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A review by michaelapr
The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris
dark
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.25
I feel bad rating this book 2.25 stars but here we are. I did not enjoy this book. And I know enjoying a book about the Holocaust is not really a thing, however most of the time you can say the book was enlightening or the writing was poignant or you felt something. I did not experience any of these things. Most of the time the story keeps you at arms length - I felt like I was a witness, an objective witness. This isn't what I would expect out of such a heavy topic, with or without the romance written in.
I did get a weird feeling reading this book. It's hard for me to explain but there were parts I would think Are we romanticizing the Holocaust? Surely not. But also it did not feel like an authentic telling of the Holocaust, true story or not.
Speaking of which, I did hear that this book was considered controversial and so I looked it up. I feel like this explained a lot of my feelings. Apparently the Auschwitz Memorial states, “the book contains numerous errors and information inconsistent with the facts, as well as exaggerations, misinterpretations and understatements." I tend to agree with this, especially the understatements. This might be because of the writing style, which tended to just tell the reader a bad thing and that it was bad without making the reader actually feel anything. There's also segments where Josef Mengele shows up and it seems like the author just put him there because we all know who that is but then it wasn't accurate to what everyone knows. This irked me for reasons that I can't explain.
Anyway, all of that is to say that I have the unpopular opinion of not liking this book and I do not feel bad about it.
I did get a weird feeling reading this book. It's hard for me to explain but there were parts I would think Are we romanticizing the Holocaust? Surely not. But also it did not feel like an authentic telling of the Holocaust, true story or not.
Speaking of which, I did hear that this book was considered controversial and so I looked it up. I feel like this explained a lot of my feelings. Apparently the Auschwitz Memorial states, “the book contains numerous errors and information inconsistent with the facts, as well as exaggerations, misinterpretations and understatements." I tend to agree with this, especially the understatements. This might be because of the writing style, which tended to just tell the reader a bad thing and that it was bad without making the reader actually feel anything. There's also segments where Josef Mengele shows up and it seems like the author just put him there because we all know who that is but then it wasn't accurate to what everyone knows. This irked me for reasons that I can't explain.
Anyway, all of that is to say that I have the unpopular opinion of not liking this book and I do not feel bad about it.