I made the mistake of picking this book up right before bed, I couldn’t put it down. I was transported to a time where I didn’t want to be, sucked into the world that Lale and Gita had to suffer through. I must say I didn’t shed a tear, so I’m very proud of myself. But while no tears fell, my heart remained inevitably broken.

I’m at a loss for words. I don’t know what more to say about this book and yet I have so much I want to share. It just can’t seem to be translated into words.

There are many stories of the Holocaust and many are left untold. I think the main one most people would know is The Diary of Anne Frank. It was a mandatory read for me during my school years. While as a teen myself just as Anne ( hence why I think they had us read it in the in 8th grade) I found the similarity to be uncanny. Now here I was yet again but I could find the similarity with Lale or Gita. I think because they were adults and they were fully aware of the surroundings and what was to come of them that I couldn’t see how love could be found in such a place. I’m not saying that it couldn’t have happened because it did. I’m saying that I just don’t think, scratch that, I couldn’t have as positive of an outlook as Lale did. He really found a diamond amongst the rubble. (Literally and figuratively)

The writing style was odd, I didn’t mind it, in fact, it made it feel as though you were sitting with Lale himself as he was transcribing the events of his life that lead him to survival.

You get more from this than just the story of the select survivors of the Auschwitz. Throughout the story as in the life, they lived you suffer through the pointless and mindless deaths of fellow prisoners who are met along the way. You cross paths with those who have given up entirely, those who such as Lale will do whatever is necessary to survivor, those who help but only at a cost, those who only followed the orders given those them and those willing to pay the ultimate price to protect just to save one life.