The Tattooist of Auschwitz: A Novel Hardcover – September 4, 2018

I have read many, many good books about the Holocaust. This was not one of them. This book does not respect the starvation, terror, and dehumanization that concentration camp victims survived. I do not understand all these glowing reviews. This book could have been set in a summer camp for all its accuracy and authenticity. Between the giggling between the campers—I mean inmates, the friendly conversations with the counselors—I mean guards, the sneaking around the bunks—I mean barracks, I had to put this book down and not finish it. If you want to read a good book about the Holocaust, read All but My Life, Hope Is the Last to Die, Five Chimneys, Treblinka, Rena's Promise, Survival in Auschwitz, Night, Escape from Sobibor, Inside the Gas Chambers: Eight Months in the Sonderkommando of Auschwitz, Alicia: My Story, or any of the many other factual memoirs out there. This book is fantasy.

I had to order ‘The Tattooist of Auschwitz’ from a bookseller in the UK, as it will not be released in the US until September. It finally arrived to my home in Washington state a few days ago. After reading such incredible reviews, I couldn’t wait to be lost in its pages, so added it to my suitcase as I packed for work (I am a flight attendant). I didn’t have a chance to read it during my layover, but started it late last night on my redeye flight across the Pacific. I read it cover to cover in the five hours it took to fly from Maui to home, only pausing to wipe my tears on my apron and to pour sodas for the few people who weren’t sleeping in their seats.I have read so many stories of this time, some good and some not so, some acclaimed and some relatively unknown. The Tattooist of Aushwitz is by far the best. Heather’s ability to make written words come to life is a true gift. This is one of those books that I will carry in my soul forever.

Immediately reading the first few pages of this book, I was dismayed and increasingly skeptical of its written quality. While the real lives depicted in this story deserve awe and merit for their survival of such a catastrophic period, the portrayal of the story lacks depth.I was surprised to see so many positive reviews! A few others have been able to concisely pinpoint the problem with the writing - mainly the book is a narrative shell that primarily glosses over the struggle of surviving such dire circumstances to focus on a love plot with little dimension. Elementary prose and cheesy one-liners dominate this novel.At the very least, I appreciate the attempt to bring light to such a unique, real-life love story....

Read The Tatooist of Auschwitz in the days before and after I visited Aucshwitz and Birkenau.There are times you read books for entertainment and times you read for knowledge. This may be a bit of both because it involves a love story too - Lale and Gita. But oh, the horror of their situation.Going with my usual format...Is it worth the cost? $7.99 - yes, absolutetly.Is it a page turner?Yes, it is. Ordinarily, I would argue that this kind of book does not need to be a page turner because that's not the point... but it is.Did I think about this book when I was not reading this book?Not at first, I was able to put it down for a week and go on with my trip. But as I got further involved, I found myself thinking about Lale's story more and more and wanted to get back to the book.Will I think about this book once I am finished?Lale's story stays with you. As mentioned above, I actually visited Auschwitz while reading this book. On display are many photos of prisoners arriving, prisoners on their way to be gassed, murdered prisoners, starving prisoners. Frankly I could not look - it was too hard to put a face to such horrors. For me, this book gave a name to the millions of people who perished at Auschwitz and who lived too.

a holocaust book must be truly poorly written in order for it to deserve one star, but this manages to accomplish just that. this had almost no flow to it, was written on an elementary school level (with some curse words forced in), made auschwitz seem somewhat tolerable, and built little to no drama on some pretty amazing events. of all of the WW2 books that i have read, this ranks with the weakest. i couldn’t wait to finish it so that i could be done with the poor writing. sorry.

This book was designated as our book club's next read and though I was excited to read it, as I had read several good reviews, I kept putting it off as I felt that I knew, to some level, the horror of the subject-matter. Hence as I started to read it I was very uncomfortable, but as the book progressed I felt it a compelling read into the reality of human nature. I gave it five stars rather than four, as I felt four stars did not do it justice.

