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4.32 AVERAGE
4.32 AVERAGE
I picked this up from the library's "Lucky Day" shelf (pre-pandemic), somehow missing that it was a sequel to The Tattooist of Auschwitz. I had many of the same qualms with this book, and just read an article interviewing Cilka's stepson that made me a little bit disappointed in some of the author's choices. Read this as a book of historical fiction, not one that is rooted in truth.
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Xenophobia, Religious bigotry, Murder, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, War
challenging
dark
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
2.5*
I really struggled with this book unlike her previous, the tattooist of Auschwitz.
Whilst the protagonist in this story, Cilka, was a real person, and she was a prisoner in both camps, the rest of her tale is almost entirely fiction, using Cilka as a vessel to enter various places.
Whilst the book is thoroughly well researched, and the events are horrifically tragic, the fact that the events that happened did not necessarily follow Cilka's real life made me feel very uncomfortable - (Auschwitz is accurate in explaining the horrors Cilka endured, but research made it difficult to follow what happened after she arrived at the Gulag).
Unlike her previous novel, which felt very raw and moving, this novel read like the fiction that it is, and I felt her characterisation of Cilka made her unlikeable, trying too hard to make her the heroine of the story. This made me even more uncomfortable given it is based on a real person.
Overall it is a well written story, but I think it would have been better to create this on a completely fictional character, as oppose to creating a life for a real person. I felt guilty for not liking the character created, and guilty given that it is all based on true events, just not necessarily for her.
I really struggled with this book unlike her previous, the tattooist of Auschwitz.
Whilst the protagonist in this story, Cilka, was a real person, and she was a prisoner in both camps, the rest of her tale is almost entirely fiction, using Cilka as a vessel to enter various places.
Whilst the book is thoroughly well researched, and the events are horrifically tragic, the fact that the events that happened did not necessarily follow Cilka's real life made me feel very uncomfortable - (Auschwitz is accurate in explaining the horrors Cilka endured, but research made it difficult to follow what happened after she arrived at the Gulag).
Unlike her previous novel, which felt very raw and moving, this novel read like the fiction that it is, and I felt her characterisation of Cilka made her unlikeable, trying too hard to make her the heroine of the story. This made me even more uncomfortable given it is based on a real person.
Overall it is a well written story, but I think it would have been better to create this on a completely fictional character, as oppose to creating a life for a real person. I felt guilty for not liking the character created, and guilty given that it is all based on true events, just not necessarily for her.
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A truly cruel and desolate story, that bridges the gap between two despicable men: Hitler and Stalin.
“His eyes seem to see nothing. He is a man whose soul has died and whose body is waiting to catch up with it.”
After reading the Tattooist of Auschwitz I was eager to know of Cilka's fate; a sixteen year-old woman, who saved hundreds, if not thousands, of women, children and men from horrific deaths at the hands of their Nazi abusers. Morris reconstructs the life of Cilka using historical evidence, testimonies and a few embellishments, conveying the tragedy of the events that saw her used as a pawn in not one, but two sickly regimes.
Cilka's life is remarkable, her endurance and optimism are unbelievable. Her strength, honesty and power are not lost upon me. Unfortunately, Morris does not do her any justice. Told from a strange and isolated limited third person, the emotional distance Morris employs ensures the reader is never fully engrossed in the hardships Cilka endures. This, combined with restrictive descriptions of the landscape, personal relationships and history, makes Cilka hard to understand.
The characters, many of whom are inventions designed to evoke emotional responses, are two-dimensional; Hannah is evil without any motive; Cilka is angelic, and has no faults; Josie is a naive teenager, that fails to understand the most basic of social interactions. These women exist beyond tropes, and Morris fails to convey any complexity or emotion.
Finally, most of the narrative is told through dialogue. Perhaps, this is a result of Morris' screen writing background. Many books successfully use speech as a means of conveying information quickly and effectively. Morris, on the other hand, uses stilted an unnatural language, that not only makes each character sound the same, but doesn't add anything to the overarching story.
This is a beautiful tribute to a woman who suffered a cruel and unforgiving life in one of the greatest tragedies in modern history; a story that deserves to be told. Morris, however, may not be the one to tell it.
“His eyes seem to see nothing. He is a man whose soul has died and whose body is waiting to catch up with it.”
After reading the Tattooist of Auschwitz I was eager to know of Cilka's fate; a sixteen year-old woman, who saved hundreds, if not thousands, of women, children and men from horrific deaths at the hands of their Nazi abusers. Morris reconstructs the life of Cilka using historical evidence, testimonies and a few embellishments, conveying the tragedy of the events that saw her used as a pawn in not one, but two sickly regimes.
Cilka's life is remarkable, her endurance and optimism are unbelievable. Her strength, honesty and power are not lost upon me. Unfortunately, Morris does not do her any justice. Told from a strange and isolated limited third person, the emotional distance Morris employs ensures the reader is never fully engrossed in the hardships Cilka endures. This, combined with restrictive descriptions of the landscape, personal relationships and history, makes Cilka hard to understand.
The characters, many of whom are inventions designed to evoke emotional responses, are two-dimensional; Hannah is evil without any motive; Cilka is angelic, and has no faults; Josie is a naive teenager, that fails to understand the most basic of social interactions. These women exist beyond tropes, and Morris fails to convey any complexity or emotion.
Finally, most of the narrative is told through dialogue. Perhaps, this is a result of Morris' screen writing background. Many books successfully use speech as a means of conveying information quickly and effectively. Morris, on the other hand, uses stilted an unnatural language, that not only makes each character sound the same, but doesn't add anything to the overarching story.
This is a beautiful tribute to a woman who suffered a cruel and unforgiving life in one of the greatest tragedies in modern history; a story that deserves to be told. Morris, however, may not be the one to tell it.
I wish there were half stars. I’d give this 2 and a half. It wasn’t a bad read it just wasn’t written in a way that drew me in and feeling emotionally connected. I could tell a lot of this was fiction and it made me wonder if there was much in the book that was actually true. It seemed like the author was trying to keep from expounding on the bad conditions that it didn’t seem to do justice to what Cilka went through. From other things I’ve read about the gulags they were horrific and they seemed glossed over in this book.
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
tense
medium-paced
Another heartbreaking but absolutely wonderfully written story by Heather Morris. I literally couldn't put it down!