Title: The Tattooist of Auschwitz
Author: Heather Morris
Genre: Historical fiction, Based on a true story
Year Published: 2018

Date finished: June 29, 2021

The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris is a historical fiction story about a man named Lale Sokolov. He is a Slovakian Jew who was taken to a concentration camp to tattoo Jews being brought into the camp. His story is about survival and staying positive during this time of atrocious genocide.

Lale befriends some of the workers at the camp who were not Jews and begins to trade for food. He sees a girl that catches his eye and makes promises to himself and the girl that they would be together after the war ends, not realizing the extent of all that’s going on with Hitler’s motive.

I enjoyed this story. Even though it’s fiction, based on a Lale’s memory, I’m sure there was a lot of truth to it, even in scenes where it didn’t involve him. It makes sense that Lale didn’t see the big picture and I liked this point of view because it goes to show that when you’re inside the storm, you really can’t see how big the storm is. Lale had so much hope and positivity that you almost felt that if all fails, this story was going to be the saddest book out there. But on the other hand, I believe that his confidence helped him stay alive.

There is something special about the angle of this book. We follow Lale and get glimpses of other less fortunate Jews (and even some non-Jews) who ended up losing their lives, yet the glimpses are so powerful that without explaining all the details, you just know that the situation was beyond horrific.

Who should read this book: If you enjoy books about WWII and/or the holocaust such as The Nightingale, The Book Thief, All the Lights We Cannot See, The Whispers of War, etc., this one fits right in.