Tag: Books

The Tattooist of Auschwitz

So this book had been on my list for a while, and is one that has been extremely popular in Australia. My order for this was put on back order as they had sold out. I finally got it, though, and it was worth the wait.

This is one of the hardest book reviews I have tried to write so far, because I am struggling to articulate how anything relating to World War II affects me. I have no family that suffered (that I know of) through World War II, but yet I still feel the pain of what happened there. I still feel disgust and dismay at what those people are put through, and I struggle to understand how anything like that could ever happen here in this world. In saying that, I realise that there are parts of the world that still see these horrors every day, but we just don’t see them as much here in the Western world. Whilst travelling through Europe, I visited one of the concentration camps. It is a memory that is seared into my brain. I was there with a friend of Jewish heritage, who lost family during this time, and honestly, it was heartbreaking to see her there in a place where people of her kind were put through conditions no one could ever believe possible.

The Tattooist of Auschwitz is a true story, about a man who survived Auschwitz, a man who one of the Nazis called ‘a cat’ because he had so many lives. Lale was never meant to survive Auschwitz, but his perseverance and determinedness meant that aganst all odds, he did. The book is bittersweet, as it tells you of a love story in the backdrop of inhumane conditions. It tells you of survival of a Jewish man, who seemingly partners or works with the Nazis in order to survive. It tells you of death without conscience, and acts of humanity throughout it all. It tells of a man who was rescued by the kindness of others, who in turn risks his life many times to save others.

Because of the love story, it is easy at times to imagine that this book is fiction, that all these things didn’t really happen, but then you are told a story of death and inhumane killing or torture, and you are reminded that this world did exist, and we lost so many innocent people because of it. There is no sugar coating in this book, the stories are real and raw, and they have impact.

The writing was good, the story was good, and there was so much emotion weaved throughout this book. I can’t say anymore about it, except that it really touched me and I think books like these are so important for everyone to read, so we can understand the mistakes made before, and hope to never let them happen again.  I am glad that Lale decided to share his story with the world.

I give this book 9 out of 10. I would definitely recommend it to everyone, except maybe those with a weak stomach.

 

Force of Nature

As I have a little time off from work I have really been powering through the books recently and for that reason, also really pumping out the book reviews. I have a Good Reads (Social Media for book lovers) Challenge of 20 books for the year and I am already past a quarter of that challenge and the first month of the year hasn’t even finished! Luckily for me, a couple of my closest friends are also book lovers so I have been able to borrow most of these books, and I am thinking about signing up to a second hand book subscription service so I am able to minimise the financial and environmental impact of my reading.

The latest book that I have powered through is the second instalment in the Aaron Falkes books by Jane Harper. I read the first book quite recently, so the story was still fresh in my mind before reading the sequel. Reading both close together is not necessary at all though, it just provides more character development for the cop Falkes. I think that was what was missing from Force of Nature too, because it was very disconnected from his backstory, it was a very tenuous link as to why he was involved in and investigating the crime in the first place. Don’t get me wrong, a link is made, and the story is good, with all the twists and turns I am starting to expect from Jane Harper, but the link between the narrating and main character Falkes with the victims and suspects isn’t really there like it was in The Dry.

The setting of the Australian country continues to provide the perfect backdrop for this crime fiction story, albeit it a very different type of landscape. The contrast between the dry outback described in Harper’s last novel as compared with the lush and overbearing forest in this story is dramatic. One thing that is rather annoying at the end of the book as well is that we never get an answer to one of the key questions throughout the book. I am unsure whether Harper couldn’t find a way to wrap it up, or whether there will be a follow-up in another book. If it is a follow-up book it will be a move into a different type of crime fiction, with a lot more focus on the finance I would assume.

This absence of finality for part of the storyline doesn’t take away from the story though. It was still a great read, I devoured the book in only a couple of days. The ending was unpredictable, and full of exploration of the relationships in dysfunctional families. The writing captured me, and was good at sucking you in so you wanted more.

Overall, I give Force of Nature 7/10.

Bridge of Clay

I have just finished Marcus Zusak’s new book. It is a monster, nearly 600 pages long. This is the third book by him, and each one varies so differently from the last. Each book that comes out though, my love for Zusak dies a little more. Granted, The Book Thief is an absolute classic, and not much would be able to live up to that reputation, but each book just gets harder and harder to read from him.

It is a book that is hard to really get into. I struggled to push myself to read the first 200 pages before I was actually interested in the storyline. I think this was because of the sequence, with Zusak jumping backwards and forwards in time. But with the number of characters and the different time zones, it was confusing and messy. I get that he was probably trying to do something artistic with it, and there was probably some ‘meaning’ to it, but all it really did for me as a reader was lose interest very quickly.

I pushed on though, because I kept hearing from so many people that it was amazing. I am glad I finished it, but to be honest, it is not something I would recommend others to sit through. I easily get emotionally invested in stories, and I have been known to cry quite easily when I am caught up in a story, for either happy or sad reasons. I did not shed a single tear in this story, and it was meant to be heart breaking. I could see it there, I could see that I was meant to be upset, but I just wasn’t. The characters were not developed well enough, again because of the jumpy nature of the storyline. There was no clear relationship between the reader and the characters.

The best bit about the book, and the most interesting part about it was the ‘suprises’ throughout. The twists and turns that the readers couldn’t see coming (although maybe sort of could see coming).

Normally I am first in line to go out and grab each Marcus Zusak book, but after this one, I am not sure that I will ever do that again. I think I have been lost.

I give this book 3 out of 5.

To Obama

Before I start my first book review, let me preface this by saying I am not an American, and I have never spent more than a week there, so I have a limited view into what life is like in America. With that said, one book I believe that every American should read is ‘To Obama: With Love, Joy, Anger, and Hope’ by Jeanne Marie Laskas.

This book is about the letters that Barack Obama received throughout his presidency, the replies he sent, and the people behind the letters. This is not just about the nice letters he received telling him what a great job he was doing, in fact, not many of the letters were like that at all. Instead it was letters telling him that he was letting his people down, that a lot of his constituents have no faith in him, that their worlds were crumbling and they wanted Obama to fix it.

The foundation of the book is about how during Obama’s presidency, he committed to reading ten letters a day that were received by his office. Quite often he replied to those letters, by hand, responding to the American peoples’ worries, concerns and even once, to their homework. The concept of this book is so deeply intriguing, and gives you an insight into how Americans interact with their politicians and also the heavy burden that is carried by any President.

As someone from outside of America, it also gave me a lot of insight into how their political system interacts with the people, and also how different Presidents throughout time carried out this responsibility. Having long been a big Obama supporter, this book only made me love him more.

In terms of the actual writing though, it was a little disjointed and hard to follow at times. In between blocks of letters there are little narrations of people who wrote letters, or people that worked in the President’s office. There is no flow between these segments, and whilst they do tell individual stories and add colour to some individuals, they could have been better woven into a complete story and the stories didn’t always clearly link to the letters themselves.

Overall, this book was an outstanding read, and I would recommend it to all (not just Americans). It was moving, it was informative, and it made me gain even more respect for Obama. Perhaps the best part though, was the letters and stories that came after Trump was voted in and the continuation of the letters’ importance to Obama’s life post-presidency.

I give it 4 out of 5 stars.