This book was full of issues that made it hard to read, the roundup of French Jews by the French government chief among them. But if you're able to compartmentalize that as history (a primary theme in the book, btw), there are still many other tough issues to deal with - family secrets, marital issues, in-law relationships, dementia, lack of acceptance into a new culture.

Some of the blows were devastating and caught me off-guard in a way that made my stomach queasy. Other reveals lacked punch because they seemed telegraphed. One example, which I can't even consider a spoiler - the book is called "Sarah's Key" - there's a little girl who is referred to as "the girl" for a good chunk of the book, carrying around a key. A big deal is made of her revealing her name. Umm, really? I'm curious now to read more about Vel' D'Hiv as I had never heard of it.

4.75* for teaching me something, making me feel something, for not taking the easy way out and tying it all up with a pretty bow at the end. Deductions for telegraphing a couple of names and the very end.