Reviews
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.
Mii de inele de aur ale îndrăgostiților, care au fost victime ale Holocaustului, au fost găsite în minele de sare din Heilbronn. În lagărele de concentrare naziste, poveștile de dragoste aveau să-și găsească sfârșitul. La Auschwitz, povestea lor a început. Lale este unul dintre prizonierii din lagărul Auschwitz II-Birkenau atunci când Pepan, tatuatorul, îi cere tânărului să devină ucenic. Mai târziu, chiar Lale va deveni Tätowierer. Prin intermediul tatuajelor, oamenii vor deveni doar numere. Se va bucura de privilegii cu prețul de a tatua brațele tuturor celor ajunși, de a ști ce se întâmplă cu prizonierii și cu neputința de a nu face nimic. Se va împrieteni cu unii, va aduce ciocolată și cârnați prizonierilor, în schimbul lucrurilor valoroase, dar se va și îndrăgosti. Mai întâi de privirea ei, care îi va da o speranță în acel lagăr. Gita este o contrabandistă, îl ajută pe Lale cu "schimburile lui" atât pentru binele celorlalți prizonieri, dar și pentru a o mitui pe "kapo" cu ciocolată, astfel ca ei să își petreacă timpul în liniște. Amândoi visează la libertate, la o viață dincolo de tot ce înseamnă Auschwitz, precum toți cei de acolo și pentru mulți va rămâne doar un vis. Pe alocuri, mi s-a părut că romanul a fost scris ca un articol, un documentar istoric, poate chiar un rezumat. Personajele secundare ca Cilka, Dana (prietena Gitei), Baretski au făcut acțiunea mult mai interesantă și chiar îmi doresc să citesc și "Călătoria Cilkăi" într-o zi.
