With jewelry and cash gotten from the women who work in the building where belongings are sorted, Lale with his savvy, his courage and with some luck barters for time with Gita for the price of chocolate, a piece of sausage , a hunk of bread, a diamond or ruby. But he also provides as much food as he can to others.
He helps many people along the way putting himself in danger each day as each day he tattoos numbers onto the arms of the new inhabitants. He does seem to have an existence in some ways better than most in the camp and better than when he first arrived until he is caught with the jewels.
It is obvious that he survives, so there's no spoiler here that Lale continues to have the capacity for hope and love that seems impossible as he endures.
This is a story told with love about courage in the face of the horrors of the camps and loss of family, courage sustained by the strength of the human spirit and it's a love story that I'll never forget. There is not much more I can say other than what Lale himself tells Morris - that he wanted his story recorded so "It would never happen again.
An interesting tale based on a true story but not really comprehensively told. I enjoyed what was there but there seemed to be so much left out. Lale was obviously a charming rogue who managed to survive all those years in Auschwitz despite bringing himself to the attention of the authorities repeatedly and in very serious ways. It was amazing that a life long love affair could have begun in such a place, and even more amazing that they both survived and found each other again after the war.
Obvi An interesting tale based on a true story but not really comprehensively told. Obviously it was meant to be. There must have been a lot more to this story than we are made aware of. I found the author's style to be simplistic which left me detached from events. I even felt occasionally that the book was aimed at a young adult audience as various atrocities were mentioned only in passing. As a reader I never felt the pain or the sorrow, just watched it from a distance. To me the author let the subject down.
Fortunately the story is so incredible it stands up for itself. A good read, but not a great one. View all 23 comments. Mar 11, Tammy rated it liked it. I recall, as a child, accompanying one or the other of my parents to our family jeweler countless times.
It seemed as if some piece always needed to be repaired or purchased for one occasion or another. For my tenth birthday I received a small sapphire and diamond ring which was too large and needed to be resized.
One day after school off we went to see Marty and Irv. It was an unseasonably warm fall day and Irv had his shirtsleeves rolled up. When he placed his arm on the glass countertop, I sa I recall, as a child, accompanying one or the other of my parents to our family jeweler countless times.
When he placed his arm on the glass countertop, I saw the tattooed numbers on his arm for the very first time. I felt, also for the first time, a cold clenching my stomach. That very day, at the age of ten, I had watched Night and Fog as part of my fifth grade curriculum and my physical reaction was the painful shock of recognition. It was disturbing to me that this kind and gentle man had been subjected to and survived the death camps.
What I will say about this book is that it tells a story of hope amid horror. I will also say that the writing is sophomoric. However, I do think this is a book that is well suited for young teens as an introduction to this very dark part of history. View all 50 comments.
Rather than read the print version of The Tattooist of Auschwitz, I chose to listen to the audio version, narrated by Richard Armitage, who is becoming a favorite narrator of mine. In this book, we follow twenty six year old Lale Sokolov, a Slovakian Jew, forcibly transported to the concentration camps at Auschwitz-Birkenau, in We learn of his love for a young woman who he meets in the camp, when he tattoos her arm, as he did for other prisoners entering the camps.
Lale passed away in but spent the three years before he died, relating his memories of his time at Auschwitz. The story is brutal because this is the story of the Holocaust. The horror of what happened to over a million people is behind this story of two people who survive the camps and live to marry and raise a son. Lale wasn't willing to tell his story until his wife died because he was afraid of being labeled a Nazi collaborator, due to his work as a tattooist and the privileges he received for doing such work.
As with other stories about the Holocaust that I have read in the last two years, my mind can't even grasp the horror of what happened. It is through reading stories like this that I want to remember the people who lost their lives, many of them lost in a pile of bodies, never to be identified, once they were taken prisoner and having their humanity diminished by men who thought they were better. The entire time I read books like this one, my heart goes out to each individual that suffered I don't want to forget what happened, as hard as it is to remember.
I was able to borrow this book from Hoopla, via my local library. Published September 4, View all 59 comments. Unfortunately, as much as I wanted to love this book, it fell quite short for me. Perhaps it was the expectation I always harbor for a book about the Holocaust, or perhaps the book contained things that I just had a hard time believing. This was basically a love story between two people, Lale and Gita who met while she was waiting to be tattooed by Lale and instantly fell in love.
They manage to meet on many occasions and share time together and even make love. Lale, meanwhile is able to collect Unfortunately, as much as I wanted to love this book, it fell quite short for me. Lale, meanwhile is able to collect diamonds, money, and other jewels from people working in the sorting of prisoners' clothes which he barters for food, chocolate, and other things with a Russian workman and his son.
He shares his food with those that he can which of course is a wonderful thing to have done. Eventually, when the war is close to ending, he is freed and while Gita has been sent away from Auschwitz he eventually meets up with her and they marry and have a son after immigrating to Australia. In thinking about this novel, I believe it was the writing of the story which held it down for me. It seemed that the author made the telling so matter of fact and I could not perceive an emotional empathy that one is ever so sure any prisoner in Auschwitz would certainly have had.
I know that both Lale and Gita were real people who suffered immensely in the camp and of course lost so many family and friends. My heart breaks ever time I read a book that details the atrocities that were done to the Jews, Gypsies, handicapped and others during the war.
So, I am very sad that I did not connect with this story. At the end of the book, Lale and Gita's son wrote a foreword which was quite good with the right amount of emotion and love for his parents. I think perhaps he should have taken up the task of writing his parents' story.
For through his few short pages, I saw more of Lale and Gita than the author showed me with the entire book. Interestingly I just read this article View all 44 comments. A unsettling but gripping novel, based on the true story of Lale, a Slovakian Jew caught up in the horrors of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp during WW2. He speaks several languages, so soon finds himself employed in the camp as the tattooist, the man responsible for inscribing prisoners numbers on their arms.
