The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris

3/5 Stars

The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris is an historical fiction novel based on the true story of the life of Lale Sokolov, a Slovakian Jew, who was transported to the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in Poland in April of 1942. While imprisoned there, he became the Tätowierer (tattooist), a role that allowed him certain privileges not granted to other prisoners and that ultimately played a crucial role in his survival. Lale did what it took to survive, but he also befriended those in need, fell in love and risked his life for the betterment of others. Lale somehow maintained a positive and optimistic attitude even as he bore witness to unfathomable atrocities. His life and survival at the hands of the Nazis is truly an incredible story and one worth reading and remembering.

With all that being said, while this was a good story and Lale’s life was amazing, I could only give The Tattooist of Auschwitz three out of five stars. I read this book on my Kindle Paperwhite, and, per my Kindle, was about 40% of the way through the book before I really started getting into the story. It seemed to drag on not for the lack of content but rather for the writing style. It was very simplistic with short, choppy sentences that lacked description. I feel that a story of such depth and impact deserves more than this simple style of writing. It deserves to be mined and discovered and brought to life to the point that it springs from the pages of the book. I craved more depth to know the characters more deeply, but, sadly, that never happened and at the end of the book I was left feeling like I missed out on something crucial.

While I recommend this book as it is a pretty incredible story, I would not recommend it as my go-to Holocaust novel. There are many other books about the Holocaust that are far more captivating and much deeper. But yes, Lale’s story is definitely worth a read.