addy." He was the project manager, with several minions working beneath him to handle more mundane chores. He reported back to The Maestro, as far he knew, the chief adversary of the "DK" (the Dumbkopf, aka God). Similarly, the devil narrating the story had to operate around "Cudgels", or angels, working on behalf of the DK. The book was at its best describing this metaphysical contest. First, however, was a genealogy of Hitler's ancestry, going back to speculations on his grandfather, as well as incestuous liaisons. Might be interesting to those into chasing family trees, but I'm not one of them. Perhaps the most indulgent part of the book was the incredible percentage devoted to bees. Yes, bees. Adolfs father retired to a barren farm after his life of service as a custom's agent. The land was best used to raise bees. Mailer found it necessary to educate readers on the state of turn-of-the-century apiculture. This could have been trimmed 90% and still have gotten the point across. In another part, the narrator departs from the Hitler household to attend the coronation of Nicholas II. The scene illustrates the chess game between the Maestro and the Dumbkopf, but has little overall relevance to the story. The story ends following the death of Hitler's father and his graduation from school. There were but the tiniest hints of what influenced Hitler to develop into the most infamous monster in history. We are left to ponder just how these seedlings would germinate and grow. Hints indicate perhaps the story wwill continue. That could, I think, be more interesting.
    • 1/5
      Having heard so much about Norman Mailer, and his legendary novels, when this book first popped up in bookstores everywhere I went that year (London, Switzerland, even Dubai!), I went for it. Adolf's prequel written by a demon? Sounds intriguing. About as thrilling as a dictionary. I've expressed in my other reviews my waning interest in the world wars and particularly in Hitler, but this book cemented it for me. I think a much much more compelling book on the nature of evil came from the book [Perfume] by [[Patrick Suskind]]. Maybe it's because it was predictable, maybe it's because it lost the plot one too many times, and maybe it's because I sincerely dislike everything about Hitler, and am in no way fascinated by his life story (although there was some morbid curiosity in all that incest and freaky lifestyle that his family had), but I just could not like this book.
    • 5/5
      This was my first Norman Mailer book. Popping in and out of book forums around the Internet I discovered that a lot of people hold this author in very high regard. Some people even have related handles, and to create an alias from a living person (well, living at the time) must imply a certain degree of admiration. So I decided I would read a Norman Mailer book sometime, and it was when I was trying to decide which one looked interesting to me that The Castle in the Forest came out. Enamored as I am with European history of that era, the contest ended. This was going to be my first Norman Mailer book. It would decide whether or not I'd continue on to another one.This is not for the weak of heart. The Book Thief, as I said in my review, may be too painful a work to read especially for those who find the events to be too close for comfort. This, however, is a vivid illustration of an Austrian family ridden with incest, hatred, fear, apprehension, manipulation, and above all, a mother's love. This is not just the story of Adolf Hitler's childhood; it is an explanation of the seeds which created his evil and a portrait of the mother and father who nourished him. The narrator, a devil, possesses the body of an SS man named Dieter. He tells the reader of a pre-Adolf world; the bulk of the book seemed more about his father than about him, but his mother certainly holds a strong role in the play. As do his brothers and sisters - in fact, every character is so fully explained in this book that it makes one feel like it is not at all about Adolf but more about "the Hitlers." Though the devil was assigned to follow dear Adi, he somehow managed to sink into much more familial detail. No matter. It strengthened the painting to have such details intensified. This, as I've said, is not the story of the man you and I think of when we hear the name "Adolf Hitler." Just the same, I say it's not for the faint of heart. Nothing in this book excuses Adolf's decisions, but as the narrator works for Satan, you can't imagine the narration to be all too pleasant. I couldn't put it down, but others may be offended by the language. To be sure, there wasn't a lot of cursing, but intricate description of less-than-attractive subjects are certainly present. And the smells! There are so many smells described in this book that the reader finds herself shivering on more than one occasion.So, against the rules of his kind, this devil in the form of an SS in service to Heinrich Himmler has decided to write down his research into Adolf Hitler's history. It is only in the end where he explains the title of the book, another reason I would give caution to anyone jumping into the idea of reading this. It's good - very good, actually - and I am more prone to purchase other Norman Mailer books and read them now. I will probably recommend this more often than not. But it throws a curve ball at you. It reminds you that you cannot blame one single individual for such abominable crimes. Some people, I know, would not like to admit this. They would like to single out one name, something that sounds particularly evil, and blame just him for the acts of many. I would not suggest this book to those people.Ach, so it makes you think. There are a few scenes which are implanted on my brain right now, though I don't know if it's because they were particularly sweet and disturbing, or because they were so well described. This is one of those books which, after you've read it, you wish you knew someone else who'd also read it so the two of you could talk about it in some depth. There isn't much in the way of politics here, except perhaps Alois' (Adolf's father) desire to climb up the social ladder. You don't even meet Adolf until half the book is already in your memory, and when you do meet him it's with varying degrees of hatred and pity. It isn't one of those books that falsely makes you want the character to succeed. It doesn't claim you so much that you feel the devil is inside you also. It's merely a narrative well and fully presented. The story of a family and the struggles each individual in that family had to face.The only thing I didn't like about this book was the tangents the devil would go into. He's helpful with it - lets you know the exact page he'll be getting back to Adolf's life, if you wanted to skip his tangents - but I still can't figure out why it was necessary to include a whole section on the Tsar of Russia and his involvement with a massacre. If this was about that devil and his experiences influencing and inspiring his clients, yes, then it would be understandable. It made me wonder if perhaps this was more the story of that devil and the powers that devils have in this world rather than simply a narration about a well-known historical figure. It'd be interesting, I think, but probably not so interesting without Norman Mailer.
