The tattooist of Auschwitz : a novel / Heather Morris.
Record details
- ISBN: 9780062877000 (international edition)
- Physical Description: 262, 11 pages : illustrations, maps ; 23 cm
- Edition: First U.S. edition.
- Publisher: New York : Harper, 2018.
- Copyright: ©2018.
Content descriptions
General Note: | Originally published as The Tattooist of Auschwitz in Australia in 2018 by Bonnier Publishing Australia and in the UK by Bonnier Zaffre"--Title page verso. |
Search for related items by subject
Genre: | Historical fiction. Biographical fiction. Love stories. |
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Available copies
- 21 of 24 copies available at BC Interlibrary Connect.
Holds
- 0 current holds with 24 total copies.
Other Formats and Editions
Location | Call Number / Copy Notes | Barcode | Shelving Location | Holdable? | Status | Due Date |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Burns Lake Public Library | AF MOR (Text) | 35198000672924 | Adult Fiction | Volume hold | Available | - |
Dawson Creek Municipal Public Library | F MOR (Text) | DCL165465 | Adult Fiction | Volume hold | Available | - |
Fernie Heritage Library | FIC MOR (Text) | 35136000551227 | Adult Fiction | Volume hold | Available | - |
Fernie Heritage Library | FIC MOR (Text) | 35136000559972 | Storage | Available | - | |
Greenwood Public Library | Fic MOR (Text) | 35141000268152 | Adult Fiction | Volume hold | Available | - |
Hazelton Public Library | Fic (Text) | 35154000157457 | Adult Fiction - Main Floor | Volume hold | Available | - |
Hudson's Hope Public Library | FIC FIC MOR (Text) | BHH046629 | Adult Fiction | Volume hold | Checked out | 2024-04-28 |
Kaslo and District Public Library | AF MOR (Text) | 35134000453742 | Argenta Library (offsite collection) | Not holdable | Onsite consultation | - |
Mackenzie Public Library | MOR (Text) | 35192000426647 | Adult Fiction | Volume hold | Available | - |
Midway Public Library | F TRA MOR (Text) | 35143000319365 | Adult Paperback | Volume hold | Available | - |
- Booklist Reviews : Booklist Reviews 2018 August #1
Australian author Morris' first novel is based heavily on the memories of Lale Sokolov, a Slovakian Jew who spent almost three years in the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. For most of that time, he tattooed numbers onto the arms of fellow prisoners, one of whom he would later marry. Like Lale, Gita was Slovakian, and with some maneuvering by him, she was assigned to a relatively safe job, working as a secretary in the administrative building. Morris tells their story in rapidly moving present tense, in which the horrors of the camps contrast with the growing love between them. Lale comes across as a sharp-witted businessman with a touch of the con artist, smuggling out jewels and currency in sausages and chocolate. Although one might suspect that there's far more to his past than is revealed here, much of Lale's story's complexity makes it onto the page. And even though it's clear that Lale will survive, Morris imbues the novel with remarkable suspense. Copyright 2018 Booklist Reviews. - BookPage Reviews : BookPage Reviews 2018 September
A love story in the midst of horrorPerhaps the three scariest words in the history of human imagination were cast in iron atop a gate leading directly into the closest approximation of hell ever erected on earth: ARBEIT MACHT FREI. "Work sets you free." The banal words that were nothing more than a cruel and tragic joke for thousands turned out to have a deeper meaning for Lale Sokolov, an Auschwitz survivor and the real-life hero of Heather Morris' extraordinary debut novel, The Tattooist of Auschwitz.
Like the Nobel Prize-winning author Elie Wiesel's Night, Morris' work takes us inside the day-to-day workings of the most notorious German death camp. Over the course of three years, Morris interviewed Lale, teasing out his memories and weaving them into her heart-rending narrative of a Jew whose unlikely forced occupation as a tattooist put him in a position to act with kindness and humanity in a place where both were nearly extinct. While Lale's story is told at one removeâhe held his recollections inside for more than half a century, fearing he might be branded as a collaboratorâit is no less moving, no less horrifying, no less true.
Just as a flower can grow through a sidewalk's crack, so too can love spring and flourish in the midst of unspeakable horror, and so it is that Lale meets his lifelong love, Gita, when he inscribes the number 34902 on her arm. With the same level of inventiveness, dedication and adoration displayed by Roberto Benigni in Life Is Beautiful, Lale endeavors to preserve their love (and safety) amid the horrors.
Make no mistakeâhorrors abound. At one point, Lale is called to identify two corpses seemingly marked with the same number, which is anathema to the camp's meticulous record keepers. Upon emerging from the crematorium, Lale is greeted by his Nazi handler, Baretski: "You know something, Tätowierer? I bet you are the only Jew who ever walked into an oven and then walked back out of it."
