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krdegan 's review for:
Sarah's Key
by Tatiana de Rosnay
I picked this book up on a whim at the Politics and Prose member sale. It sounded interesting -- a story about a young girl in France during WWII whose family was taken off in the night to the Velodrome d'Hiver and then to Drancy for eventual deportation to death camps. She helped to hide her brother in a closet and kept the key with her when the police took her and her parents away. It is intertwined with the story of a present-day American woman who is married to a Frenchman and takes on a research assignment for the 40th anniversary of the Vel d'Hiv tragedy. Unfortunately I felt that the story lacked something larger that would have kept me more engaged. And as it progressed, I felt that some of the events in the American woman's life were a bit over the top. And I didn't buy the idea that so many French people were unaware of what happened at the Vel d'Hiv and at Drancy. I have been to both sites and it seemed to me (drawing on memories from over 10 years ago) that people I spoke with were familiar with what happened to the families and the children at both places. I wouldn't really recommend this book. I can't really describe what was missing, but something is definitely not there.