This is the powerful and emotional story of young love in Auschwitz. Lale ends up in Auschwitz after volunteering to go to a work camp to save his family. He is given the job of tattooer, to tattoo an identifying number on the prisoners' arms after they arrive. With the arrival of some females, Lale locks eyes with Gita as he tattoos her arm and it was love at first sight. This is their story of resolve, inner strength, love and survival. What a great read!

I read this book in three hours .... need I say more?!

<b>4 utterly unforgettable stars to The Tattooist of Auschwitz</b> 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟

This is the story of Lale and Gita Sokolov, two Slovakian prisoners at Auschwitz who fell in love and all the risks and sacrifices made by them and others to keep them alive and together.

It all began with Lale and how he’s chosen to be the person who tattoos numbers on the prisoners. As one can imagine, this was heartbreaking work, but as Pepau told Lale, at least it was being done by someone with a heart. Through this job, Lale had favor at prison and ends up sharing the wealth with as many prisoners as he can. Lale ran into Gita, a woman he has met before, prior to being imprisoned.

Lale and Gita offered a unique and complex perspective on the Holocaust. At first, I was taken aback by their story and the extreme peril they risked by being together. But then it made me wonder, were there any other stories like Lale and Gita’s? Others who jeopardized their lives for love while living in impossible and incredibly dire circumstances?

Overall, I loved this book. Lale’s positive spirit, humanity, and courage grabbed hold of my heart. I’m grateful he told his story.

Thank you to Heather Morris, Bonnier Publishing, and Netgalley, for the complimentary copy to review.

<b>The Tattooist of Auschwitz will be released on January 27, 2018</b>

What appealed to me about the Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris is the fact this is based on a true story and its centers around survivors of Auschwitz. I’m very drawn to stories like this and when the story springs from a real event, I am even more curious.

It’s a tough topic to read about, in the past I’ve had to take a break from reading about concentration camps, but these are important stories to read so we can learn about the past and respect it.

Here’s the plot:

The Tattooist of Auschwitz is based on the true story of Lale and Gita Sokolov, two Slovakian Jews who survived Auschwitz and eventually made their home in Australia. In that terrible place, Lale was given the job of tattooing the prisoners marked for survival – literally scratching numbers into his fellow victims’ arms in indelible ink to create what would become one of the most potent symbols of the Holocaust. Lale used the infinitesimal freedom of movement that this position awarded him to exchange jewels and money taken from murdered Jews for food to keep others alive. If he had been caught, he would have been killed; many owed him their survival.

What makes this one so memorable is Lale Sokolov’s incredible zest for life. He understood exactly what was in store for him and his fellow prisoners, and he was determined to survive – not just to survive but to leave the camp with his dignity and integrity intact, to live his life to the full. Terrible though this story is, it is also a story of hope and of courage.

As with all books about the Holocaust, this one is very grim. It’s based on the real life story of Lale and Gita Sokolov.

For me, the test of a good historical novel is did I learn something I didn’t know before. This book passes the test almost from the beginning. I hadn’t known that initially, the Germans told Jewish families in Slovakia if they offered up one able bodied young male to work for the Germans, the rest of the family would be spared. Those young men were used to build Auschwitz. Needless to say, it’s an empty promise and soon enough thousands are pouring through the gates.

Lale ends up as the tattooist for Auschwitz and Birkenau. Through this favored position, he is able to travel more freely through the camp. Despite the bleakness of the surroundings, there are moments of love and tenderness. Two Polish bricklayers provide a means to help with additional food and medicine. The book does a great job of making you think through what it means to be a collaborator and how much you would do to stay alive. As Lale says,” choosing to live is an act of defiance, a form of heroism”.

There are glimpses of figures we recognize - Hess, Mengele. But it’s the horror of the regular soldiers that really grabs you. Their casual cruelness that sickens you.

Lale really is a cat with nine lives. The reader knows that he survives, but he does manage to get himself out of some amazing predicaments.

A book that should be read but not one you’re going to enjoy.

My thanks to netgalley and Bonnier Publishing for an advance copy of this book.

I really loved this book. There really isn't much more I can say. Everyone needs to read it. It isn't a story you hear about, usually WW2 stories are more big picture instead of a heartbreaking love story. I loved it.

The only this I had a diffcult time with was that he was told more as a historial fiction instead of memoir (despite that is wasn't a memoir) I had to keep reminding myself it was based on actual events.

This is by far the hardest book I’ve ever had to review. I’ve put off reviewing it as I hadn’t the first idea of how I would even try to give this book justice. When I think about it again, the tears flow, when I realise this is a true story the tears never stop. It’s heartbreaking yet heartwarming. Prove that wherever evil exists, human love and humanity will always shine through. A remarkable couple whose story will stay with me for ever.

