When I first started this book I wondered if I should keep going. With everything happening on the news lately, I wasn’t sure if I had it in me to read such a horrific story. I felt like I needed something light, something warm and fuzzy to lift my spirits. But it’s important that stories like these are told (and read) and so I continued,and I’m glad I did.
There’s no warm up, from page one Morris throws you into the real life hell that was Auschwitz. I don’t need to tell you about the atrocities that the Germans carried out — vile, inhumane, gut wrenching are just a few of the words that come to mind. In today’s day in age, with an orange bafoon running the free world, it was good to be reminded that only 70 years ago, terrible, unspeakable things happened and a whole population became immune to it. It could happen again if we’re not careful.
But where there is darkness, there is also light. The Tattooist of Auschwitz tells the tale of two Slovakian Jews – Lale and Gita– who found love in the darkest of places. What they endured was unimaginable, and yet some how through clever wit and sheer luck they made it through. Love conquers all.
The writing is simple, with lots of telling but I often find with books like these it has to be. The story is more important than the prose. It also wasn’t Morris’s story, so all embellishments would’ve had to go out the window. She was merely the pen engaged by Lale to make sure what he and Gita endured was remembered forever.
Marisa Jones Author 