Eat, Read, and Be Mommy

My most recent book group read The Tattooist of Auschwitz for last night’s meeting, and I squeaked in just under the wire, finishing it the night before. (Go me!) Last night’s discussion seemed to focus mostly on whether it painted a realistic picture of Auschwitz or not, but to me, the point was that it paints a different perspective of Auschwitz than any I’ve seen before. The tattooist held a privileged position, and while the horrors of the camp proper are there, they play more of a background role to Lale’s experiences and his and Gita’s love story. (To be honest, I was just as caught by the contrast between Lale’s continued promises of survival–both to himself and Gita–and the periodic probably-fatal circumstances in which he and/or she found themselves. Gita’s point of view made far more sense to me.) At the end of the day, what matters most is that it is a compelling book, a story of love and survival–and not just Lale and Gita’s love. It’s a novel based on a true story rather than a Holocaust narrative, and that’s generally a little less my thing, but Tattooist is most definitely a worthwhile read.