It’s a readable, sensitive, morally complicated and engrossing story. Lale Sokolov volunteers to go to Auschwitz, in the hope of saving his family. He is naturally optimistic and determined to survive, any way he can, and secures himself the job of Tetovierer, or Tattooist. It is a (relatively) privileged position and allows him extra rations, a room of his own and a certain level of protection. He constantly shares his small bounty with other inmates, but the most heart-breaking aspect of the novel is the sense of how he questions himself and his actions. As if he is anything other than a victim. As if there were other choices he could have made.
Scenes change in the matter of a sentence, the dialogue often seems only broken with stage directions. There's no atmospheric build up. There's no sense of tension or urgency or terror. It was all very one-note.
Scenes change in the matter of a sentence, the dialogue often seems only broken with stage directions. There's no atmospheric build up. There's no sense of tension or urgency or terror. It was all very one-note.