The Castle in the Forest, Norman Mailer
The Castle in the Forest, Norman Mailer
6 Rating(s)
List: $19.99 | Sale: $13.99
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The Castle in the Forest

Author: Norman Mailer

Narrator: Harris Yulin

Abridged: 6 hr 33 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 01/23/2007


Synopsis

A MAJOR NEW NOVEL FROM ONE OF AMERICA'S GREATEST MEN OF LETTERS

No career in modern American letters is at once so brilliant, varied, and controversial as that of Norman Mailer. In a span of more than six decades, Mailer has searched into subjects ranging from World War II to Ancient Egypt, from the march on the Pentagon to Marilyn Monroe, from Henry Miller and Muhammad Ali to Jesus Christ. Now, in his first major work of fiction in more than a decade, The Castle in the Forest offers what may be Mailer's consummate literary endeavor: he has set out to explore the evil of Adolf Hitler.

The narrator, a mysterious SS man in possession of some extraordinary secrets, takes the young Adolf from birth through his adolescence. En route, revealing portraits are offered of Hitler's father and mother, and his sisters and brothers.

A tapestry of unforgettable characters, The Castle in the Forest delivers its myriad twists and surprises with astonishing insight into the nature of the struggle between good and evil that exists in us all. At its core is a hypothesis that is employed with stunning originality. Now, on the eve of his eighty-fourth birthday, Norman Mailer may well be saying more than he ever has before.

About Norman Mailer

Norman Mailer was born in 1923 in Long Branch, New Jersey, and grew up in Brooklyn, New York. In 1955, he was one of the co-founders of The Village Voice. He is the author of more than thirty books, including The Naked and the Dead; The Armies of the Night, for which he won a National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize; The Executioner's Song, for which he won his second Pulitzer Prize; Harlot's Ghost; Oswald's Tale; and The Gospel According to the Son. He lives in Provincetown, Massachusetts, with his wife, the novelist Norris Church Mailer.

About Harris Yulin

Harris Yulin's films include Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus, Looking for Richard, Multiplicity and Cradle Will Rock. On television he has been featured on Third Watch, 24, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Mister Sterling. Theatrical credits include King John, Hedda Gabler, Mrs. Warren's Profession, and Hamlet.


Reviews

AudiobooksNow review by Bernadette on 2007-06-14 17:16:28

The premis is wonderful, the story of Hitler told by a devil - what a great idea. However, its fascination with excrement and bodily smells was a but offputting, and this narrator's voice I find a bit harsh. But, if stick with it, its an interesting, although not fast-paced, piece to listen to.

Goodreads review by Gale on January 02, 2012

About ten years ago, I immersed myself in personal reading about Hilter and the Holocaust, including a biography by Alan Bullock, Hitler: A Study in Tyranny, trying to understand how Hitler could have done what he did, how he became evil incarnate. I was no student of psychology, but I suspected fam......more

Goodreads review by Apoorva on February 08, 2008

i just read this book for our book club. I think others disliked it, but I thought it was fantastic and very unusual--which contributes to its fantastic-ness (is that a word)? The narrator is a minor devil who works for Satan, or maybe not, he doesn't really know, it could be another mid-level devil......more

Goodreads review by Stephen on February 08, 2018

A blend of fact and fiction, a history of a family that came to be known as Hitler, and a small boy called Adolf. A history related by the devil that was assigned to watch over him - a tale where the shit literally hits the man. For a guy who has won two Pulitzer prizes, Norm isn't afraid to get his......more

Goodreads review by Rena on April 29, 2025

Ever read a book and think the author wrote it just for you? That's how I feel about The Castle in the Forest. It's as if Norman Mailer thought, "I wonder what kind of weird, twisted novel I could write to make Rena Sherwood happy. I know! I'll write about Hitler's childhood. But told from the point......more