The Tattooist of Auschwitz: A Novel

This is a very difficult book to review. Overall I would say it was a good book but not a great one. Lale was the main character who became the tattooist of Auschwitz to survive his time in the concentration camp. As much as I appreciated his passion for survival I struggled with how much he needed to do to survive and that in the process he betrayed his fellow Jews. At the same time he attempted to use his position to help his fellow inmates obtain food and medicine. The writing style lends itself more to a movie than a novel.

Beautiful book but of course it is a difficult topic and this heartbreaking as well. This book was extremely well done.

A beautiful true story. There are so many stories like this from World War II that will never be told. Not too deep (and probably not brutally honest) and fast to read.

Read this at the same time I was watching the series on Stan. Very moving, eye opening. Full of hope and devastation in every way.

I discovered this in a gift shop at the Long Beach airport. While I’m a bleeding heart for love stories, this is so much more than that. Gripping, deeply sad, maddening, beautiful, unreal, unshakable. I forgot multiple times that this wasn’t Heather’s story, but the retelling of someone else’s because she captured his emotions, feelings, perspective and personality so seamlessly that you can’t tell where his voice ends and her creativity polishes it over. Very grateful this one caught my eye and though it was emotional and painful in a way I’ll never fully know, I’m grateful I was able to bear witness to the power of love on this level. Read it.