Name: Tatuatorul de la Auschwitz
ISBN: 9786067794342

Heather Morris

Tatuatorul de la Auschwitz

Nona G

I have read quite a few books about the Holocaust over the years, as it's one of the topics I keep going back to. I don't believe the history we learn in school has ever done it justice (like on most topics, to be honest) and there's always new things to learn about. So a book that gives more details, especially when those details come from the mouth of a survivor, is always one to read and use to broaden my understanding on the subject.

Now, of course, seeing how the subject is such a broad one, and survivors have been plenty, it's only natural that such novels keep appearing, some better, some not. The Tattooist of Auschwitz falls in the second category. I understand that there's also a sequel, focusing on Cilka, but I will skip that one. Not because the story doesn't have merits, I'm sure it does, but because of the writer.

Heather Morris writes screenplays, not novels, and that's exactly what this novel was supposed to be, in the beginning. Transforming it into a novel was a later idea and done poorly. Had this remained a screenplay, maybe we would have had a nice movie about Ludovit Eisenberg and that would have been it. Bus as Morris got greedy, we have a soulless novel that fails to translate the atmosphere of Auschwitz into words that seem believable and have the ability to draw the reader in.

It's not a bad book, but my expectations when it comes to historical novels, especially ones about the Holocaust, are very high. After reading the likes of Lilac Girls, The Book Thief and The Librarian of Auschwitz all in the past year or so, I just can't get past the lack of empathy in this book. Especially since Morris actually met Eisenberg and got his story directly from his mouth.

The characters were simply too flat - and yes, while I am happy that the focus was on Lele and Gita's relationship, instead of on the horrors of Auschwitz, I would have expected more in terms of overall background, especially because it's not just another love story. There is little historical context, probably because this book in its entirety is poorly researched and, as it turns out, contains quite a few factual errors (things that were debunked by the Auschwitz Museum itself - See here). When you base your entire story on the memories of an elderly man (heck, I don't well remember what I did last week!) who may (don't want to presume, but why wouldn't he?) make himself look like a sort of James Bond in the eyes of his descendants, you should do some fact checking to make sure that at least the verifiable historical facts are correct.

I'm sure the story was worth telling. The story of each and every Holocaust survivor is worth telling. We cannot imagine what those people had to go through from the comfort of out warm houses. However, the person who writes those stories needs to invest time and effort and produce something more than a flat novel full of dialogue and next to zero depth. Lele and Gita deserved better.

Diana Irimia

Ana Maria Badragan

Pat com

Traducere de Luana Schidu Un milion de exemplare vândute în nouă luni de la apariție, între ianuarie și septembrie 2018 • Romanul cel mai bine vândut în Marea Britanie și Irlanda în 2018 • Bestseller în SUA, Canada, Australia, Africa de Sud, Olanda, Portugalia, Ungaria etc. • 25 de săptămâni în top 10 Sunday Times • Bestseller Amazon, New York Times, Saturday Times, The Irish Times, The Northern Eco • Carte tradusă în peste 35 de țari • În curs de adaptare TV. Tatuatorul de la Auschwitz se bazează pe povestea din spatele unuia dintre cele mai puternice simboluri ale Holocaustului: numerele verzi-albăstrui tatuate pe brațele prizonierilor, femei și bărbați deopotrivă. Când lui Lale i se oferă ocazia de a fi Tätowierer la Auschwitz, tânărul evreu slovac înțelege că aceasta poate fi șansa lui să supraviețuiască, deși trebuie să-și înțepe până la sânge semenii, act pe care îl resimte ca pe o dureroasă profanare. De la masa la care lucrează, nici nu i se permite să ridice capul spre cei al căror destin îl pecetluiește astfel. Dar într-o zi reușește să surprindă privirea unei tinere al cărei nume îl află în cele din urmă: Gita.