Take a photo of a barcode or cover
seekup 's review for:
Sarah's Key
by Tatiana de Rosnay
After reading mixed reviews, I was wary when starting this book. Some readers didn't like the main character, Julia; they thought that her story interfered with Sarah's story in a way that trivialized the latter. I couldn't disagree more.
The story -- the first half, anyway -- is told from the title character's point of view in 1942, juxtaposed with the Julia's point of view in the present day. Without giving too much away, Julia is a journalist who stumbles across Sarah's life via both professional and personal avenues. Initially researching the Vel' d'Hiv Roundup for an article, she continues to search post-publication in an attempt to discover the rest of Sarah's story after the trail ends.
This was a really quick read, and I must say, I was fairly impressed at the amount of, well, story that de Rosnay fit into the 293 pages. Why didn't I give it four stars? I found some parts of Julia's narrative a bit too . . . something. It wasn't about her, per se, but something kept me on the surface of her world, rather than in it, which is how I felt about Sarah's world.
About halfway through the book, Sarah's point of view ends, and we are left with Julia and her attempt to reconcile the past with her present. Rather than Julia's modern-day woes taking away from the story, I found it to be an example of the struggle to remember tragedies that feel so far removed from where we are now, and how to move forward while still finding a way to meaningfully remember and to memorialize without remaining in the past.
The story -- the first half, anyway -- is told from the title character's point of view in 1942, juxtaposed with the Julia's point of view in the present day. Without giving too much away, Julia is a journalist who stumbles across Sarah's life via both professional and personal avenues. Initially researching the Vel' d'Hiv Roundup for an article, she continues to search post-publication in an attempt to discover the rest of Sarah's story after the trail ends.
This was a really quick read, and I must say, I was fairly impressed at the amount of, well, story that de Rosnay fit into the 293 pages. Why didn't I give it four stars? I found some parts of Julia's narrative a bit too . . . something. It wasn't about her, per se, but something kept me on the surface of her world, rather than in it, which is how I felt about Sarah's world.
About halfway through the book, Sarah's point of view ends, and we are left with Julia and her attempt to reconcile the past with her present. Rather than Julia's modern-day woes taking away from the story, I found it to be an example of the struggle to remember tragedies that feel so far removed from where we are now, and how to move forward while still finding a way to meaningfully remember and to memorialize without remaining in the past.