My rating: 4 of 5 starsOn July 16 & 17th 1942, 13,152 Jews were arrested in Paris and the suburbs, deported and assassinated at Auschwitz. 1,129 men, 2,916 women and 4,115 children in the Vel' d'Hiv roundup.
This is the tragic story of Sarah Starzynski, an 11 year old girl who was caught up in the roundup and Julia Jarmond a journalist assigned to do a story on the incident for the 60 year anniversary.
The beginning of the book is narrated by alternating the first person of each of the main characters between the past and the present in very short chapters. This structure of writing keeps you intrigued and flipping pages wanting to know more about Vel' d'Hiv and the fate of this little girl and her family.
About halfway through the book, the story is then told only through the narration of Julia Jarmond, and I found at this point the book lost something. The shock and disgust that dominated the first part of the book soon evolved into a much less emotionally gripping tale of Julia's determination to find out what had become of Sarah's fate.
I think if told more through Sarah's character this book could have been more powerful. Still a powerful and emotional story that you will never forget.
Zakhor, Al Tichkah.
1 comments:
I've got it in my TBR pile--looks like I should move it to the top.
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