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4.32 AVERAGE
4.32 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Trigger warning🛑: mention of rape a couple times throughout the book.
This book made me think, a LOT. A lot about what people went through during that time, how people dealt with their situation, the friendships. But it was very disheartening to read that the step son of who this story is about didn’t want this published. He stated this needed to be marked as fiction due to the misrepresentation of his step mother. The author stated that she took the name of the love interest (lack of better words and trouble remembering the exact wording) out of the book to protect the descendants of the man but his real name is on the back of the book. The story telling is great but sad that it’s not accurate as it claims to be based on a true story.
This book made me think, a LOT. A lot about what people went through during that time, how people dealt with their situation, the friendships. But it was very disheartening to read that the step son of who this story is about didn’t want this published. He stated this needed to be marked as fiction due to the misrepresentation of his step mother. The author stated that she took the name of the love interest (lack of better words and trouble remembering the exact wording) out of the book to protect the descendants of the man but his real name is on the back of the book. The story telling is great but sad that it’s not accurate as it claims to be based on a true story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault
challenging
dark
informative
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This book is rough. Well written, but rough to realize this happened to real humans. Now, not all of this happened to one person, but it is based on stories from real people who were there. Reading the first book The Tattooist of Auschwitz, is not mandatory, but will be helpful, as the two main characters of that book are mentioned.
Imagine being in a concentration camp, doing what you must to survive. Those camps that were liberated by the USA were free. Those liberated by Russia had the possibility of being tried for treason against Russia (by doing things to stay alive in camp and "working for the Nazi's") and then sent to a Gulag work camp in Siberia. This character was sent to one for 15 years - no spoilers here. You learn that on page 2.
Not a great love story like the first book, but still worth the read to think of one person, and many people, who had to endure terrible things just to fight back by staying alive.
Imagine being in a concentration camp, doing what you must to survive. Those camps that were liberated by the USA were free. Those liberated by Russia had the possibility of being tried for treason against Russia (by doing things to stay alive in camp and "working for the Nazi's") and then sent to a Gulag work camp in Siberia. This character was sent to one for 15 years - no spoilers here. You learn that on page 2.
Not a great love story like the first book, but still worth the read to think of one person, and many people, who had to endure terrible things just to fight back by staying alive.
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
"What you are doing, Cilka, is the only form of resistance you have--staying alive." ~from Cilka's Journey
In 1974 when I was twenty-two I met a woman who had come from Russia after World War II. I was new in town and not even half her age. In the morning when she saw my husband had left for work she would run across the street to my door. She asked why I did not have children yet, whispering that I should ask my husband--he'll know what to do. And she puzzled over my husband's job as an assistant pastor, asking "why two priests?"
One day, in broken English, Nadya told me that when she was a teenager she volunteered to go to a German work farm in her father's stead. She told me she never could have children and thought that she had been sterilized at that camp. When the war ended she was given the choice of three places to go and she chose New Jersey in America. On the ship, she met a man who had also been in a camp and had no family left and they married. She could not read English or drive. I am now surprised she even told me this much of her story.
I was ignorant of the details of modern history at that time. I knew about Nazi Germany and the concentration camps from books I had read such as Anne Frank's Diary. Still, I had little appreciation of the horror Nadya had endured. I later realized that Nadya was perhaps was Polish or from another country taken over by the Nazis and not Russian. That the work farm was a prison camp. That she had no family or home to return to after the war.
We are surrounded by people with stories that they keep to themselves for many reasons. Sometimes because the stories are too painful to speak. Perhaps they don't have the words to express their experience. Sometimes people fear that their past will bring judgment from those who weren't there.
When Heather Morris talked with Lale Sokolov, listening to his story that would become her best-selling novel The Tattooist of Auschwitz, he told her that Cilka Klein saved his life. Morris knew she had to learn about Cilka and write her story. How did this teenager survive years in prison camps? Not only survive but have the strength to help others survive?
The people Morris interviewed gave conflicting stories about Cilka's character. She was a collaborator. She slept with the Nazis for favors. She helped them, saved them, sacrificed for others. Which was the real Cilka?
Cilka was only sixteen in 1942 when the Nazis rounded up Slovakian Jews and she was sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau. She was young and beautiful and soon slated to become a sex slave.
At the end of WWII, Russia rounded up people they feared had collaborated or spied for the Nazis and sent them to Siberia. Cilka had 'slept with the enemy' and knew several languages. Deemed an enemy of the state, she was sent to a prisoner camp near the Arctic Circle where mistreated prisoners mined coal by hand.
In Cilka's Journey, Morris recreates life in the Gulag interspersed with flashbacks revealing Celia's life before and during WWII. The book is filled with memorable characters, women who have lost everything and yet strive for a sense of order, community, and even beauty. They bond over the hope represented by a baby and forgive each other's frailties.
"History never gives up its secrets easily," Morris writes, but Cilka's story needed to be told. It is the story of a girl cast into the unimaginable, not once but twice in her young life. And it is the story of courage, the pragmatism needed to survive, the shame of survivor's guilt, and the empathy that spurs personal sacrifices to help another.
Lale never forgot Cilka. Thanks to Morris, neither will we.
