The Tattooist of Auschwitz has been very widely publicised and reviewed, a fact which is interesting in itself. Why, when there are so many books about the Holocaust, has this particular one engaged public attention? I think it is because it is an Auschwitz made palatable. This is a sample from an un-named reviewer at a site called Weekend Notes:. I found The Tattooist of Auschwitz to be unlike many other accounts of the holocaust which are, by necessity, bleak, sombre or grim and where it can be sometimes difficult to connect with the characters.
In contrast, this account had the opposite effect on me. I was charmed by Lale immediately and found this book incredibly heart-warming in its optimism and humanity. It is a testament to the skill of author, Heather Morris, that you become so immersed in the story and feel such a strong connection with the characters. It was an absolute page-turner as you eagerly wait to learn the fate of Lale and Gita.
More problematically, the horror of Auschwitz has also been muted by the implied suggestion that survival was possible for those who were wily and determined enough. Whereas everything I have read about the Holocaust, from Primo Levi to most recently Bella and Chaim tells us that no agency on the part of the Jews made any difference.
Survival was merely a matter of luck, and to assert otherwise is to suggest that Jews could have averted their fate. What Cregan identifies here is a problem common to any biographer who becomes fond of her subject, a problem exacerbated by the specific circumstances of a Holocaust survivor.
But even if the intention is not to write a biography with its demands of veracity, but rather a film script of a love story which transcends horror β perhaps somewhat like the film Life is Beautiful β events need to be credible even when they form a narrative which needs dramatic effects to succeed as a film.
