(Mini) Book Review: The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris

(Mini) Book Review: The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris

Saturday, 23 June 2018

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A few years ago, I wrote a blog post about Why I Read War Fiction and since then I’ve been slowly adding more and more books to the list of War Fiction that I’ve enjoyed reading. My most recent War Fiction read is actually less fiction and more historical fact – and a book, rightfully so, may I add, that has been on a lot of peoples’ radar over the last few months.

The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris is based on the true story of Lale Sokolov, a Slovakian Jew who is sent to Auschwitz in 1942. Lale stands out from the rest of the people sent to the camps – he is well dressed, well educated and speaks a number of different languages. At home, he is known as being a lady’s man – a smooth talker. These language skills and seemingly his personality allows him to stand out and he is asked to become the camp’s Tatowierer, a job that carries multiple repercussions but also provides a number of benefits. As Tatowierer, he is given better sleeping arrangements, he accesses more rations – which he shares with the other prisoners, no less- and he is able to move around the camp much more freely than everyone else. In doing so, he meets Gita, a young girl who he falls instantly in love with and suddenly his reason to survive becomes all the more clear. His attraction to Gita is clearly instantaneous.

The book is particularly poignant in the sense that it depicts the horrors of the war at their worst, highlights the difficulty of survival in the bleakest of occasions, but also the beauty of life and appreciating it in its purest form. It’s about showing compassion to people who deserve it and not taking the little things for granted. Told to the author by Lale himself, it highlights the significant role that non-compliant people had in the war effort and how people on either side of the war front had to make difficult choices to survive. 

My love of history goes deep within me and having the opportunity to read such a book was just fantastic – knowing that the characters within the story were real and the story that they had to tell was just as real really affected me and made the story all the more enjoyable for me. The story – in spite of its somewhat bleak content- has a happy ending and it’s nice to see that sometimes, for some people during the war, there was a light at the end of the tunnel and they were allowed some happiness in their lives. 

I’m looking around for books with similar themes at the moment so if anybody has any recommendations then I’d be incredibly happy to hear them! 

Exploring Children’s Literature #3 – Billy the Kid by Michael Morpurgo

Exploring Children’s Literature #3 – Billy the Kid by Michael Morpurgo

Wednesday, 25 April 2018

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When I was 10 years old, I was introduced to the wonder of Michael Morpurgo through Kensuke’s Kingdom. Of all of the books I read whilst at school when I was a child, there are only two that I specifically remember studying and being completely engaged by – this one, and The Suitcase Kid by Jacqueline Wilson. Morpurgo’s style of writing thrilled me beyond any feeling I’ve ever experienced and it is probably his influence that encouraged my love of reading further. Since reading this book, I have read countless books by him and am constantly on the look-out for new releases.

Now that I am a primary school teacher myself, using class readers to help with engagement and encourage children to read good quality literature makes a lot more sense to me than it did back then. I’ve realised it wasn’t necessarily just the book that attracted me, but the way it was taught- with insightful activities, memorable pieces of artwork and an enthusiasm that came directly from the class teacher. I have learnt that to encourage a child to love a book, you have to love it yourself, so being able to teach Billy the Kid by Michael Morpurgo this half term has definitely allowed for that intention.  

Anyone that knows me well will know that, as well as my love of books, I have a love of football and of the wartime period. This book manages to combine all three of my loves and brings us a story full of beauty but also incredible sadness. Reading this story aloud to a group of children full of innocence and belief in the world is poignant – they understand how deep the words are and the room is brought to a complete hush as I read.

The story follows Billy, an 80 year old man looking back on his life. He reveals his talent as a footballer and how, back in the day, he played professionally for Chelsea Football Club. He tells of the trials and tribulations that he experienced to get to the point, including the loss of his father and later on, the loss of his brother in the Second World War. It is this loss that finally breaks him and he signs up to join the army- specifically, to drive ambulances – to make his brother proud of him and as a means of allowing himself forgiveness for the war he treated the same brother when he told of his decision to enlist. His war days are told in detail and his suffering is vast – to the extent where he returns from the war, years later, a changed man – he comes back to nothing and no-one and has to make do with living on the street. It isn’t until he meets a young family who understand his difficulties, take pity on him, that he realises the extent of his trauma.

This book is beautiful. I’ve noticed recently when reading war based literature that it can often be problematic- this book, for the most part, comes without political agenda. The story focuses more on Billy and his personal experiences of the war, as opposed to the experiences of the war as a whole. Morpurgo writes in a way that is enjoyable to both adult and children, and I am not at all embarrassed to admit that the story brought a tear to my eye on more than one occasion. (Embarrassingly - on the train. Why do I always read heart-wrenching books on the train?)  My class and I are around three quarters of the way through the story and they too are enjoying it immensely. The work that’s being produced as a result of the reading is fantastic.

I can’t wait to read Morpurgo’s newest book Flamingo Boy in the coming weeks – I imagine I’ll love it just as much as I loved this one.

4.5/5.

Goodreads: Why I Read War Fiction

Goodreads: Why I Read War Fiction

Tuesday, 9 August 2016

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If you’ve been reading my blog for a while now, you’ll likely have come across my Why I Read YA Fiction blog post. I was absolutely overwhelmed with the response I had towards this post and it makes me so pleased to hear that people feel the same about YA fiction as I do. I decided that I’d make a little series of posts concerning “Why I read…” certain genres of, collections of or authors’ books. I’m going to start off this new little series with Why I Read… War Fiction.

I don’t think I’ve ever really mentioned before, but I am absolutely fascinated by the World Wars. I’m that weirdo that sits on Netflix watching documentaries about Hitler and the final solution in her spare time. I’m not really sure where my interest stemmed from, but I’m pretty sure it was a school project at primary school which had me researching above and beyond in the public library which started everything off. When the anniversary of the centenary of the start of WW1 came around in 2014, I vowed that I would spend the years between 2014 and 2018 trying to read as much war fiction as I possibly could. By war fiction, I don’t mean fiction specifically about the war but merely fiction which is set, speaks about or focuses on the wartime period. I’ve done pretty well so far and I feel like I’ve really learnt a lot about the war from a number of differing perspectives. Here’s a list of my reads so far, from most recent to least:

The Periodic Table - Primo Levi (WW2)

Uranus - Marcel Aymé (WW2)

Au Bon Beurre - Jean Dutourd (WW2)

Stay Where You Are and Then Leave - John Boyne (WW1)

When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit - Judith Kerr (WW2)

The Storyteller - Jodi Picoult (WW2)

All Quiet on the Western Front - Erich Maria Remarque (WW1)

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas - John Boyne (WW2)

Carrie’s War - Nina Bawden (WW2)

I plan on reading Ernest Hemingway’s “A Farewell to Arms” at some point soon, as well as rereading “War Horse” by Michael Morpurgo, “The Absolutist” by John Boyne, which would be the first book that I’ve read by him that wasn’t considered to be children’s fiction and “Birdsong” by Sebastian Faulks, which I’ve read before, but not recently. I’ve got a number of other Great War fiction piled high and I can’t wait to delve deep into the pile! I’m always interested in adding more books to my pile so if you have any war-time fiction recommendations then please let me know in the comments!

What’re your thoughts on War Fiction? Let me know in the comments!

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