Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay
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Book Reviews of Sarah's Key
Book Review: A New Piece of the WWII Puzzle
Summary: 5 Stars
This book reveals clearly part of history that good manners have caused us to cover less thoroughly and with less emotion. The dual-plot approach used allows us both the objectivity of current times and the emotions of the past--while there is nothing we an do to reverse the past, understanding it more clearly at the level the author uses when writing about it allows us to more clearly examine the many motivations involved that caused this to happen. For example, at a personal level, what did the French police experience, and why did they not rebel against the orders to take French citizens prisoner? Another example: why did the neighbors who the French Jews had befriended stand by and allow the evaccuation? Finally: why did the neighborhoods surrounding the camps in France not erupt with French protestors standing for the rights of the evacuees?
An excellent book not only on this piece of history, but on human behavior in general.
Book Review: Unexpected Surprises From Paris
Summary: 5 Stars
"Sarah's Key" just "sounded" interesting to me from the blurb on Amazon and from the few pages I read in Inside the Book. I ordered it for a vacation read and probably missed some of the attractions in Florida because I couldn' put the book down! Obviously, this is a fascinating story on its own but De Rosnay's style and unusual approach to the telling of two stories similtaneously is a creative plus! Immediately, I felt I knew the young girl on her way to a concentration camp with her parents. Immediately, I felt I knew the married woman living in Paris in the modern age. How their lives touch, years apart, is a jewel of writing that will bring tears, perhaps, but will also bring joy that life sometimes does move in circles, resolving and healing wounds of the past.
This is a fine read and I want to read more of Tatiana de Rosnay's writings. She's good. She's very good!
Joyce Norman
Author/Publisher
Book Review: Love it even for its flaws
Summary: 5 Stars
I loved this book, as many others did in our Book Club. It was a fast read because you just want to know "what happens next?!" I loved the dual narration but was disappointed at the end when it was only Julia left telling the story. Her character got kind of annoying and the passion she had for researching this at the end was kind of unbelievable. I wish I would have found out more about Sarah's life at the end. Her narration was much better to read than Julia's. To all of those thumbing their noses at this book because the author didn't put more details/facts about the roundup in France -that is not the kind of book this was intended to be. It is a story about one little girl living during a horrible time and one modern day reporter who gets sucked into the child's awful story. For me it was my first time reading about this part of France's history of which I was totally ignorant. It was a very good story of which I won't soon forget.Book Review: Sarah's Key
Summary: 5 Stars
Our NO NAME BOOK CLUB read and reviewed Sarah's Key and found both the reading and discussion to be excellent. Most of
us are in our 6os and 70s so we can recall the Second World War and none of us had any idea the French had had such
a big and evil part in rounding up the Jewish people to be exterminated. It was an eye-opener for us and ignited many
personal stories around the War. We all agreed the author has done a masterful job of writing and we would highly recommend the book. We have 20 women in our book Club and meet once a month, so we have read many, many books and
this would rate on our "best books read" list. Our book club has existed for nearly 40 years now and most of the members
are connected to Concordia College, Moorhead, MN is some way. Several of the members purchased our books from Amazon.
Esther Allen
Book Review: A Remarkable Book with an Unforgettable Story
Summary: 5 Stars
I tend to avoid Holocaust literature because I find the stories to be too horrifying. However, I was able to read and finish this book because the brutal Holocaust details are broken up by the main character's narration of her quest for the history behind a family who once inhabited an apartment and her personal transformation as she learns about Sarah's life.
I am writing this review a few months after reading the book and am amazed that its story still vividly comes back to my memory. The author did a beautiful job conveying the plight of the French Jewish children during WWII, a population whose stories receive little press. Sarah's Key also described the heroic acts of the non-Jews who sacrificed their lives to save the Jews. Moreover, Sarah's story left me with appreciation that "survivors" of the Holocaust often survived only in body and not in soul.