He soon meets and falls in love with Gita, a fellow inmate. This is a beautifully told tale, Heather A unsettling but gripping novel, based on the true story of Lale, a Slovakian Jew caught up in the horrors of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp during WW2. This is a beautifully told tale, Heather Morris captures the essence of the camp well. I visited Auschwitz-Birkenau earlier this year and found it to be chilling and disturbing.
One can only speculate at the deranged minds of those that caused such suffering. I read through this book it quickly in one sitting, and though it outlines the horrors of war, it shows the strength of the human spirit, and that there is always something to hope for. Highly recommended, this is one that will stay with you for a long time. View all 30 comments. I don't think I quite prepared myself, or wasn't able to entirely remove myself from the novel, so became completely invested and because of this, it absolutely tore me apart.
Based on a true story - Lale uses his education and knowledge of languages to get himself a job as the Tatowierer after each Jewish family must volunteer one young male for 'work'. This 'work' turns out to be the concentration camps on Auschwitz and Birkenau.
We witness first hand the atrocities Lale sees happen, and also the cruelty and torture he endures at the hands of the Nazi's. Despite knowing this was a 'memoir' of sorts, and that Lale would eventually escape, I was still terrified when reading this. Books like this need to be published and read, as I think that despite everyone knowing what the Holocaust was, I think people might be in danger of forgetting just how truly horrifying it was, and the lowest depths of humanity.
Not everyday was filled with violence, some days nothing happened at all - and the prisoners whiled away the days, too starved or beaten to really do anything. Non-fiction books aren't always designed to be enthralling, and for me this story's purpose was more for education and the sharing of someone's past, rather than to simply entertain the reader.
I've seen a few reviews commenting on the writing style, how it is written quite factually rather than emotionally, and to be honest I do agree. It is written more as a timeline, than a novel. But I understand it was done this way because it is the couple's story to tell; I just would have preferred more detail in other places. He just turned up at the train station and she just got off?!
Is that actually how easily it happened? I would have liked to have seen a bit more of his research into how he knew she would be there? Or was it literally just fate? Politics and religion both. This is a historical fiction novel based on a true story. Lale Sokolov tells his story based on true events. He became the main tattooist of Aushwitz and falls in love at first sight with Gita who he first met tattooing her arm.
He tattoos all the new prisoners with their identification numbers. Lale is a Jew. He is on the first transport of men from Slovakia to Auschwitz in The concentration camp was very horrifying. Lale did have some special privileges, since he was the tatto 4. Lale did have some special privileges, since he was the tattoist.
He had lots of freedom than the other prisoners. He was so brave and had lots of courage. He would exchange jewels and money from murdered Jews for food to keep others alive. If he was caught he would of been killed. Many prisoners owed him their survival.
He was a leader among the other prisoners. Their are some graphic scenes that are a little dark. This book stands out from other Holocaust related novels. It is an emotional read. The Nazi guards are monsters, they kill and hurt human beings. Lale was determined to survive. This is a terrible story but it also is a story of hope and courage. I really did love this story. It was almost like reading a memoir, but a little different than a memoir. This story is an emotional read, but I also found it uplifting at times.
The Holocaust was horrific and couldn't believe all the awful things that happened in the concentration camp. I would say this is a safer read than other Holocaust novels. I really loved Lale's true story. I am so happy that the author spent a lot of time with him, to tell his story. She really did an amazing job on his character. All the characters were very well done and made this novel come alive.
I loved the love story between Lale and Gita and how they fall in love at first sight. I love a romance in a novel only when there is lots of suspense. Its always the suspense that I am looking for and this one has ok plenty of it. I felt so sad for Cilka, and everything she went through. I also felt sad for Leon. There are some scenes that are graphic but this is the Holocaust, a horrifying time and as I mentioned before this is a safer read than other Holocaust books. I could not put this book down.
It was a page turner. I loved the writing style. I am really loving historical novels more and more because I think they are needed because we need to remember what happened so that history isn't forgotten.
This was a Traveling Sister read and I loved reading this with them and it was a wonderful discussion. You are commenting using your Google account. You are commenting using your Twitter account. You are commenting using your Facebook account. Notify me of new comments via email. Notify me of new posts via email. Facebook Twitter Instagram Search. Search for: Search. Date: June 2, Author: warwickshirelibrariesblog 0 Comments. What do you need to do to join in? Reading Group Questions a selection taken from the Zaffre Publishing edition How did you feel about Lale when he was first introduced, as he arrived in Auschwitz?
How did your understanding of him change throughout the novel? In what ways was Lale a hero? In what ways was he an ordinary man? Time stands still as Gita and Lale cross paths on the street and recognize each other. The story closes as Lale asks Gita to marry him and they walk away, one young couple among many in a war-ravaged city. After the war, they married, had a child named Gary, and immigrated to Melbourne. To conclude, an afterword written by Gary himself provides a moving first-hand testament to the love he witnessed between his parents growing up.
Read more from the Study Guide. Browse all BookRags Study Guides. All rights reserved. Toggle navigation. Sign Up. Sign In. Get The Tattooist of Auschwitz from Amazon. View the Study Pack. View the Lesson Plans. Accounts of the Holocaust are always desperately difficult to read but this story shared the will to survive through a beautiful love story of two desperate survivors sharing their accounts of surviving the death camp of Auschwitz.
We must never forget…. The feelings and thoughts expressed by the character, Lale, in the face of unbelievable choices and horrendous circumstances grabbed me right at the beginning. There are many Holocaust stories and books. Apple Books Preview. Publisher Description. Customer Reviews.
0コメント