The Tattooist of Auschwitz - Heather Morris - ★★
AUTHOR: Heather Morris
SERIES: The Tattooist of Auschwitz, #1
GENRE: Historical Fiction.
PUBLICATION DATE:
RATING: 2 stars.
What jarred me again and again during the narration was how unrealistic it seemed. The focus seemed to be on showing Lale as a hero and not a victim. I ignored that as an writing device by the author to show her main character in a heroic light.
There were some threads in the narrative that didn't seem to fit properly in the whole tapestry being created. But I keep that too aside, considering it as my inability to focus on the narration.
I somehow trudged on to the end, because I thought I was reading an actual survivor story and hence was willing to give some leeway to the author.
As I still wasn't satisfied, I went online to read Lale's story from some other reliable source. And turns out, quite a few of the details in the book were fabricated. And get this? The actual name of the survivor wasn't even "Lale" but "Lali"! How could an author claiming to write a biographical story get such a basic detail wrong? There were many other inconsistencies in the story, all of which have been detailed online and have been shown as author-based errors (or creative license, if you want to put it that way.)
If you want to read this book as a romance set in the concentration camps of Auschwitz and if you are prepared to accept that only about half of the "biography" is true, you'll love this book. I wanted to read a biography and hence I ended up being terribly disappointed. I cannot tolerate so many fictitious elements in a fact-based book.
Editing to Add: Anyone who reads this book must also go through the below article. I never knew how many goofs existed in this book until I read this piece. Writing historical fiction can always result in inaccuracies, but when the book claims to be "based on a true story", the "true" elements need to actually be authentic.
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