Helpful Score: 4
The Tattooist of Auschwitz is based on a true story of a couple who found love in the most horrific place imaginable. There has been much debate about just how much of the story is fictionalized. Personally, I don't care. Fact or fiction, it is a beautifully written story.
Helpful Score: 2
Horrifying, yet uplifting at times. The underlying love story of Lale and Gita was the saving grace of this book for me. Their true story addresses the unthinkable treatment in Auschwitz and Birkenau and what many prisoners had to do just to survive.
Helpful Score: 1
This book is based on a true story. Lale and Gita met in Auschwitz and fell in love. I listened to the audio and found it to be a powerful read. It's a book that will stay with you after you finish. As I visited Auschwitz during my trip to Germany in 2000, I was able to picture in my mind's eye the scenes as they were laid out. It is a book about love, courage and hope for survival for Lale and Gita. I was glad that Lale was about to reconnect with Gita after the war and they finally married. I highly recommend this book as I found it very hard to put down. Looking forward to reading the sequel, Cilka's Journey.
Was a could not put down book!
I enjoyed reading about the endurance and strength of the individuals that were put through such extreme and awful circumstance. I know this is historical fiction and not a completely accurate account.
I only have about 30 pages to finish the book, but was interrupted by Christmas preparations and minor accident. I felt the book was pretty depressing especially in the times we are living in right now. It did make me feel that how much better off we are today than the people in that place and time period. I would recommend it but be prepared for some sad and parts that are almost difficult to get through. It is still well-written but makes you reflect how far we have come and how we need to continue to strive to avoid anything like this in the future of our world!
Enthralling true story of how 2 people helped each other survive Auschwitz A love story for the ages. Beautifully written as a ânovelâ originally planned as a screenplay.
This book brings your emotions full circle from horror, amazement, heartbreak, happiness, and everything in between. Based on a true story.
When Lale Sokolov, a Slovakian Jew, arrives at Auschwitz-Birkenau, he is appointed Tatowierer (German for tattooist). He will mark thousands of fellow prisoners with identification numbers. For almost three years, Lale sees the Nazis commit horrific atrocities and barbarism. Yet there are acts of bravery and days of boredom where the inmates are too starved to do anything at all. To help his fellow prisoners, he uses his position to obtain and exchange jewels and money from the murdered to by food and medicine to help fellow prisoners.
As tattooist he has some privileges including improved rations and better sleeping conditions. He can move freely in many parts of the camp. That is until he is caught, removed from his position and cruelly tortured. When he is reinstated and he is more careful about what he does for others. For example, he befriends a worker from outside working on camp construction. The farmer brings food to be shared as Lale sees fit.
One day Lale comforts a trembling prisoner who is waiting to have her arm tattooed. The attractive young woman is Gita, with whom he falls in love. He realizes in that short interlude he will do whatever he can to endure, leave this place and marry her. Unbelievable as it seems, the love affair blossoms, demonstrating that love and humanity can flourish under such dark frightening conditions.. Lale eventually leaves the camp and meets his sweetheart.
It took the author years to tell Lale's story. Becoming a friend, she tells his story with care, compassion and sensitivity. Leaving emotion aside, she writes factually following the lovers into their new life beyond the camp.
As tattooist he has some privileges including improved rations and better sleeping conditions. He can move freely in many parts of the camp. That is until he is caught, removed from his position and cruelly tortured. When he is reinstated and he is more careful about what he does for others. For example, he befriends a worker from outside working on camp construction. The farmer brings food to be shared as Lale sees fit.
One day Lale comforts a trembling prisoner who is waiting to have her arm tattooed. The attractive young woman is Gita, with whom he falls in love. He realizes in that short interlude he will do whatever he can to endure, leave this place and marry her. Unbelievable as it seems, the love affair blossoms, demonstrating that love and humanity can flourish under such dark frightening conditions.. Lale eventually leaves the camp and meets his sweetheart.
It took the author years to tell Lale's story. Becoming a friend, she tells his story with care, compassion and sensitivity. Leaving emotion aside, she writes factually following the lovers into their new life beyond the camp.
Heartbreaking at times, a story I will long remember.
This beautiful, illuminating tale of hope and courage is based on interviews that were conducted with Holocaust survivor and Auschwitz-Birkenau tattooist Ludwig (Lale) Sokolovâan unforgettable love story in the midst of atrocity.
This beautiful, illuminating tale of hope and courage is based on interviews that were conducted with Holocaust survivor and Auschwitz-Birkenau tattooist Ludwig (Lale) Sokolovâan unforgettable love story in the midst of atrocity.
good read
An amazing story of love and perseverance.
This is one of those stories that stays with you long after the last page has been read.
This is one of those stories that stays with you long after the last page has been read.
Heartwarming and heartbreaking true story about the atrocities of the Holocaust.