For decade upon decade, Lale's story was one that desperately needed to be told. And now, as the number of those who witnessed the terror that was Nazi Germany dwindles, it is a story that desperately needs to be read. The disgraceful words that once stood over Auschwitz must be replaced with others: Never forget. Never again.
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This article was originally published in the September 2018 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.
Copyright 2018 BookPage Reviews. - Kirkus Reviews : Kirkus Reviews 2018 August #1
An unlikely love story set amid the horrors of a Nazi death camp. Based on real people and events, this debut novel follows Lale Sokolov, a young Slovakian Jew sent to Auschwitz in 1942. There, he assumes the heinous task of tattooing incoming Jewish prisoners with the dehumanizing numbers their SS captors use to identify them. When the Tätowierer, as he is called, meets fellow prisoner Gita Furman, 17, he is immediately smitten. Eventually, the attraction becomes mutual. Lale proves himself an operator, at once cagey and courageous: As the Tätowierer, he is granted special privileges and manages to smuggle food to starving prisoners. Through female prisoners who catalog the belongings confiscated from fellow inmates, Lale gains access to jewels, which he trades to a pair of local villagers for chocolate, medicine, and other items. Meanwhile, despite overwhelming odds, Lale and Gita are able to meet privately from time to time and become lovers. In 1944, just ahead of the arrival of Russian troops, Lale and Gita separately leave the concentration camp and experience harrowingly close calls. Suffice it to say they both survive. To her credit, the author doesn't flinch from describing the depravity of the SS in Auschwitz and the unimaginable suffering of their victimsâno gauzy evasions here, as in Boy in the Striped Pajamas. She also manages to raise, if not really explore, some trickier issuesâthe guilt of those Jews, like the tattooist, who survived by doing the Nazis' bidding, in a sense betraying their fellow Jews; and the complicity of those non-Jews, like the Slovaks in Lale's hometown, who failed to come to the aid of their beleaguered countrymen. The writing is merely serviceable, and one can't help but wish the author had found a way to present her material as nonfiction. Still, this is a powerful, gut-wrenching tale that is hard to shake off. Copyright Kirkus 2018 Kirkus/BPI Communications. All rights reserved. - Library Journal Reviews : LJ Reviews 2018 April #2
Fifteen years ago, Australia-based writer Morris was introduced to Holocaust survivor Ludwig (Lale) Sokolov, a Slovakian Jew who was forced to tattoo his fellow prisoners at Auschwitz-Birkenau. This novel builds on interviews she conducted with Sokolov, portraying his efforts to assist others though surrounded by horrific brutality and his vow to help a young woman named Gita survive the camps and marry her. Already an international best seller; with a 20,000-copy hardcover and 100,000-copy paperback first printing.
Copyright 2018 Library Journal. - Library Journal Reviews : LJ Reviews 2018 August #1
Originally intended as a screenplay, this compelling debut is based on the life of Lale Sokolov, a Slovakian Jew imprisoned for almost three years at Auschwitz-Birkenau, where he served as the tattooist marking prisoners. Soon after the 25-year-old arrives at Birkenau, he contracts typhus and is left for dead. Rescued by fellow inmates and Pepan, an older French man and tattooist, Lale learns Pepan's trade, which, along with fluency in six languages, allows Lale privileges of a single room and extra food. His sole mission is to survive the unbelievable horrors, until he meets young Gita. Then he vows to marry her. Despite the bleakness and death surrounding them, Lale and Gita's passionate love blooms in their precious moments alone. Readers will root for the two despite the many obstacles they face.
Copyright 2018 Library Journal.VERDICT Historical fiction and memoir fans will be gripped by this unforgettable Holocaust story. [See Prepub Alert, 3/26/18.]âLaura Jones, Argos Community Schs., IN - Publishers Weekly Reviews : PW Reviews 2018 July #5
Based on a true story, Morris's debut fictionalizes the romance between two concentration camp prisoners during WWII. In 1942, Lale, a Slovakian Jew, is given the position of tattooist, tasked with numbering the arm of every new inmate who enters Auschwitz-Birkenau. He uses his position to procure black market items, which he trades away in return for favors. One day, he tattoos the arm of a young woman named Gita and promptly falls in love with her. They begin meeting on Sundays, the only day of rest in the camps. He vows to Gita that he will marry her when they are freed, a boast that Gita is dubious of but nevertheless clings to. Lale even becomes something of a guardian angel to Gita, providing her with penicillin when she contracts typhus. Separated at the end of the war by the fleeing SS, Lale and Gita set out to find one another again in postwar Europe. To many, this book will be most appreciated for its powerful evocation of the everyday horrors of life as a prisoner in a concentration camp, while others will be heartened by the novel's message of how true love can transcend even the most hellishly inhuman environments. This is a perfect novel for book clubs and readers of historical fiction.
Copyright 2018 Publishers Weekly.(Sept.)