I received an ARC through Bookish First in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.
In 1974 when I was twenty-two I met a woman who had come from Russia after World War II. I was new in town and not even half her age. In the morning when she saw my husband had left for work she would run across the street to my door. She asked why I did not have children yet, whispering that I should ask my husband--he'll know what to do. And she puzzled over my husband's job as an assistant pastor, asking "why two priests?"
One day, in broken English, Nadya told me that when she was a teenager she volunteered to go to a German work farm in her father's stead. She told me she never could have children and thought that she had been sterilized at that camp. When the war ended she was given the choice of three places to go and she chose New Jersey in America. On the ship, she met a man who had also been in a camp and had no family left and they married. She could not read English or drive. I am now surprised she even told me this much of her story.
I was ignorant of the details of modern history at that time. I knew about Nazi Germany and the concentration camps from books I had read such as Anne Frank's Diary. Still, I had little appreciation of the horror Nadya had endured. I later realized that Nadya was perhaps was Polish or from another country taken over by the Nazis and not Russian. That the work farm was a prison camp. That she had no family or home to return to after the war.
We are surrounded by people with stories that they keep to themselves for many reasons. Sometimes because the stories are too painful to speak. Perhaps they don't have the words to express their experience. Sometimes people fear that their past will bring judgment from those who weren't there.
When Heather Morris talked with Lale Sokolov, listening to his story that would become her best-selling novel The Tattooist of Auschwitz, he told her that Cilka Klein saved his life. Morris knew she had to learn about Cilka and write her story. How did this teenager survive years in prison camps? Not only survive but have the strength to help others survive?
The people Morris interviewed gave conflicting stories about Cilka's character. She was a collaborator. She slept with the Nazis for favors. She helped them, saved them, sacrificed for others. Which was the real Cilka?
Cilka was only sixteen in 1942 when the Nazis rounded up Slovakian Jews and she was sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau. She was young and beautiful and soon slated to become a sex slave.
At the end of WWII, Russia rounded up people they feared had collaborated or spied for the Nazis and sent them to Siberia. Cilka had 'slept with the enemy' and knew several languages. Deemed an enemy of the state, she was sent to a prisoner camp near the Arctic Circle where mistreated prisoners mined coal by hand.
In Cilka's Journey, Morris recreates life in the Gulag interspersed with flashbacks revealing Celia's life before and during WWII. The book is filled with memorable characters, women who have lost everything and yet strive for a sense of order, community, and even beauty. They bond over the hope represented by a baby and forgive each other's frailties.
"History never gives up its secrets easily," Morris writes, but Cilka's story needed to be told. It is the story of a girl cast into the unimaginable, not once but twice in her young life. And it is the story of courage, the pragmatism needed to survive, the shame of survivor's guilt, and the empathy that spurs personal sacrifices to help another.
Lale never forgot Cilka. Thanks to Morris, neither will we.
I received an ARC through Bookish First in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.
Another incredibly brave story of a young woman during the Holocaust and the aftermath. She was brought to Auschwitz when she was only 16 years old. Cilka was made to do incredibly horrific things in order to survive for three years. Because of these things she was forced to do, she was then convicted of “sleeping with the enemy” and was sent to Vorkuta Gulag, in Siberia. Cilka used her brains, her strength and her bravery to help others survive in unbearable conditions.
This is an amazing story. But then again, most survivors of the Holocaust are amazingly strong and brave people.
This is an amazing story. But then again, most survivors of the Holocaust are amazingly strong and brave people.
adventurous
dark
emotional
inspiring
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Finally opened book two and it was just as heartwarming and heartbreaking as the first book. After being chosen by German officers at sixteen, Cilka is repeatedly raped while ordered to run the ward at Birkeneau where she was forced to watch people die. When the war ends, instead of being freed, Russian soldiers decide she’s a spy and sentence her to 15 years of prison in a labour camp. Cilka’s journey forces her to keep surviving, afraid to share her past.
Reasons I Recommend:
1) Morris does an incredible job at sharing Cilka’s story, mixing known facts with her own writing style
2) The way Cilka was still thought to be an enemy despite barely being nineteen and having suffered for years in a concentration camp and
3) How despite the hardships and loss she faced, she was still able to find love.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
#briereads #brierecommends #2024goodreadsreadingchallenge #reviewedongoodreads #reviewedoninstagram #bookworm #lovetoread #idratherbereading #historicalfiction #basedonatruestory #physicaltobereadpile #cilkasjourney #thetattooistofauschwitzseries #heathermorris @heathermorrisauthor
Reasons I Recommend:
1) Morris does an incredible job at sharing Cilka’s story, mixing known facts with her own writing style
2) The way Cilka was still thought to be an enemy despite barely being nineteen and having suffered for years in a concentration camp and
3) How despite the hardships and loss she faced, she was still able to find love.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
#briereads #brierecommends #2024goodreadsreadingchallenge #reviewedongoodreads #reviewedoninstagram #bookworm #lovetoread #idratherbereading #historicalfiction #basedonatruestory #physicaltobereadpile #cilkasjourney #thetattooistofauschwitzseries #heathermorris @heathermorrisauthor