The Boys from Brazil (novel)
LC Class | PZ4.L664 Bo PS3523.E7993 |
The Boys from Brazil is a 1976
Plot
Yakov Liebermann is a Nazi hunter (loosely based on Simon Wiesenthal) who runs a center in Vienna that documents crimes against humanity, perpetrated during the Holocaust. The waning interest of the Western nations in tracking down Nazi war criminals, and the failure of the bank where he kept his center's funds, has forced him to move the center to his own lodgings.[1]
Then, in September 1974, Liebermann receives a phone call from a young man in
Liebermann is hesitant and wonders if the call was a
Liebermann manages to work out who the next intended target is - a man named Henry Wheelock who lives in Pennsylvania - and travels there to warn Wheelock that his life may be in danger. However, Mengele reaches Wheelock first, kills him, and then encounters Liebermann. Liebermann is shot by Mengele; before Mengele can kill him, Liebermann manages to free the Wheelock family's attack dogs, who restrain Mengele. When Wheelock's 13-year-old adopted son, Bobby Wheelock, one of the Hitler clones, arrives to this scene, Mengele pleads for him to join Mengele in his plans and tells the boy about his parentage. The boy, deeming him insane, instead orders the family's attack dogs to kill him, and makes a deal with the injured Liebermann that he will call for help right away as long as Liebermann promises to never disclose that the boy ordered the dogs to kill Mengele. The plan is thus halted, but 18 Hitler clones have already lost their fathers.
Liebermann destroys the list of the 94 clones so that a younger Nazi hunter will not be able to kill what may still turn out to be harmless boys, declaring that morality demanded that they not stoop to the Nazis' level by killing children. However, the book ends with one such cloned boy, an amateur artist, drawing a scene of someone moving large numbers of people much as Hitler had.
Reviews
The New York Times called it an "appallingly inventive plot."[3]
In a 2011 review for The Guardian, Sophia Martelli wrote: "Although the book is now fairly dated, at the time of publication the inclusion of real or near-real characters (Mengele's nemesis Liebermann is a conflation of Nazi hunters such as Simon Wiesenthal and Serge Klarsfeld, who attempted to capture Mengele in South America) must have added a chilling dimension. What scares today is Levin's premise based on biological engineering: in the 1970s, although scientifically possible, Mengele's plan belonged firmly in the realm of fiction; now it's not nearly so far-fetched."[1]
The book became a best seller.[4]
Adaptations
In 1978, the book was adapted into a movie directed by Franklin J. Scaffner, written by Levin and Heywood Gould, with Gregory Peck, Laurence Olivier and James Mason starring. The movie was well-received, and was nominated for 3 Academy Awards.
References
- ^ a b c d Martelli, Sophia (7 August 2011). "The Boys from Brazil by Ira Levin – review". The Guardian. London, England. Retrieved 6 March 2015.
- ^ a b Fox, Margalit (14 November 2007). "Ira Levin, of 'Rosemary's Baby,' Dies at 78". The New York Times. New York, New York. Retrieved 6 March 2015.
- ^ Books of The Times: Great Experiments in Living By CHRISTOPHER LEHMANN-HAUPT. New York Times 10 Mar 1976: 33.
- ^ Best Seller List: Fiction General Book Ends New York Times ]21 Mar 1976: 220.
External links
- Official entry at IraLevin.org
- An Interview With Ira Levin’s Son As ‘The Boys From Brazil’ Turns 48 (Forbes.com)