num_pages: 224
description: The memoir that inspired Roman Polanski's Oscar-winning film, which won the Cannes Film Festival's most prestigious prize―the Palme d'Or.Named one of the Best Books of 1999 by the Los Angeles TimesOn September 23, 1939, Wladyslaw Szpilman played Chopin's Nocturne in C-sharp minor live on the radio as shells exploded outside―so loudly that he couldn't hear his piano. It was the last live music broadcast from That day, a German bomb hit the station, and Polish Radio went off the air.Though he lost his entire family, Szpilman survived in hiding. In the end, his life was saved by a German officer who heard him play the same Chopin Nocturne on a piano found among the rubble. Written immediately after the war and suppressed for decades, The Pianist is a stunning testament to human endurance and the redemptive power of fellow feeling.
language: English
title: The Pianist: The Extraordinary True Story of One Man's Survival in Warsaw, 1939-1945
titlecomplete: The Pianist: The Extraordinary True Story of One Man's Survival in Warsaw, 1939-1945
characters: Władysław Szpilman
genres: Historical, Biography, War, Memoir, Nonfiction, Classics, Holocaust, Poland, History, World War II
ratings_count: 76799
places: Warsaw, Poland
series: Ekranlaşdırılmış əsərlər
awards: awardedAt: 946713600000
name: Jewish Quarterly-Wingate Prize
category: Nonfiction
publisher: Picador