Title: The Tattooist of Auschwitz

Author: Heather Morris

Genre: Historical Fiction

Publish date: February 1, 2018

Synopsis:

Lale Sokolov is well-dressed, a charmer, a ladies’ man. He is also a Jew. On the first transport from Slovakia to Auschwitz in 1942, Lale immediately stands out to his fellow prisoners. In the camp, he is looked up to, looked out for, and put to work in the privileged position of Tätowierer- the tattooist- to mark his fellow prisoners, forever. One of them is a young woman, Gita, who steals his heart at first glance.

His life given new purpose, Lale does his best through the struggle and suffering to use his position for good.

This story, full of beauty and hope, is based on years of interviews author Heather Morris conducted with real-life Holocaust survivor and Auschwitz- Birkenau tattooist Ludwig (Lale) Sokolov. It is heart-wrenching, illuminating, and unforgettable.



My thoughts:

Historical Fiction is my favorite genre of books, especially books written around the WWII era. When I first read the description of The Tattooist of Auschwitz, I was hooked and read the entire book in one sitting.

How can race spread out across multiple countries be considered a threat? For as long as he lives, be it short or long, he knows he will never comprehend this.

The Tattooist of Auschwitz tells the story like so many others of that time. It’s a story of survival. It’s a story of human emotion. It’s a story of love. Of hate. And of doing whatever you need to so that you can wake up tomorrow morning.

The twinkling of stars overhead is no longer a comfort. They merely remind him of the chasm between what life can be, and what is now.

My heart reached out to Lale as he did whatever he needed to do to survive in Auschwitz, yet he held on desperately to his humanity. From sneaking food and medicine to his fellow prisoners, to organizing escapes, to helping his love Gita remember who she really is. Lale’s story is a true story of real life heroism and defiance to evil.

‘I will not be defined by being a Jew,’ he says. ‘I won’t deny it, but I am a man first, a man in love with you.’

Also, the pictures of the real Lale and Gita in the back of the book made my reading experience extra gratifying.



Hold that thought. Use it to get out of bed tomorrow morning, and the next morning, and the next.

I was given this book by Netgalley in exchange for my honest review. All opinions stated above are my own.


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10 Book Reviews Professional Reader 80%

My Review of “The Tattooist of Auschwitz ” by Heather Morris

Kudos to Heather Morris, Author of “The Tattooist of Auschwitz” for combining the Historical Fiction and Fiction genres. From the Goodreads Blurb”, “The “Tattooist of Auschwitz” is based on the true story of Lale and Gita Sokolov two Slovakian Jews who survived Auschwitz and eventually made their home in Australia.”

In this novel, Heather Morris portrays Lale as a charming, and enterprising individual. To save his family, Lale volunteers to leave with the German Gestapo, believing that his family will be safe. Of course, Lale realizes when he is in a crowded Cattle Car, he suspects that this is the beginning of a devastating time. Lale does reach out and helps calm some other men. In Auschwitz, Lale somehow finds himself becoming The Tattooist, having to tattoo the numbers on his fellow prisoners. There he meets Gita, a young frightened girl that he has to tattoo. He falls in love immediately with her.

In the concentration camp, Lale is determined to survive. The role of “Tattooist” is regarded as a high ranking role, and could cause suspicion among the other prisoners.He is also carefully watched by the German guards and superiors. Lale is given a little more freedom, and food, and tries to live each day to survive.

Lale, being enterprising is able to gets his hands on food and other essentials to help others, by doing dangerous things. Lale feels he has to continue and uses the position of “The Tatooist” to try and help others.

These are deadly and devastating times, and many of the people in the camps have given into despair. Gale manages to find the will to survive and find love with Gita.

I appreciate that Heather Morris has done tremendous research and interview with Lale, who finally wishes to share his story so that others won’t forget what happened to so many people. I would recommend this story to readers of Historical Fiction that can read about the Holocaust. I received an ARC of this story for my honest review.

Though I’ve read many WWII novels I never grow tired of them. They never fail to educate, amaze & inspire me

Fabulous book. Thoroughly loved. Highly recommend!

What an amazing book and what an amazing story. Any reader cannot fail to be moved by this true account of a love story set against imprisonment in a concentration camp. Moving but not maudlin, and so well written - it was easy to read, but not an easy read. My favourite part of the book was actually the afterward - Lales sons story and also the story the author relates of her relationship with Lale. A huge 5 stars from me.

