The Tattooist of Auschwitz

Author: Heather Morris
Genre: Historical Fiction (WWII)
Type: Trade Paperback
Pages: 288
Source: Local Public Library
Publisher: Harper Paperbacks
First Published: September 4, 2018
First Line: "Lale tries not to look up."

Book Description from GoodReads: This beautiful, illuminating tale of hope and courage is based on interviews that were conducted with Holocaust survivor and Auschwitz-Birkenau tattooist Ludwig (Lale) Sokolov—an unforgettable love story in the midst of atrocity.

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 Rating: 2.5 stars (ie. 'just okay')

WWII Historical Fiction is one of my favourite genres and this book caught my attention due to its cover, online blogger buzz and the fact that it is based on the real life and experiences of Lale Sokolov, a Slovakian Jew who was sent to Auschwitz. Through numerous interviews with Lale, Heather Morris learned the details of his life story, centering around his experiences as the tattooist who tattooed numbers on the arms of prisoners as they entered the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland.

This sounds like it would be a good fit for me but for several reasons I struggled to get through this book (even debating DNF'ing it - 'Did Not Finish'). I simply couldn't connect with the story or its characters, but my rating is in no way a reflection on the atrocities Lale experienced and witnessed. Instead, my rating focuses on Morris' writing style and prose. 

The writing is surprisingly weak from an author who is a screenwriter by trade. There's a definite lack of description of the setting and hardly any of the tension that you'd expect in a concentration camp where so many people suffered. Instead, most of the writing focuses on 'telling, not showing' (a lot of 'he said', 'then she said') which felt choppy and overly simplistic. By not describing the scene and atmosphere clearly, and keeping readers at arms length emotionally, I didn't connect with Lale or Gita to sympathize with their experiences.

Overall, I was disappointed with this book. It had such potential and while I appreciate that Morris wrote this book as a tribute to a man who experienced great tragedy, her weak writing and the lack of emotion took away from Sokolov's story.