A full 5 stars for this flowing factual literary work which “brings” Lale and Gita’s heart rendering love story into a pragmatic realistic accountable unputdownable read.The abhorrent disgrace and disgust of the holocaust cries out “lest we never forget”, which our retribution portrays in these stories being retold and remembered from generation to generation. The Jews will proudly survive and our voices will be heard in unity.My husband and I have walked through Auschwitz and Birkenau - a chilling icy tour of a deathly historical event in history which is incomprehensible albeit remembered.

With the scant writing skills of a struggling middle-schooler, the author takes on a very serious subject and manages to trivialize it. I found myself incredulous that such disjointed and simplistic prose could pass a keen editor's eye and then elicit such high praise from so many. Morris does a great disservice to the survivor's story and the tragic subject at hand.

Quite frankly, this is an abomination of a book. It dresses itself up as a novel but it is a very badly written biography, if you can believe the events contained within it. It has no poetry, no soul, no dramatic tension, no suspense. Having read Primo Levi's beautifully written masterpiece 'This is Man' and, to a certain extent, 'The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas', (though the film improved on the book), I was hoping for something that might offer a different angle on the atrocities that took place in Auschwitz. This is, to be brutal, Auschwitz soft porn. The central character is abhorrent and the events that he is supposed to have survived stretch credibility to breaking point and beyond. Structurally it seems to use Lale's experiences as a warped theme park ride through the bad bits of Birkenau and Auschwitz. As for the the portrayal of Josef Mengele (a pantomime villain who appears every now and then to imaginary audience boos and hisses), his treatment of Leon is was almost straight out of Monty Python. If I could have given this negative stars, I would. In the canon of Holocaust books, this scrapes the barrel. It cheapens and defiles the worst atrocity in the history of mankind.

Its hard to say you have enjoyed a book when it is about such a harrowing time in history, If you have read the boy in the stripped pyjamas or watched Schindler's list or anything regarding this subject then you should already know these books are difficult in their subject matter, but read them we must not just for titillation but the fact this awful event took place. I have been to Auschwitz and I have to say up front it changed me, walking through those gates I could feel the pain and anguish, this is not me been fanciful in my words but truth, to stand in the shadows of such a harrowing place made me count my blessings and thank god that I am alive and well. Heather Morris is a new author for me but this book caught my eye one for the subject matter and no I am not ghoulish or glorify in human suffering but at the same time I like reading about the past after all it is what defines us what makes us what molds us into the people we are good or bad. For me Heather and her narrative, horrific account of peoples lives so tragically and horrifically impacted by the events of the dreadful stain on our time the holocaust, she seems to have beautifully written a piece of history put together so us as the reader can truly acknowledge the price and the pain of these poor people paid in such a horrific circumstances. The book is poignant, very sad and extremely moving at times but at the same time you are filled with courage and determination as these people's ferocious and tenacious desire to survive against all odds. This account has sensitivity and has been put together with a lot of great thought and care. It’s a great read! I highly recommend it. Thank You Heather Morris for an astonishing read, one that will stay with me for a long time, I think books like this do tend to stay with you long after you have closed the final page, it makes you question what is important and what is not, when we whinge about how awful our lives are, we should be thanking god for the fact we still have one when so so many were denied it.

One of the most moving and beautifully written stories I have read. Words cannot do justice to the profound effect this book has on the reader. One man’s journey through one of the darkest experiences a human being could ever have. The hope that sustained him amongst the horrors of the concentration camps, and the love he found, is told with sensitivity and grace.This is not a downbeat tale. The strength of the human spirit shines through on every page. It was hard to put down, I had to keep reading. And in the last pages there are amazing surprises.A wonderful book about a truly remarkable character. I cannot recommend this more highly.

It's so sad that this fascinating narrative of Lale Sokolov's life has been written so poorly and insensitively. Given the right author, this could have been a masterpiece. What a shame.

No disrespect to Lale's story and the experiences of all involved but this was very disappointing. It's like something my teenage daughter would write. Her essays are terrible.