Release Date: January 27, 2018
The Tattooist of Auschwitz was a book unlike any other.
I went to public high school in America, so my high school consisted of YEARS of World War II historical fiction and non-fiction books. I've read too many books on the Holocaust. Yet, this book gave me something more something in that dark, horrible time that every author missed.
It's a book about finding something to believe in and clinging to it with everything you can. Oh, and do what you can to stay alive.
Heather Morris tells this amazing story based on Lale Sokolov's life experiences in Auschwitz, where he also met his future wife, Gita.
The book creates such contrasting scenes and images of crematoriums alongside simple gestures of delivering chocolate to a girl. It was a beautiful story about love among all the hate. Loved this book so much!
Read it! Read it now!

A book about survival and love in the Auschwitz prison camp. Lale a well-liked , clever and resourceful Jewish prisoner becomes the tattoo marker for all prisoners arriving at this camp. This job has its perks and he is able to smuggle food , medicine , chocolates for other prisoners as well as ask for favours. He also falls in love with Gita and remarkably they both survive and eventually marry . This book describes the prison camp, its evil officers and doctors and the harsh conditions so many Jewish people and other races endured. The brutality is hard to read but there are many moments of kindness and humanity and definitely love in this book as well.

Quite simply, this was a beautiful love story. Lale and Gita overcame so much horror during the Holocaust and both survived and built a wonderfull life together in Australia. I can easily see how much love and care that writer Heather Morris had for putting this couple 's love permanently down on paper. No matter how many Holocaust survivors I have met, one thing they have all said is "Take my story and don't let it be forgotten." In addition the Author's note and an Afterword written by the couple's son are beautiful tributes to this lovely couple. Even reading those first will not ruin the story for you.

But the story does have some minor quibbles for me, which I feel a bit guilty stating. This was originally intended as a screenplay and in some instances the transitioning between chapters and events is a bit shaky. I read somewhere the suggestion that it is a good book to introduce young readers to the Holocaust. However, a lot happens and I think if I didn't have prior knowledge regarding Rudolf Hoess, Dr. Josef Mengle, kapos and Sonderkommando it might have let me to being a bit confused.

On the other hand, Heather Morris does put a detail in her book that I feel are better known in non-fiction and historical contexts. The story of the American planes that did take pictures from the sky of Auschwitz-Birkeneau. This was actually revealed in the 1970's by the CIA. I recall that aerial photo being perhaps one of the most important visuals at YAD Vashem in Israel when I visited. Such a big "What if?" in history. If only the photographers had known from the sky what they were actually taking photos of. Imagine!

All in all, it is a worthwhile story for people of any age.

BROOKE’S REVIEW

Heather Morris’ book, The Tattooist of Auschwitz, is a book that explores the true story of Lale and Gita Sokolov, two Slovakian Jews who survived Auschwitz and eventually made their home in Australia. It’s easy to understand how this story started as a screenplay. The action moves quickly, as Morris describes man’s inhumanity to man during the Holocaust.

While reading, you want this to be a fictional story, but it is not. Lale is put in charge of tattooing his fellow prisoners upon their arrival to the concentration camps. His one source of joy comes when he sets his eyes upon Gita, whom he falls in love with. Their love story is a tender one - one that defies odds in a brutal place.

This story is one that I am glad was recorded. It shows the horror of the concentration camps and the boundlessness of the human spirit.

PRAISE

“The Tattooist of Auschwitz is an extraordinary document, a story about the extremes of human behavior existing side by side: calculated brutality alongside impulsive and selfless acts of love... I would recommend it unreservedly to anyone, whether they’d read a hundred Holocaust stories or none.” - Graeme Simsion, internationally-bestselling author of The Rosie Project

AUTHOR

Heather Morris is a Native of New Zealand now resident in Australia, working in a large public hospital in Melbourne. For several years she studied and wrote screenplays, one of which was optioned by an academy award winning Screenwriter in the U.S. In 2003, She was introduced to an elderly gentleman "who might just have a story worth telling". The day she met Lale Sokolov changed her life, as their friendship grew and he embarked on a journey of self scrutiny, entrusting the inner most details of his life during the Holocaust. She 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.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review.

Wow. Almost don’t know what to say. This book is well written and sympathetic getting accross Lale’s story. He’s remembered so much detail throughout his life. What they endured really is horrific, I can’t begin to imagine. Everyone should read this book.

Poignant and powerful, The Tattooist of Auschwitz is the kind of book that wends itself around your heartstrings and moves you like a marionette. Yet, despite the darkness of the subject matter, and the knowledge that this novel is based on actual events, there is always an element of hope and determination that keeps it from being the kind of read that absolutely destroys you.

