Book Review: The Tattooist of Auschwitz
Happy Friday!
I hope you’re having a great week so far. I am so ready for the weekend. This has been a bit of a crazy week. The weather is all over the place and it’s getting dark so early now. This weekend I am hoping to do a bit of shopping and a lot of trip planning.
Today’s Post is about a book I devoured earlier this week.
The Book:
Tattooist of Auschwitz: A Novel by Heather Morris
What it’s about:
In April 1942, Lale Sokolov, a Slovakian Jew, is forcibly transported to the concentration camps at Auschwitz-Birkenau. When his captors discover that he speaks several languages, he is put to work as a Tätowierer (the German word for tattooist), tasked with permanently marking his fellow prisoners.
Imprisoned for over two and a half years, Lale witnesses horrific atrocities and barbarism—but also incredible acts of bravery and compassion. Risking his own life, he uses his privileged position to exchange jewels and money from murdered Jews for food to keep his fellow prisoners alive.
One day in July 1942, Lale, prisoner 32407, comforts a trembling young woman waiting in line to have the number 34902 tattooed onto her arm. Her name is Gita, and in that first encounter, Lale vows to somehow survive the camp and marry her.
A vivid, harrowing, and ultimately hopeful re-creation of Lale Sokolov's experiences as the man who tattooed the arms of thousands of prisoners with what would become one of the most potent symbols of the Holocaust, The Tattooist of Auschwitz is also a testament to the endurance of love and humanity under the darkest possible conditions. (from Chapters.ca)
Why I wanted to read it:
I kept coming across this book and at first I wasn’t sure if I wanted to read it. You can tell just from the title that it’s going to be dark. I thought I would have to be in a certain mood to want to read it. But it seemed like a popular choice though so I decided to give it a shot. Sometimes books are popular for a reason. I wrote about it on my Books to Read list and when my dad read it he told me not to buy it because he had a copy in Canada! It was perfect timing.
Final thoughts:
I gave this book 5.5. I finished it in one day. I started it on my morning commute. Unfortunately this week my train isn’t running but fortunately that means I get a seat on the replacement bus which takes just a little bit longer to get to work - yay for more reading time. I was hooked right away but I was shocked at just how dark the book was. It is heartbreaking and I definitely cried reading it. More than once. Prepare yourself. I thought it was such an important story to tell and it was written very well.
Why you should read it:
I had no idea it is based on real life. I was so fascinated to learn that these were real people, and I loved the bit at the end from the son where he writes about what it was like to grow up with parents who survived the holocaust. I enjoyed the few photos and the author’s note. And spoiler alert: there’s a relatively happy ending that makes me think of the Rihanna song…We found love in a hopeless place…
