What a read. I've read many books about the Holocaust, all of which affected me deeply. I think because this is a true account it really made an impression. Very personal account, showing an inside view of what happened within the camps. Traumatic, and how people could then live a full life back in the world, trusting people and building a family life, is humbling. #netgalley #thetattooistofauschwitz

Based on a true story this book is a heartbreaking, poignant and at time a difficult read.  It tells the story of Lale Sokolov  who is a prisoner in Auschwitz.   Whilst there he meets Gita and he vows to survive life there and one day marry Gita.    I completely and utterly loved this book .  It was at time a harrowing read but one that is a must read.

I really wanted to love this book. The true story behind this novel is a heartbreaking and inspiring love story in the most difficult of circumstances. Lale and Gita’s story needed to be shared with the world and I’m better for knowing it. I’d give the truth behind the story 5 stars. 

But the writing almost ruined this for me and 3 stars is a generous rating. I dare say Heather Morris is a great screenwriter but this is not a story that benefits from that experience. So many novels have been written about the Holocaust and take place in Auschwitz that do a far better job of capturing the horror and desperation. I didn’t feel a connection to the characters and if I hadn’t already read many other books about WWII and the Holocaust, I would have gained no further knowledge from reading this book. The end of the book was frustratingly short and lacking in tension and emotion. Like the rest of the book, there could have been so much more!  

I wish Lale had trusted his story to someone skilled in more than dialogue. It did not have to be a novel; someone like Laura Hillenbrand could have made this an amazingly moving biography and anchored it firmly in historical context.

I read this for my IRL book club and enjoyed it. I am getting a little tired of WWII historical fiction but this was a good book. A real story of love and friendship. I highly recommend.

Excellent read on the time of concentration camps.  Humanizing the struggle to live and relationships helping day to day survival.

Based on a true life story this books keeps out in the open the awareness of the suffering endured during the holocaust, although the book did seem repetitive at times.

Such a gripping story, I could not put it down. Unbelievable the strength & will to live that these incredible people had to survive the horrors of the concentration camp. Beyond comprehension is man’s inhumanity to man.

The story of Lale and Gita is a poignant, harrowing love story set in the Hell of Auschwitz. Their love for each other is the only good thing for the years they are subjected to the camp.
This was a hard read but interesting. I felt the ending was just too rushed which was why I didn’t give it 5 stars. Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for this arc in exchange for my honest review.

Book of the Month (BOM) listen (ebook) July 2018 for Nothing But Reading Challenges group  on Goodreads. 
First book of Dewey's 24 Hour  Summer Readathon July 2018. 

For Lale Sokolov, a Slovakian Jew in 1942, life continues as normal until the day he is forced to go to Auschwitz. From then on he is confined to the concentration camp and subjected to its punishing routines. The life he once had is a distant memory as he becomes just a number. 

When he is singled out from
the rest of the prisoners to become a tattooist,  he feels like luck is on his side, for he has, in part, escaped the backbreaking work the other prisoners have to do. 

The queue of people is long, but there he meets Gita, who will prove an invaluable support to him during the dark days at one of the world's most notorious concentration camps as they witness the unspeakable in degrading and humiliating atrocities that form part of daily life. 

All through this novel, my heart was in my mouth and shivers ran down my spine. I felt real fear for all the prisoners but especially Lale and Gita and I was glad they found each other.

Heather Morris is an incredibly talented author and I felt I was inside the concentration camp. The atrocities and conditions in this hellish place were portrayed with no strings attached which takes skill and sensitivity to show. 

Huge thanks to Heather Morris and publisher for my ARC in exchange for an honest and voluntary  review. 

5 stars, If you liked The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, add this to your reading list! I'm eagerly awaiting book 2 in the Tattooist of Auschwitz series.

Thank you Netgalley for my review copy.

I was a little apprehensive about reading this book as many had told me what an emotional rollercoaster it was - they weren't wrong! As can be guessed from the title, it is not an easy read and will bring forth a tide of emotions.
What I didn't expect to feel though was an overwhelming sense of hope in human nature and the love they hold for one another. Despite the suffering, misery and despair throughout this age in history people still had the courage to feel those positive emotions.
The true story of the couple in the book is told beautifully and I love the fact that the authors journey is included in the book too.
I recommend this book highly but I warn that you may want to read this alone as I was a snotty mess in places. I hope this book will help people never to forget what humans are capable of, both in love and hate.

I absolutely loved this book and I can't wait for the next one. I have been recommending it to so many people!

What a fantastic book, beautifully brutal and honest and it keep me on the edge of my seat to find out what happened to the two main characters.  Finding love in the darkest of places, being separated and then looking for each other.  What was even better was then when I finished it I read the epilogue and found out that it is a true story.  It is a raw and harrowing tale that shows that love can conquer all.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and the author, for an ARC of this book, in exchange for an honest review.
I thought that this was a well written, heartbreaking and unforgettable story of survival.

Absolutely brilliant. Loved this so much, I loved reading Lale and Gitas tale so much and the fact they found each other after the war and stayed together made me so happy.

"In April 1942, Lale Sokolov, a Slovakian Jew, is forcibly transported to the concentration camps at Auschwitz-Birkenau. When his captors discover that he speaks several languages, he is put to work as a Tätowierer (the German word for tattooist), tasked with permanently marking his fellow prisoners."

I have been wanting to read this true story for a while, and was lucky enough to get a copy from a friend.  

It entirely lived up to it's reputation and was so well written by Heather Morris that I could imagine myself in the concentration camps living with Lale and Gita and all the others that experienced and survived the horrors of being part of the most atrocious event of the second world war.  

My favourite line uttered by Lale was to Yuri when he says "Save the one, save the world". 

I was so moved by the storytelling and enjoyed the Epilogue, the Afterword and the Author's notes at the end of the book, together with the useful map.  I felt it all tied the story up beautifully.

Sadly not for me. I really didn't enjoy the writing and some of the liberties taken with the history of Auschwitz just didn't sit right with me.

I'm not sure how I feel about this book. The story itself, is quite lovely. That's my problem I think, I didn't want a holocaust novel to feel cosy and romantic but at parts this did.

The passage of time was something I struggled with, in one chapter Lale had just entered the camp, a few pages later he realises he has been there for a year. I understand the monotony of his routine but something about this didn't sit right with me, I feel the book could have been far more fleshed out than it was.

This book was so, so good.  I would highly recommend to anyone who devours Holocaust historical fiction like I do.

I have been wanting to read this for a while and a hospital stay seemed like the perfect time to catch up on one of the most popular books of 2018.
I was not disappointed.  The subject matter is undeniably tough to read about, as expected due to the setting.  The amazing story of survival and the strength of Lale and Gita, as well as the friends around them, is just inspiring.  How they managed to keep going in the face of all the horror surrounding them on a daily basis is humbling.
I am so glad Heather Morris uncovered this story, and Lale decided to share it after all these years.  Horrors like this need to never be forgotten and the first person account is truly the most horrifying and breathtaking you can read.  
Any history fan like me will enjoy this but I would recommend to all.  Looking forward to Heather Morris's next book which follows another one of the people in Lale's story.

I got a copy of this in exchange for an honest review and having had it a while I still haven't made it very far in. I am findig each time I go to pick it up again I have to go back to remind myself what has happened so it isn't leaving an impression. It might be better further along (if I get there) but I am currently not getting the hype around this book.