Morris does an incredible job of capturing the fleeting nature of both life and happiness in the face of annihilation, the necessity of never losing hope, and the paradox of privilege in captivity. The matter of fact portrayal of life in Auschwitz illustrates the realities of surviving in such a dog-eat-dog environment, without romanticizing the experience. Lale’s fortitude and eternal optimism is perfectly balanced by Gita’s reluctance to hope, and his endless compassion by the inherent viciousness of their captors.

While I went into this knowing that it was a fictionalized account of Lale Sokolov’s memoirs, I was struck by the accuracy and depth of the details therein. Everything from the timeline of the gas vans to construction of the gas chambers and crematoria, Baretski shooting the lights out when drunk to the timing of the various nationalities that were witnessed at intake all aligns seamlessly with the information available. The truth of this story is all the more impactful for those familiar with the events of the Holocaust, as the text is constructed in such a way that you feel these horrors twice – first when you realize what is coming next, and then again when Lale and Gita endure these events as they come to pass.

Despite Lale’s womanizing ways, he was a character that I couldn’t help but love. It is clear that he cares deeply for those around him as he takes immeasurable risks to bring them food and comfort. The food trade, contraband market, and ability to get items in and out of the camp made for a compelling read, especially since these methods were never used for personal benefit. And regardless of the profit garnered from the relationship, the kindness of Victor (and others) was like a beacon in the storm. Knowing that this account was based on memories, it is uplifting to see the kindness of those forced to participate in these terrible acts remembered honestly and fondly.

And that depiction on Dr. Mengele, shut the front door! My skin crawled every times he graced the pages. Yet, we know he was a million times worse in person from survivor accounts and war crimes testimony. There was nothing more uncomfortable than reading Lale’s experiences in Mengele’s laboratory, or Leon’s, except perhaps those moments when the ash from the crematoria is raining down upon the camps and the prisoners are able to identify the people to which those ashes belonged.

Finally, I was incredibly moved by Morris’ notes and Gary Sokolov’s afterward. The presence of these bits of commentary added further weight to the story, and the family photographs of Lale and Gita hit home in providing faces beyond those that I had imagined while reading. I appreciated Lale’s desire to have his story heard by an outsider without baggage, and truly feel that Morris has captured and retold this story with the utmost respect.

Would I recommend this story? A million times yes! This is a story that not only needs to be read, but it’s one that we can not afford to forget. It is moving, emotional, gritty, and most importantly, real.

This account of Lale's life is simply told and yet deeply moving. The pace is fast, sometimes too fast, it seems, with barely any detail leaving you wanting more; but at times the detail is such that it touches your soul deeply and you sense the courage drawn from deep inside, the trauma and desperation, the desire to survive and, of course the love between Lale and Gita and his selflessness to others. I'm glad to have been granted knowledge of what happened to Lale and Gita after the war, in the prologue, and was rather sad to have finished. I couldn't put my digital copy down, it moved me as much as any other Holocaust read, and am very grateful to Net Gallery for a copy in exchange for an honest review.

I’m always reluctant to read works of fiction dealing with the Holocaust - although I’ve read my fair share. It’s not that I find it too hard to read about atrocities, it’s that I worry that unless they are done right, fictional accounts run the risk of trivializing this horrific chapter in human history.

The Tattooist of Auschwitz reads like fiction, but is based on interviews the author conducted with its protagonist, Lale Sokolov, over a three year period very late in Lale’s life. A Jew transported from Slovakia to Auschwitz, Lale survived almost three years before the end of the war. For most of that time, he was assigned the task of tattooing numbers on the arms of Jews being brought into the camp. This gave him a bit of a privileged position in terms of food and housing, and also allowed him to move a bit more freely so he was able to develop a relationship with another prisoner, Gita, who is also a survivor. They married after the war.

The genesis of how Lale came to tell the author his story includes an admonition not to judge him until she heard the whole story. And this points to the core of Lale’s story. What does it take to survive in a place like Auschwitz? After, once you’ve survived, what rationalizations are required to stave off the guilt of surviving when so many died?

Ultimately, while it’s based in real historical events, The Tattooist of Auschwitz reads like a work of fiction. It is Lale’s recollection of his life during World War II as he has told it to himself. It reads like fiction because at times it does feel a bit romanticized or smoothed over around the edges. The atrocities are there, but Lale’s strong spirit and survival instinct seem larger than life.

This isn’t a criticism and I am not judging Lale. I suspect all survivors have to make sense of what it took to survive. I also suspect that they judge themselves far more harshly than anyone else does. I’m grateful to have had a chance to read about Lale and Gita’s story and I’m happy to know that they were able to make sense of their horrific experience and live happily for many years after the Holocaust. Their story is well worth reading.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an opportunity to read an advance copy.