This is a peculiar amalgam of the biography of an Auschwitz surviver as told to the younger Australian author, and fiction. The historical authenticity has been challenged by such organizations as the Auschwitz Memorial Society, but memories are never entirely accurate, and the author never claims that every detail happened exactly as related. The title alone may be a turn-off for those looking for an upbeat tale to survive Covid with an intact psyche, but it could also be viewed as confirmation that the problems we face are, in comparison, miniscule. Originally planned as a screen script, the book is based on first-hand accounts of the horrific true experiences the Slovenian Lala Sokolov’s for three years in the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp.
The reader is spared no details of the graphic horrors of the camps and the agonizing moral choices the prisoners were forced to make to survive, knowing that with one wrong choice they would join the ranks of the randomly shot. The love story of Lala and Gita whom he first met when forced to tattoo her to identify her as a Jew is touching if a little overdone as a not-entirely convincing tearjerker.
The physical layout of the massive camps is poorly described and confusing and a plot diagram and a sketch map of wartime Europe would have been helpful for geographically challenged readers like me.
On the one hand, this is a real downer as a reminder of the unspeakable horrors that human beings are capable of inflicting on each other. On the other hand, it is a testament to the resilience and power of the human spirit in the face such cruelty. Not very enjoyable but inspiring and educational.
The Passionate Reader 