It takes the average reader 7 hours and 57 minutes to read Pavel's Violin by Walter William Melnyk
Assuming a reading speed of 250 words per minute. Learn more
From 1942 - 1945, Paul (Pavel, in Czech) was a prisoner in the Terezin and Auschwitz concentration camps. He survived the camps, and the final Death March from Auschwitz. Pavel had been a violinist before the war, and after his escape his brother found a "not so new but nice" violin for Pavel to play. Pavel lost many members of his family in the camps, but a few survived. A descendent of one of those survivors inherited the violin and, many years later, became my violin teacher. This is how I came to play "Pavel's Violin." The violin itself is a beautiful Jakob Stainer model, built perhaps in the mid-1800s. In the novel, it is made by Stainer in 1670, and we trace its journey from Stainer's home in Absam, Austria, to the Prince-Bishop's Palace in Kromeriz, Moravia, to the Jewish community in the Moravian countryside, to the great synagogue at Olomouc, to Terezin, then Auschwitz, and finally to the Carpathian Mountain, where it finally becomes "Pavel's Violin." Along the way, the Violin is a metaphor for the human condition: our joys, fears, sorrows, hatred, loves, and our hope for a good future. "Pavel's Violin" is a work of historical fiction, a genre peculiar enough to be seriously misunderstood. Historical fiction is not literal history that has been fictionalized to the point that its details are not reliable news accounts of what happened. It is fiction inspired by historical events in order to convey truths which are deeper than literal. Historical fiction, at its best, serves as a metaphor that can draw a reader into a story as a first hand participant, rather than as a consumer of facts. This is what I have tried to do with the story of "Pavel's Violin." I hope you will not just learn about what happened, but that you will become part of the story, yourself. That you will stand beside Jakob atop Kartellerjochl, with Pavel in a cattle car transport on its way to Auschwitz, with Nurse Ilse and her children as Zyklon B pellets fall among them in the gas chamber. And more. I hope you will not only hear the Violin, but will experience the playing of it. The sound of its music under your left ear. The vibrations of the wood upon your chin and shoulder. Most of all, I hope you, too, will realize the compulsion of the story, and the obligation to recount it, in your own way, to others. This story is inspired by the memoir of Tommy Lustig, Pavel's son, "Children on Death Row," also available on Amazon. All author royalties from the sale of "Pavel's Violin" are donated to various Holocaust Memorial organizations including the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, the Hololcaust Museum Houston, and the Whitwell Middle School Childrens Holocaust Memorial.
Pavel's Violin by Walter William Melnyk is 466 pages long, and a total of 119,296 words.
This makes it 157% the length of the average book. It also has 146% more words than the average book.
The average oral reading speed is 183 words per minute. This means it takes 10 hours and 51 minutes to read Pavel's Violin aloud.
Pavel's Violin is suitable for students ages 12 and up.
Note that there may be other factors that effect this rating besides length that are not factored in on this page. This may include things like complex language or sensitive topics not suitable for students of certain ages.
When deciding what to show young students always use your best judgement and consult a professional.
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