Pictures at an Exhibition

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Thomas's new novel is a return to the fascination with the horrors of war and the labyrinths of psychoanalysis that informed his bestselling The White Hotel , and has some of that novel's mesmerizing power. It begins with a young Jewish Czech inmate of Auschwitz, Galewski, who has some rudimentary knowledge of psychotherapy, trying it on one of the camp's Nazi doctors, Dr. Lorenz, who is tormented by headaches; the countless deaths and unending human agonies that surround them both come to seem like a mundane background to their hauntingly strange relationship. Most of the rest of the book takes place in Britain 40 years later during Margaret Thatcher's tenure, centering around the relationships of a celebrated elderly analyst (can it be Galewski?) with some of his patients and pupils who, as a group, tellingly represent the contemporary English intelligentsia. As is often the case in Thomas's work, art and music play an important role-- here, the paintings of Edvard Munch and the music of Gustav Mahler are prominent. There is an enigmatic visitor from Syria (can it be Dr. Lorenz?), a hideous but offstage act of terrorism, a fascinating interweave of lives, memories and motives. There is sometimes confusion about who is speaking, and the machinery of monologues and letters that moves the narrative forward (and, often, sideways and backwards) sometimes clanks a little. But there is no mistaking the stark compassion of Thomas's world, his mastery of the modern psyche and his ability to draw the reader into the darker corners of the human heart. (Oct.)

Library Journal

Organized around an exhibition of Edvard Munch paintings portraying love, jealousy, despair, and death, Thomas's novel is a stunning commentary on the effects of the Holocaust on society today. The opening chapter is a harrowing portrait of Auschwitz, as Dr. Galewski, a young Jewish inmate, analyzes Dr. Lorenz, a Nazi who suffers from headaches and nightmares. With his love for family and music, Lorenz seems almost sympathetic, while Galewski is morally corrupted by his participation in a perverted sexual experiment involving Judith, a Jewish girl he had saved from death. The setting then changes to London 50 years later and revolves around elderly Jewish psychoanalyst Oscar Jacobson and his wife, Myra, an Auschwitz survivor. The reader initially assumes that Oscar and Myra are really Galewski and Judith, but as their stories are tantalizingly revealed, each character's identity becomes suspect. Thomas, best known for The White Hotel ( LJ 2/1/81), has written a highly complex, ambitious, and brilliant novel that touches on the morality of abortion, fetal tissue research, and euthanasia, as well as the genocide of the Holocaust. Essential.-- Patricia Ross, Westerville P.L., Ohio

Donna Seaman

Thomas' tenth novel is not an enjoyable piece of work, but it is potent. Its foundation is the Holocaust; its structure is psychoanalysis; and its aesthetic is derived from the grim paintings of Edvard Munch. This complex, suspenseful, and dismaying tale is episodic and frequently confusing, a dense tangle of horrific memories, sordidness, and depression. Thomas employs letters, historical documents, and the odd, one-sided discourse of therapy sessions to relate the histories and troubles of his burdened characters. Early scenes take place at Auschwitz, where a young Jewish doctor has been kept alive to assist in the Nazis' brutal and ludicrous experiments. He finds himself in the peculiar and precarious position of attempting to psychoanalyze his SS supervisor, who can't understand why he's suffering from relentless headaches and nightmares. Our young hero can't state the obvious--that mass murder might upset one's system--because he wants to stay alive. We are then whisked to the present, where the emotional fallout from the war has sown a legacy of guilt, misery, and denial. A troubling book that reminds us how deeply the world has been scarred by the evil and tragedy of the Holocaust.