Heather Morris is a native of New Zealand, and now resides in Australia. For several years, while working in a large public hospital in Melbourne, she studied and wrote screenplays, one of which was optioned in the United States. In 2003, Heather was introduced to an elderly gentleman who "might just have a story worth telling." The day she met Lale Sokolov changed both their lives. Their friendship grew, and Lale embarked on a journey of self-scrutiny, entrusting the innermost details of his life during the Holocaust to her. heather originally wrote Lale's story as a screenplay—which ranked high in international competitions—before reshaping it into her debut novel, The Tattooist of Auschwitz.
In April 1942, Lale Sokolov, a Slovakian Jew, is forcibly transported to the concentration campus 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 making his fellow prisoners. Imprisoned for over two and 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.
It is truly awe-inspiring that this story isn't just fictional, but true. Lale and Gita, two prisoners at the most infamous concentration camp, fell in love and reunited after the war ended. It's truly hard to imagine love coming from a place such as Auschwitz, so this story did have the potential to be moving and striking. Morris originally wrote Lale's and Gita's stories as a screenplay, and determined that a novel was a better form for the story. While I certainly agree with that assessment, I don't believe this novel does justice to the true story, and doesn't live up to its full potential. Rather, the prose feels like it was adapted from a screenplay, and it reads as if the author did not take the time to truly adapt the story to the nuances of the novel form. This makes for a novel that is a quick read, but an incredibly unsatisfying one.
Because the story wasn't adapted well for the novel, there's a lot about it that rings hollow. I wish I could have believed in the power of Lale's and Gita's love for one another; however, it was incredibly instalove-coded, and not one interaction between their characters was heartfelt. I found myself tearing up at the images of real-life Lale and Gita more than any of the words on the page. I also couldn't believe in any of the characters as individuals—none of the characters are characterized in any meaningful way, leaving their interactions with Lale and the other characters feeling stilted and unrealistic. I wanted to believe in this story, and believe in these characters, but the way everything was put on the page was surface-level and disappointing, as a result.
In summary, I think this novel is perfect for people looking for quick reads. If you can ignore the lack of character development and development of the writing in general, I think you could enjoy this book.
*This review can also be found on my Goodreads page*
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