I've had my eye on this novel for sometime now, as I've always found information/literature surrounding the Holocaust really interesting- despite not knowing all that much about it! Admittedly, an additional reason for fancying Shindler's Ark is the 'hype' surrounding the film- everyone seems to rave about it as one of the greats, and as a general rule I try to read the novel before seeing the film.
As a whole, I didn't enjoy this quite as much as I thought I would. I think it's probably because I read a lot at work so was frequently interrupted by customers and it made it pretty difficult to properly get into it. Towards the end though, I did feel a lot more drawn in and found myself making more effort to indulge in reading sessions. The narrative is an amazing and impressive one, Schindler as a character (especially as it is based on true events) is heroic and invites the full trust of the reader, which was really nice whilst reading. I did however find that there were a few to many characters to form real emotional attachments to anyone other than the constant of Schindler, although maybe that's reflective of the fast paced moving of prisoners from camp to camp and the fragility of life (or something to that effect at least!).
Something I found most interesting about the novel was a question posed towards the conclusion of the novel- the question of whether the SS officers acted merely under duty, or under their own human nature. Quite possibly it's a mixture of the two, depending on who we are dealing with- but I found it quite thought provoking despite being a passing comment within the narrative.
Overall, I did enjoy Schindler's Ark, and had I devoted more time to it I probably would have enjoyed it even more. If you are interested in historical happenings/the Holocaust/heroic tales, then I would definitely recommend this novel. Next up is something a little lighter in the form of Rachel Joyce's The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry which I have heard lovely things about.
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