Tag Archives: the tattooist of auschwitz

ARC REVIEW: The Tattooist Of Auschwitz – by Heather Morris

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Title: The Tattooist Of Auschwitz
Author: Heather Morris
Genre: Historical Fiction
First published: January 11th 2018
Publisher: Bonnier Zaffre
Finished reading: January 8th 2018
Pages: 288

“Choosing to live is an act of defiance, a form of heroism.”

*** A copy of this book was kindly provided to me by Netgalley and Bonnier Zaffre in exchange for an honest review. Thank you! ***

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The Tattooist Of Auschwitz had me at the title. I have a weak spot for WWII historical fiction and the promise of a story from the POV of the tattooist of Auschwitz sounded intriguing. I have been looking forward to pick up this title, and there is no doubt that this is an excellent read. The Tattooist Of Auschwitz is based on true events, as the author has interviewed the real Tetovierer and this book is his account of his time in Auschwitz. A truly fascinating, emotional and heartbreaking account of how he tried to survive in the Polish concentration camp during the war…The writing flows and the author did an excellent job writing down Lale’s story without interfering. It was intriguing to see the daily life at the camp through the Tetovierer’s eyes… WWII historical fiction fans will love this book. Make sure to have some tissues ready just in case, because it’s hard to keep it dry especially in the final part of this novel. And that is coming from someone who normally has a heart of stone and almost never sheds tears when reading.

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Based on the true story of Lale and Gita Sokolov, two Slovakian Jews who survived Auschwitz and eventually moved to Australia. Shortly after arriving at the camp, Lale somehow ends up with the job of tattooing the prisoners marked for survival. The crude method is painful, but nobody dares to complain, Lale included. His job as the Tetovierer gives him a little movement and freedom other prisoners doesn’t have… And he decides to put this advantage to good use. He is determined to survive Auschwitz and help as many people as possible, a nearly impossible feat.

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I was sold as soon as I first heard about this book and it is a truly remarkable story. This book is based on real events and the author has interviewed the main character of this story personally. It gives a fascinating insight in the life at Auschwitz and how the main character manages to survive by having given the task of tattooing the numbers on the arms of the prisoners of Auschwitz. You probably won’t keep your eyes dry with this one! I can highly recommend The Tattooist Of Auschwitz to any fan of the genre.

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WWW Wednesdays #158 – January 10th

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WWW WEDNESDAYS is a weekly meme hosted by Sam @ Taking On A World Of Words and is all about answering the three questions below.

It’s been a while since I last did one of these! Three months to be exact… Oops? This time around it’s all about the books I’ve been reading so far in 2018; next week will be back to normal. (Hopefully)

  • WHAT ARE YOU CURRENTLY READING?

I’m almost finished with The Ends Of The World by Maggie Hall, which will be the first series I will be able to finish this year. I loved the first two books of the series, but I’m kind of struggling with the final one… I’m just not feeling it, there is way too much politics involved and I can’t find the same magic of the first two books. It might just have been me, but definitely not the experience I was expecting. I’m dying to read The Hating Game by Sally Thorne though, which I’ve sampled already and sounds like a winner.

  • WHAT DID YOU RECENTLY FINISH READING?

1. Keep Her Safe by Richard Parker (4,5/5 stars) REVIEW 11/01
I already had a feeling this was going to be good, but I honestly couldn’t have wished for a better book to start the reading year with. Keep Her Safe was one heck of a thriller with so many intense moments I found it impossible to stop reading. I practically devoured this story and its many plot twists and the final part of Keep Her Safe definitely had some jaw droppingly fierce moments. A trigger warning for those if extreme and violent scenes aren’t your thing! Otherwise, I can highly recommend this thriller.

2. Life In Outer Space by Melissa Keil (3/5 stars) REVIEW 18/01
I love my geeky/nerdy reads and I was so sure I was going to enjoy this one… But I guess it just wasn’t ment to be. Basically I feel this book is trying too hard. The geeky/nerdy elements felt forced and unnatural and I wasn’t a fan of the characters either… And there were a LOT of high school cliches involved.

3. Her Last Lie by Amanda Brittany (3/5 stars) REVIEW
I had high hopes for Her Last Lie, but unfortunately I can say that only the last part of this story actually lived up to expectations. The writing is good, the premise is promising and the ending is surprisingly strong. There were a few plot twists I didn’t see coming either, and I loved the travel elements. That said, I found there was too much focus on the romantic relationships of the main character, I found the cheating/love triangle highly annoying and the main character itself very unlikeable. My feelings for this book are basically all over the place, because while I felt a strong dislike for the story during most of Her Last Lie, I absolutely loved the final part (starting with the Northern Lights scene). It’s hard to wrap my head around these feelings, but I do admit these positive feelings sure took their time making an appearance. Fans of slower paced psychological thrillers with a romantic focus might enjoy this one a lot better though. Just don’t expect a lot of suspense and excitement until the very end.

4. The Bunker Diary by Kevin Brooks (4/5 stars) REVIEW 18/01
I was intrigued as soon as I started reading The Bunker Diary and this is both an addictive, shocking, thought-provoking and emotional read. I sure wish I would have picked it up sooner! The writing is interesting and we learn about what is happening through the diary of the main character. Not only tells us about the events in the bunker, but it also shows the mental state of the character as well as how the things that happen have their effect. It’s hard to talk properly about this story without giving away too much, but The Bunker Diary will crush your heart, make you stare at the final page and at loss for words. A trigger warning for some graphic descriptions, but all in all I can really recommend reading this story. It definitely blew me away.

5. The Tattooist Of Auschwitz by Heather Morris (4/5 stars) REVIEW 13/01
I have a weak spot for WWII historical fiction, so I just had to request a copy of this title as soon as I heard about it. This book is based on real events and the author has interviewed the main character of this story personally. It gives a remarkable insight in the life at Auschwitz and how the main character manages to survive by having given the task of tattooing the numbers on the arms of the prisoners of Auschwitz. You won’t keep your eyes dry with this one!

  • WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU’LL READ NEXT?

As part of the whole finishing my series goal, I’m probably picking up The Last Star by Rick Yancey next. I’m not a big fan of the trilogy, but since I have already read the first two and have a copy of the last book on my kindle, I’ll give it a go anyway. I also need to read my last pending January ARC The Silent Girls by Dylan Young… And I want to read The Good Daughter by Karin Slaughter ASAP as well (although I might pick up another thriller first since it’s a ‘sort of’ ARC?) My newest TBR jar pick is still Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly.

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You can also find me at Goodreads. Twitter. Instagram. Facebook. Bloglovin’.