The tattooist is perhaps the best contemporary historical fiction book I have read in the longest time.
It sets the scene so well with beautiful descriptions of such a bleak place, one segment of description stands out the most for me. At one point Lale notices flowers growing in the camp, the juxtaposition of these flowers beauty with the rest of his surroundings was wonderfully written.
I found myself constantly wanting to know more, having some knowledge of the camp and the history of the story, the author really stood up to true fact and you can tell the interviews Morris had with the "real" Lake were so very beneficial in creating this beautiful love story.
Lake and Gita were written so that we could root for them, every chapter, every page I longed for them to have good news, to be with eachother.
However, even the non sympathetic characters- in particular the SS officers, I still found myself wanting to know more about! I wanted to hear about their story too, as for some of them it seemed it wasn't necessarily their choice to be there. I wish there could have been more about Mengele, but the small section we got about him was wonderfully written, and perhaps more would have taken away from our love story.
Overall, a spectacular read, I could not put it down. I also liked the little biographies we got at the end of the book to find out what had happened to our characters, this helped tie up loose ends.
It sets the scene so well with beautiful descriptions of such a bleak place, one segment of description stands out the most for me. At one point Lale notices flowers growing in the camp, the juxtaposition of these flowers beauty with the rest of his surroundings was wonderfully written.
I found myself constantly wanting to know more, having some knowledge of the camp and the history of the story, the author really stood up to true fact and you can tell the interviews Morris had with the "real" Lake were so very beneficial in creating this beautiful love story.
Lake and Gita were written so that we could root for them, every chapter, every page I longed for them to have good news, to be with eachother.
However, even the non sympathetic characters- in particular the SS officers, I still found myself wanting to know more about! I wanted to hear about their story too, as for some of them it seemed it wasn't necessarily their choice to be there. I wish there could have been more about Mengele, but the small section we got about him was wonderfully written, and perhaps more would have taken away from our love story.
Overall, a spectacular read, I could not put it down. I also liked the little biographies we got at the end of the book to find out what had happened to our characters, this helped tie up loose ends.