3.5 stars.
WWII stories are never easy to read and this one was based on a true story.
I found the writing and flow of the novel to be a little grade school, but the telling of the survival of Lala and Gita was worth the read.
WWII stories are never easy to read and this one was based on a true story.
I found the writing and flow of the novel to be a little grade school, but the telling of the survival of Lala and Gita was worth the read.
excellent book based on true story
Very thought provoking, interesting read.
It is hard to say you like a book about such a traumatic and life altering event for so many. Based on a true story of eye witness accounts of living through Auschwitz, this is a remarkable story of how resilient the human spirit is and it makes you think of what you truly might do to survive.
I have read and studied and written about a lot of Holocaust literature, especially when I was a graduate student. To write about the Holocaust is to have to tread carefully, with great respect, and to acknowledge the depth of pain and trauma that a contemporary reader can never fully comprehend and a writer can never fully convey--in short, to hold Theodor Adorno's famous quote about writing poetry after Auschwitz constantly in mind (even when reading other genres).
Having heard the buzz about Morris' book, I finally read it when a book group to which I belong added it to their upcoming list. (I'm curious what the fellow members will think). The story is powerful, and fast-moving, and its protagonist Lale Sokolov, the "Tatowierer" of the title, is a hero the reader will root for.
Unfortunately, I feel like I still don't "know" Lale. Or his beloved Gita, the prisoner who captures his heart as he inks numbers into her arm. Or his fellow tattooist Leon who suffers horribly at the hands of Dr. Mengele. Or, indeed, any of the characters. Despite the horrific background of crematoriums and bunkers and barbed wire, the figures remain flat, their longings and motivations and backgrounds shadowy. Perhaps this is due to Lale's story's original form: Morris' biography indicates that her background is in screenplays and that Lale's story was originally conveyed in such a format. The details the viewers would see onscreen if the dialogue was a script are too sparse and sections of the narrative too "glossed over" in the novel format. Initially, I was confused that this work of fiction's cover proclaims, "Based on the powerful true story of Lale Sokolov" and was further perplexed post-narrative when Morris writes, "There was no parting of memory and history for this beautiful old man--they waltzed perfectly in step." Were there just too many missing details that Sokolov either didn't remember or didn't offer that Morris knew she would have to construct--hence the (perceived) "missing" details and "fictionalizing"?
Lale is a valiant fighter, but the story here simply lacks the taut simplicity and emotional power of Wiesel's _Night_, for instance, or _The Diary of Dawid Sierakowiak_, or _This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen_. Perhaps if the same story was told, just in ten times as many words...
Having heard the buzz about Morris' book, I finally read it when a book group to which I belong added it to their upcoming list. (I'm curious what the fellow members will think). The story is powerful, and fast-moving, and its protagonist Lale Sokolov, the "Tatowierer" of the title, is a hero the reader will root for.
Unfortunately, I feel like I still don't "know" Lale. Or his beloved Gita, the prisoner who captures his heart as he inks numbers into her arm. Or his fellow tattooist Leon who suffers horribly at the hands of Dr. Mengele. Or, indeed, any of the characters. Despite the horrific background of crematoriums and bunkers and barbed wire, the figures remain flat, their longings and motivations and backgrounds shadowy. Perhaps this is due to Lale's story's original form: Morris' biography indicates that her background is in screenplays and that Lale's story was originally conveyed in such a format. The details the viewers would see onscreen if the dialogue was a script are too sparse and sections of the narrative too "glossed over" in the novel format. Initially, I was confused that this work of fiction's cover proclaims, "Based on the powerful true story of Lale Sokolov" and was further perplexed post-narrative when Morris writes, "There was no parting of memory and history for this beautiful old man--they waltzed perfectly in step." Were there just too many missing details that Sokolov either didn't remember or didn't offer that Morris knew she would have to construct--hence the (perceived) "missing" details and "fictionalizing"?
Lale is a valiant fighter, but the story here simply lacks the taut simplicity and emotional power of Wiesel's _Night_, for instance, or _The Diary of Dawid Sierakowiak_, or _This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen_. Perhaps if the same story was told, just in ten times as many words...
This is a powerful love story about a tattooist, Lale, and a young girl, Gita, trying to survive in a World War II concentration camp. Lale is given many freedoms to roam the camp due to his job, giving the reader the ability to see the many sides of the camp. Lale quickly determines that by pocketing gems from the piles of Jewish belongings, he can acquire extra food and favors and save people from death. It is a sweet story, treading lightly on the terrible side of the Holocaust in comparison to other heavier memoirs and stories that I have read in the past. What is really wonderful is that it is based on three years of interviews of Lale by the author. This is a thought provoking book that will have you thinking about the line of right and wrong and whether you would cross that line to survive.
