A unique love story with an excellent description is what we find in the book in the first go, but later as the reader has a second look at it his perspective could change as the story has certain other powerful ingredients in it that are quite interesting. For example, the barbaric and insulting language used by the officers for the prisoners is written in a highly teasing manner in order to provide a color or touch of reality to the situation.
The era is 1942 and thus there are certain impacts related to the war, the main character Lale Sokolov is a Jew who is forced to go to the Auschwitz camp and after that he is charged with the duty to draw the number of tattoos on the hands of each new prisoner who enters the prison for the first time. Lale proves to be an expert in the job but he, in reality, shows his talent in several ways like taking money from the dead and providing food to his friends.
The story is not the story of a single human being rather it tells us about sacrifices of the prisoners for one another and also the zeal for survival that is never damped even when all of them face severe punishment each time they try to do something according to their own will. Heather Morris like his book Der Tätowierer von Auschwitz talks about Jews in great detail and tells us about their horrifying experiences as well.
Lale’s life seems to be robotic until Gita shows up and the love hidden in his heart is aroused and for the first time he wants an escape from this tragic life so that he can have her as his life partner in the outside world. Richard Armitage has kept the rise and fall in the story well managed through the narration; the narration is at a slow pace and easy to understand.
Absolutely loved this book!
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