The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris

The Tattooist of Auschwitz

by Heather Morris

This is a story of a young boy separated from his family and thrown in a German concentration camp.  As soon as he arrives, he secretly promises to himself that he is not going to die in this place.  He faces hunger, death, deceit but, stays strong and lives.  There are just few things which act as ray of hope for him but he clings to them tightly throughout.  Lale is the Tatooist at Auschwitz, someone who takes people's identity from them and instead gives them numbers for life.  A mere young prisoner, by sheer luck and determination gets turned into the Tattooist. His desire to live and defeat death is what gets him through.

Among the many books I have read on Holocaust, this story is more about hope.  Hope that two individuals keep in their heart all along their three years at a concentration camp.  Hope is something which brings Lale to his love Gita together and they starts dreaming of a future.  This book on the one hand describes the atrocities that prisoners had to bear at the Nazi concentration camps and on the other, is full of the positive energies from both Lale and Gita.  How they are able to survive during and after war and make a small world for themselves in this big world?

I would have liked the story better if it had much more details and had it been more descriptive.  It seems at places a hasty story telling is being done and there is a rush by the author to reach the end.  I wish it was not such a short story.  Every stage seemed to end very quickly.  The story itself is responsible for all the acclaims to this book.

In the end I only have one thought for this book as well as for the said event in history - 

"How can a race spread out across multiple countries be considered a threat?  So much so that it is made a mission to be looted, killed and destroyed.

GoodReads Review:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3139400198

Overall Review: 4

Grip Factor:       3.5
Writing Style:    2.5
Engaging Plot:   4
Characters:         3.5
Satisfying end:   4

"Night Train to Lisbon" by Pascal Mercier, Barbara Harshav (Translator)

"Night Train to Lisbon"

 by Pascal Mercier, Barbara Harshav (Translator)

If you are living a life which is by the standards of the world a satisfying life, why would you leave it.  Even if you leave it would you just leave as if all in past was nothing?  How many people can do that?  The main character of this book does just that - gets up on a whim, leaves everything he is doing since past 30 years, takes a ticket to a new city and starts to find out about the life of a person he just read about.  He leaves his career, his home, his books and just goes away.  More important is the factor that he closes the previous chapter in his mind as well.  Leaving something physically and completely shutting down from your past emotionally is a brave thing to do.  That too if you do it on a whim and  without any plan for the future.  He does come back later though but not as the same person.

It is a difficult book to read and takes a lot of time.  Each and every sentence has got depth and you need to go back and read it again to get the context.  There were some times when I had to leave the book, close my eyes and literally think about what is written to completely understand it.  The start of the novel is better as it gives a lot of hope for what is to come next.  The beginning adds a certain charm, mystery and romance to the character and you look forward to the future.  However, as the book builds it loses its charm and you need to struggle to proceed.  There were many instances where I had to stop myself from skipping ahead.  In the middle it also tries to bring back the same charm factor by talking about the revolution and the role played by several characters in the same.  However, it fails to make any impression.

This book is certainly not for everyone.  If you like a fast pace, you wont like it. If you want to be challenged then go ahead.  For me it was exhausting and I completed it since I wanted to know the journey.

Disclaimer:  You need plenty of time to read this book.  Reading it and understanding it are two separate activities and you have to really put your thoughts in focus to get what the author is trying to say.

One important message which I like in the book:
"The real director of our lives is accident - a directory full of cruelty, compassion and bewitching charm" 


Goodreads Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3285432079

Overall Rating:      3

Grip Factor:           3
Writing Style:        3.5
Engaging Plot:       3
Characters:            3
Satisfying End:      3.5