Book Club Review: The Tattooist of Auschwitz

Hi, friends! This past month I have had the pleasure of joining the Book Club along with a wonderful group of girls. I am so excited to be able to participate in this book club because it has always been a dream of mine to be in a book club! I think they are just so cool! 

This month we all decided to read The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris as our September pick, and it was so good. This book is beautiful, heart-breaking, courageous, and harrowing all at the same time. 

Title: The Tattooist of Auschwitz

Author: Heather Morris

Pages: 272

Publisher: Harper Paperbacks

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐






Synopsis:

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.

My Thoughts:

I loved this story! I thought that it was very well written in that I was completely there for the story the whole time. I got butterflies when Lale and Gita would meet, I was horrified at some of the awful things the prisoners had to go through, I was heartbroken, and I was angry at the injustice that was done to all of these people. 

The courage and sheer hope and will to survive that is shown through the victims of the Holocaust never cease to amaze me. In this book we watch Lale and Gita survive and love each other through the unimaginable, and we see such genuine friendships form as well. One aspect of the story that really stuck out to me was the group of girls that Gita was friends with. The original 3 women plus one more that joined their group had such a tight bond of genuine friendship. These ladies loved each other, protected each other, encouraged each other, and were each others motivation to continue on in that horrible place. To see not only a romantic love between Lale and Gita, but a strong friendship of girls that could giggle and cry together blossom in such a place as Auschwitz really spoke to me of the perseverance of women. They could have just as easily hated each other and only looked out for themselves, but instead they allowed themselves to become attached to each other in a place where no one knew if they would survive the next 5 minutes. 

Finally, I loved Lale and Gita's story. To see such a pure thing come out of such an evil situation proves to me that there is hope in all situations. Love truly does conquer all. The level of soul mates that Lale and Gita were for each other just amazes me. They randomly found each other in a concentration camp, were able to stay alive together, and then find each other again after liberation! In the note at the end of the book by their son, he says that they were still cuddling, kissing, and loving each other unconditionally even after 50 years. We can all only hope that we find that kind of love in our own lives.

I am so thankful that Lale Sokolov shared his story with Heather Morris for all of the world to read. It was such a beautiful story of love, perseverance, and survival. I would recommend this to any one to read for a tragic, but beautiful story! Thank you for reading!