The Tattooist of Auschwitz Book Review

 The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris

2018

Historical Fiction

The Tattooist of Auschwitz novel follows Lale, a young Jewish man, as he becomes the tattooist of Auschwitz concentration camp and later survives the prison camp of Birkenau. Along his three year journey, he survives beatings, smuggles food and diamonds, and falls in love with a young woman named Gita

I read this book in a day. It is a very easy read, and an interesting one at that. I thought the story was compelling, though I don’t think it has the stark realness of other WWII prison camp books I’ve read. Lale outsmarts beatings and is treated differently than other prisoners because of his position, meaning he offers a different view of life in the camps.

One of the reasons I don’t think I connected to the story is because the prose was a lot of showing, not telling. The author based The Tattooist of Auschwitz off the true story of Lale, and had actually met with him over several years to learn his story, which is why I presume the writing felt like Lale was simply studying everything around him and not truly feeling his emotion. I have heard reports that the novel is inaccurate, and I definitely see where that could come from.

Even if this book is more lighthearted than other books and films about prison camps, The Tattooist of Auschwitz still portrays the abuse and pain of being a prisoner. I thought the balance between Lale’s love for Gita and the horrors he saw worked well. While historical fiction, I feel that Morris could have written a nonfiction account of Lale’s experience in concentration camps.

I finished The Tattooist of Auschwitz with little to no extra thoughts. Normally historical fiction books make me think about the past and how it relates to today, one of the reasons I find historical fiction to be so impactful, but this book did not leave me thinking for days. Even when I left this review to sit for a couple days before proofreading I didn’t feel like I had any more thoughts to add about this novel.

Rating 2.5/5: While I enjoyed reading the popular novel and understand how so many have come to love it, I found The Tattooist of Auschwitz to have a forgettable narrative and one-note characters. I wouldn’t recommend this novel when so many other, better novels have been written about the Holocaust.