Staff Libguide: Home

Recommended for September 2019 by Kate, Library Officer at Fielden campus.

We don’t typically dare to consider that the war offered fertile ground for success, but for the tattooist of Auschwitz, Lale Sokolov, his life was transformed in every way imaginable, and then, in ways perhaps less imaginable.

The Tattooist of Auschwitz offers a narrative arena in which to look at WWII from a new lens, but it certainly doesn’t dilute the brutal horror, or the sorrow, of the war; it simply demands that readers receive this biographical tale with a broader range of emotions and insight than they perhaps first expected to experience. This story will unapologetically amuse you then disturb you, then amuse you gain; it will intrigue you and repulse you; reassure you then demand compassion you didn’t dream you could feel for the abhorrent. If you don’t approach it open-mindedly from the outset, this novel will unravel conventions and assumptions until it opens your mind regardless.