Monday, December 6, 2010

Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay

Hands down, this should be the next book you read.

Did you know that during the Holocaust, thousands of French Jewish citizens were rounded up by French (not German) authorities, held in a stadium for a few days in inhumane conditions, and then shipped to concentration camps? That the men were separated immediately from the women and children? That the children then were separated from their mothers? They weren't sent to be held until further notice, they were sent to be executed. No work camp...just death.

Me neither.

This book is interesting enough because it educates you about a subject that, in my opinion, has mostly been hidden from public knowledge in the past. Sure, materials about it exist (See Wikipedia page here) but, much like the Armenian Holocaust, it's not something most people learn about in school. Heck, maybe it was just the schools I went to, but no one I've talked to knew anything about this particular event. Just quite interesting to me, the events from the past that get sort of glazed over in favor of exploring other horrors.

Anyway, the book is fiction, so it's definitely not an entirely accurate historical account, but as I understand it it sticks to the facts as much as possible. It's told from two points of view - one of a little girl named Sarah who is part of the roundup in 1942, and one of a female journalist in present day who discovers Sarah's particularly tragic story.

Honestly the best book I've read in a while.

1 comment:

Molly said...

this is the book my mom-in-laws book club is reading for february. :)