First up - A Long Way Home by Saroo Brierley.
Some of you may have seen the movie 'Lion' which was actually based on this true story. I was familiar with Saroo's story via our Australian Current Affairs programs before the movie or book came out. Truly amazing story! I enjoyed both the movie and book but the book was naturally more in depth.
Born in 1981, Saroo at five years old, becomes separated from his older brother at a train station in remote India. Poor Saroo inadvertently finds himself on a train which takes him to Calcutta — changed to Kolkata in 2001 — one of the busiest train stations in India. Can you imagine?! It was like a sea of people busily rushing about with their own agendas and the pleas of a small five year old child went ignored or were not understood due to different regional dialects in India. Little Saroo was a long way from home and had to fend for himself on the streets of Calcutta which was a very dangerous place to be, especially at night time.
Saroo has many close calls but eventually finds himself adopted by a couple in Tasmania, Australia. The Kindle picture above shows the real Saroo when he arrives in Australia. In adulthood, Saroo starts to search for his biological family which is a monumental task considering he has no idea where to begin. India is so vast and Saroo only had vague memories of the landscape near his home. It was like searching for a needle in a hay stack and Google Earth plays a major role. After 25 years, he is finally reunited with his birth mother.
I gave this book five stars! Loved it!
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Next up - The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris.
Ludwig 'Lale' Sokolov's story is told by Heather Morris, a Screenwriter and native of New Zealand, now residing in Australia. The book is classified as Historical Fiction only because the author did make some changes for dramatic or creative effect but, according to the author's editor, the book is 95% true fact.
As with most Holocaust stories, it's difficult to read in a lot of areas — heart-wrenching, in fact. Young Lale, a Slovakian Jew, ends up at the notorious Auschwitz death camp where he is given the job of tattooing a number on his fellow prisoners as they arrive at the camp. This is how he first meets Gita and falls head over heels for her at first glance. It's a story of love, endurance, hope, and survival against all the odds.
Definitely worth reading — I gave it 4 stars.
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I have a few books on the go at the moment so I will be back with more reviews next Tuesday. Stay tuned...
Enjoyed your reviews today!
ReplyDeleteI had heard about Sokolov and other jews that had to tattoo their fellow jews, would be hard to do :/ its heart breaking to think of all the people that died :( and hopefully books like this help people to remember what happened because it must not be forgotten
ReplyDeleteHard to imagine that around 11 milillion people died during the Holocaust, of which 6 million were Jews. Yes, it should never be forgotten.
DeleteI saw the movie Lion and it was really good! I can imagine the book is probably even better.
ReplyDeleteThe other book looks really touching, too. :)
Yes....loved the Lion movie and the book. :)
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