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3.96 AVERAGE
3.96 AVERAGE
Smartly written. A tough subject matter but handled so elegantly. Also, it makes me want to book a flight to Paris.
Capturing writing style and what an interesting story. Very moving. Loved it
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This story was very moving. It tells of a young Jewish girl in Paris, who experiences the brutality of the Holocaust from personal experience. While very hopeful, the story also has great tragedy. However, the book does an excellent job at providing some insight into France during WWII, and how Nazi ideals spread further than many would like to believe.
I loved this book!!! This was a very sad story about the Vel’ d’Hiv’ roundup, in July of 1942. Although it was a sad story it is a part of history that we should all remember. This book will stay with me for a very long time.
What a story - one that you cannot easily forget!
Pivotal to this novel is the key in ten-year-old Sarah's pocket. It opens the cupboard in which she has hidden her younger brother from the French police, who are rounding up Jews in Paris. It is July 16, 1942, and Sarah, along with her parents and hundreds more people, are brought to the stadium Velodrome d'Hiver, where they spend several days without food or water before being sent to French camps en route to Auschwitz. Arriving at the camp Beaune-la-Rolande, Sarah is separated from her parents and manages to escape. Nearby farmers not only protect but eventually adopt her. In alternating chapters, we read of American-born journalist Julia Jarmond, who's working on a magazine story about the "Vel'd'Hiv" roundup on its 60th anniversary. Because the grandparents of Julia's husband moved into the apartment once owned by Sarah's family, we learn what Sarah discovers when she finally returns ten years later with the key-knowledge so traumatic that it changes Julia's life forever. (Library Journal)
Pivotal to this novel is the key in ten-year-old Sarah's pocket. It opens the cupboard in which she has hidden her younger brother from the French police, who are rounding up Jews in Paris. It is July 16, 1942, and Sarah, along with her parents and hundreds more people, are brought to the stadium Velodrome d'Hiver, where they spend several days without food or water before being sent to French camps en route to Auschwitz. Arriving at the camp Beaune-la-Rolande, Sarah is separated from her parents and manages to escape. Nearby farmers not only protect but eventually adopt her. In alternating chapters, we read of American-born journalist Julia Jarmond, who's working on a magazine story about the "Vel'd'Hiv" roundup on its 60th anniversary. Because the grandparents of Julia's husband moved into the apartment once owned by Sarah's family, we learn what Sarah discovers when she finally returns ten years later with the key-knowledge so traumatic that it changes Julia's life forever. (Library Journal)
Ännu en massaker som man inte hört talas om. Kan hända att Vel’ d’Hiv drunknat i alla andra hemskheter kring andra världskriget, men den här är extra hemsk. 1942, franska polisen samlade upp judiska familjer på en stadion, skilde barnen från sina föräldrar och skickade allihopa in i döden.
Fruktansvärd historia om Sarah, som förlorar sin familj, och en parallell historia med Julia, en amerikansk journalist bosatt i Paris.
Jag gillade boken, det är så klart jobbigt och gripande att läsa om vad människor är kapabla till för ondska. Men det finns också goda människor, så man kan läsa utan att klappa ihop.
Fruktansvärd historia om Sarah, som förlorar sin familj, och en parallell historia med Julia, en amerikansk journalist bosatt i Paris.
Jag gillade boken, det är så klart jobbigt och gripande att läsa om vad människor är kapabla till för ondska. Men det finns också goda människor, så man kan läsa utan att klappa ihop.
This book infuriated me. And any book that can raise that level of emotion in a reader is definitely worthy of 4 stars. I would have given it 5 stars, but frankly, the character of Julia bored me to death. I just didn't care about her at all.
Having said that, I felt sorry for the character of Sarah, but, more importantly, furious at her mother. Her mother, who knows they will not be returning to the apartment, but leaves Michel in the closet. Her mother, who then summons her father, Michel's only chance of salvation. Her mother, who allows Sarah to feel responsible for her brother's death. Granted, there are extenuating circumstances. She may have decided that Michel was better off dying slowly of hunger in a closet than in a concentration camp, where he would have the additional trauma of being tortured by German soldiers. She may have figured that her husband and son would be captured and suffer the same fate even if they weren't taken the same day as herself and Sarah. She probably thought Sarah would be dying soon as well, so why bring it up. But still! Why not a kind word, why not a reassurance that it wasn't Sarah's fault? Because it wasn't. She was a kid, she didn't understand what was happening. A kind word could have changed the entire course of her future after she was hiding with the Dufraures. Perhaps that would have ruined the book, but it was what I was thinking as I read it.
Lastly, a complaint for the author. It was obvious that "the girl" was Sarah. Her name is in the title! Hm, a girl with a key to unlock the closet where her brother is hiding and dying. The title is "Sarah's Key". Gee, I wonder. And again, with Julia's child. As soon as Julia got pregnant I knew that she would a) keep the baby, b) have a girl and c) name her "Sarah". Have some respect for your readers!
Having said that, I felt sorry for the character of Sarah, but, more importantly, furious at her mother. Her mother, who knows they will not be returning to the apartment, but leaves Michel in the closet. Her mother, who then summons her father, Michel's only chance of salvation. Her mother, who allows Sarah to feel responsible for her brother's death. Granted, there are extenuating circumstances. She may have decided that Michel was better off dying slowly of hunger in a closet than in a concentration camp, where he would have the additional trauma of being tortured by German soldiers. She may have figured that her husband and son would be captured and suffer the same fate even if they weren't taken the same day as herself and Sarah. She probably thought Sarah would be dying soon as well, so why bring it up. But still! Why not a kind word, why not a reassurance that it wasn't Sarah's fault? Because it wasn't. She was a kid, she didn't understand what was happening. A kind word could have changed the entire course of her future after she was hiding with the Dufraures. Perhaps that would have ruined the book, but it was what I was thinking as I read it.
Lastly, a complaint for the author. It was obvious that "the girl" was Sarah. Her name is in the title! Hm, a girl with a key to unlock the closet where her brother is hiding and dying. The title is "Sarah's Key". Gee, I wonder. And again, with Julia's child. As soon as Julia got pregnant I knew that she would a) keep the baby, b) have a girl and c) name her "Sarah". Have some respect for your readers!