    • 2/5
      I'm about 100 pages from the end, and all I can say is I hope this has one hell of a home stretch. The first Mailer I ever tackled was Harlot's Ghost, which was thoroughly enjoyable. But unfortunately this, with an immensely interesting premise, does not even come close to delivering. It is strangely scatological. I know, weird. But I'm never against off-putting psychosexual content, but this manages to stay boring throughout. I know this does not really manage to make the canon by most Mailer fans, and is the reason I'm not ready to swear off the author. I have just decided that upon finishing this novel I will be taking a break from Norman for at least a little while.
    • 2/5
      Hitler's childhood told from the point of view of the devil assigned to chaperone his upbringing. This is an extraordinarily interesting construct for a novel, and parts of the book really succeed. Overall, however, this book lacks focus and spends far too much time focused on the nitty gritty details of raising bees and a long sidetrack into Russia. I was hoping for more but was entertained nevertheless.
    • 1/5
      Tedious. TEE-DEE-YUSS. Not to mention ludicrous. Quite a combo.
    • 3/5
      I don't know enough facts about Hitler to work out what was real or not. However I did enjoy this book.
    • 3/5
      I'm a big Mailer fan. I love historical fiction and anxiously awaited a book that promised to deliver an eerie tale of Hitler being sired by Satan. Suffice it to say that I desperately wanted to like this book.It didn't happen. In fact, to my amazement, I stopped reading it halfway through. Perhaps my high expectations doomed the work from the start, but I don't think that's what happened. It just went down too many long and rambling roads to keep my interest.Granted, Mailer's ability to weave historical events into fictional frameworks continues to impress. But when all is said in done, "Castle" is a yawner. Were in not for the riveting and creative premise, I would have assigned an even lower rating.
    • 3/5
      Ever since its publication I’ve remained puzzled by The Gospel According to the Son. Was it the discharge of some sort of spiritual necessity? Some way of keeping the prodigious talent ticking over? Actually reading the book again in the early hours of Good Friday both of those judgments feel wrong (not to say patronising) when one is swept through the narrative so tautly, with every word weighted, full of, and provoking, thought. But above all I now see this earlier book as a preparation for The Castle in the Forest, for Mailer’s astonishing recreation of himself as a writer in his eighties. In the new book there is the same towering Miltonesque theme but now refracted though varying theologies with Bulgakovian humour and placed within a superbly constructed narrative where Mailer allows his reflection on the problem of evil (sorry but that’s the best phrase that comes to mind) to breathe and organically develop. Stylistically it’s also riveting: a deliberately ambiguous authorial voice, a calculated arrhythmia (don’t construe this at first as carelessness - its ongoing placement punctuates the book with great skill and deftness) and the frequent but understated and unconventional cadential resolution and development of the prose. My only regret , and I realise it might sound curious to say this in a book of some 470 pages, is that I thought that there was a hint here of more richness which had been cut out, particularly possibly in the other activities of the devil watching over the young Adolf Hitler. The one substantial episode that is included slightly unbalances the book and I am clear the solution would have been more, not less narrative counterpoint. This is the first of a planned trilogy and the evidence so far points to a hugely important addition to the dazzling Mailer canon.
    • 2/5
      How much crap and sex can Mailer fit into 400 pages? The book has too much about the demonic narrator and not nearly enough about young Adolf Hitler, who seems very interesting. Overall, very, very boring.
    • 3/5
      I wanted to like this book much more than I actually did. It's well researched -- remarkably well researched, but that's not a surprise with Mailer. I think I just don't care enough about Hitler's youth to be engaged by the book. The story is told by a devil, which is fine, that works just fine for me, but in places the narrator says, "I know it must be hard on you, reader, to feel sympathy for this child who will grow up to be Adolf Hitler," but as a matter of fact, I never *did* feel much if any sympathy for the child.Some reviewers have objected to the frolic and detour into Russia in the middle of the book, but in fact, that was my favorite part. Mailer says that he thinks he has one book left in him, and that book might be concerned with Rasputin. If that's the case, I'm looking forward to it.
    • 2/5
      Vastly easier to read than "Ancient Evenings"; not quite what I expected though since it revolves around Hitler's "close" family ties and transits into his adolescence without much reference to the 1930's -- just my opinion