My Rating: 4.5 stars
This was an incredible story, one that was extremely heartbreaking yet also hopeful and inspiring. Based on the real-life experiences of Holocaust survivor Lale Sokolov, who wanted his story recorded prior to his death so that the harrowing events he went through "would never happen again", this is a fictionalized account of the 3 years he spent at the notorious Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in Poland during World War II. After being saved from sure death upon arriving at the camp, Lale becomes the tattooist responsible for marking each of his fellow prisoners' arms with the numbers used to identify them – a position that allowed more freedom and privileges than other prisoners though not immune to punishment and suffering. Lale does the best he can to survive while also using his position to help others, whether it's sneaking food and medicine to other prisoners or helping to better the plight of others where he can. In the process, he meets the love of his life, Gita, a fellow prisoner in the women's camp, and his devotion to her strengthens his resolve to survive the horrors in the hopes of building a future life together. Lale's story is one of courage, resilience, unwavering resolve and endurance in the face of terrible suffering, loss, death, and the unimaginable horrors and atrocities that went on in those camps. As is always the case when we read these types of stories, we will never truly understand what these survivors went through, the extent of the pain and suffering they had to endure at the hands of other human beings, the price they had to pay – physically, mentally, emotionally – for survival, but we can be grateful, we can read and remember, reach out and get these stories out there, hope and encourage one another to learn from history and prevent these horrors from ever being repeated. In the years since that horrific time period, we have come a long way, yet in many ways, we also have haven't, which is why stories like these are SO IMPORTANT!
For me, the experience reading this book brought me back to the semester in high school when we studied the Holocaust in-depth in one of my history classes. Despite the more than 2 decades that have passed, the memories came flooding back vividly as though it was just yesterday -- the memories of reading numerous stories and testimonies from survivors, watching countless interviews of survivors and their family members, reading and analyzing The Diary of Anne Frank, attending a special screening of Schindler's List back when the movie first came out, culminating our studies with a visit to the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles where we were given an immersive history lesson on the Holocaust and got to hear first-hand, several real-life survivors tell their stories. The impact of those studies was powerful and I am grateful I went to a school that cared enough to truly educate and make learning about the Holocaust a necessary part of the regular class curriculum. Sadly, these types of experiences in our schools are less and less common, and during a time when we as a society need it most, so it's good to see informative books such as this one help bridge the gap somewhat.
I don't think there is much else I can say except read this book (and definitely read the Author's Note in the back that explains how this book came to be)! Lale's story is unforgettable and one that I know will stay with me for a long time to come!
Received ARC from Bonnier Publishing / Ecco via NetGalley
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