A review by finallyfinnian
The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris

3.0

Every once in a while, I stumble across a book that I can't put down until it's over. This is one of those books. I picked up this book before work with the intention of reading just a chapter in the few minutes I had - when I was forced to put it down, I thought about it, wanting to get back to it and the next time I picked it up, I read until the end. This story is told through an omniscient narrator which gives the reader some distance from the inner feelings of the character. In a way, that distance makes the intimate horrors of the prison camp even more real and heartbreaking. I didn't know anything about this book when I picked it up and I'm glad. Read as a work of fiction, it is an amazing story. The writing itself isn't spectacular, but in a way, that made it more interesting to me. I wanted to focus on the characters.

There are some problematic things about this story- how much is real, why it says it is based on a true story when it also claims to be historical fiction. Unlike other reviewers, I don't think this book glamorizes the atrocities.

Somehow, I end up feeling unsure of how I feel about this book - but ultimately, I couldn't stop thinking about it while I was reading it and to me, that makes it a good book.