The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris Review

This has been staring at me from my shelf for the past two and a half years so I finally grabbed it and finished it in two days. If anything, I'm just glad to be rid of it from my unread shelf. But onto the review:

In short, this was enjoyable overall, but did not impress me. The book is written by an author who interviewed the man who this story is based on, so it’s based on a true story, but I think one must take the events in the novel with a grain of salt. I’ve heard inklings that this isn’t completely historically accurate. So fine, that’s not a big deal. But something I noticed was that the writing relies on listing facts and events and feelings that the main character feels rather than an expression of a visceral response to such horrific events that Lale must witness. If the author had been trying to write an autobiography or memoir that’s completely accurate, then I understand why she couldn’t exactly put words and feelings into Lale’s mouth. But she's already taking liberties to write this story for him, so I wish she took it a step further and made the feelings and emotions a bit stronger and just written with more showing than telling. Is it on purpose? Is it just her writing style? Is she just bad at writing? I don't know, but besides that, the story is beautiful. I really appreciated Gary, Lale’s son, for writing a note for the end of the book describing his parents and it felt much more personal than the actual story. I wish that Gita and Lale had more dimension in the actual book, they feel a bit like cardboard cutouts at times and we don’t learn much of anything about their personalities besides Gita’s strength throughout their experience, and that Lale used to be a womanizer, not in a playboy sense, but in that he loves women wholeheartedly and dated around. But he knows a thing or two about romance. I am also not completely sure why this is mentioned or relevant, there's almost nothing other than that fact that's revealed about his personality. 

Besides the lack of strong characterization, in regards to the story itself, Lale is sharp, likable, and resourceful and his journey is entertaining and insightful if one is curious about what it was like inside the concentration camps during World War II emotionally. But as long as the reader understands what to expect, a love story set in awful circumstances such as theirs, not an accurate retelling of the physical and literal experiences inside the camps, they will enjoy it. You can tell Lale really cares for everyone around him, it made it easy to root for him and his relationship with Gita who was just seventeen or so at the time. It’s a story of survival and finding bright moments despite horrific circumstances, and the fact that Gita is so young adds to the pain of it. I was so happy to find that they survived and lived happily ever after. I suppose caring enough about the characters enough to root for them is enough for me to give this a decent rating.