TLS When The War Is Over; Struggles After War

After reading the TLS review on Josef Skvorecky's Ordinary Lives I found myself stuck again with totalitarianism in literature. Like with George Orwell's 1984 and Animal Farm in this book the author tries to show how totalitarianism, and the Nazis attacked humans free will and were a complete disgrace for humanity. He depicts many different situations in his book of how different peoples lives ended because of this period in time in which Stalin and Hitler tried to control europe. I believe this topic is so recurrent in literature because of the huge impact it had on humanity. So many deaths and casualties created a scar on history. Not only because of the millions of deaths but because of the stupid ideals of Aryan race and total control that were imposed.  Again I can connect this with Slaughterhouse- five because as Vonnegut, Skvorecky shows how people suffered during this period in which justice and equality did not exist. The themes of this anti-war books are close to each other. In Ordinary Lives the different situations of very different individuals all end up in a labor camp or burned into ashes. It seems as a very interesting book because it is not the typical book that portrays only one story with only one main character like Night or Slaughterhouse-five. 

maelstrom:a restless, disordered, or tumultuous state of affairs

pragmatic:of or pertaining to a practical point of view or practical considerations.

uncannily:

having or seeming to have a supernatural or inexplicable basis; beyond the ordinary or normal; extraordinary:uncanny accuracy; an uncanny knack of foreseeing trouble.

gallows:

a wooden frame, consisting of a crossbeam on two uprights, on which condemned persons are executed by hanging.