There are some things that cannot be spoken.
Words alone cannot carry the weight of this sadness, this despair.
We know the numbers: 6 million Jews killed in concentration camps, 12 million people total murdered by the Nazis. Other numbers: 76,000 Jews in France deported to death camps in Poland, 13,000 during the Vel'd'Hiv round-up. Yes, we know the numbers.
Yet numbers cannot tell this story. Sarah's Key is a story about the faces within these numbers. A little boy clutching his teddy bear as the police pound on his door. A little girl forcibly separated from her mother at a camp, never to see her again. Parents walking away from their toddlers, knowing that no one will take care of them, knowing they will die.
I look at my own children, Katelyn and Jack. How would they survive, without me, without Brian, without any adult to feed them, wash them, hold them tight? They would not survive. And if they did, survival is its own hell. Survival is living in a world knowing that your family has been killed, your home taken away, and you are left only with your life.
Sarah's Key is an emotionally difficult novel to read, yet we need to read it. We need to know. We need to remember. Ne jamais oublier.
Just from the review you can feel the horror rush through your blood like ice. It gives you a suddle reminder of the awful rein of Hitler's Germany; and it makes you think about the freedoms that we take for granted. Nice job Mrs. Reagles.
ReplyDeleteI really like the introduction technique that you used. I thought it was really effective. The way you return to the style in the end is also very cool. I'll have to check a translator to get that last line; I love it.
ReplyDeleteWow! Now I really want to read this book this review is amazing!!
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