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Book Review: Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay

February 18, 2009 by Darlene

Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay is another one of my favorite reads of this year. It is a powerful story that led my emotions on a roller coaster ride. The author completely draws you into this story; so much so that you can feel the story come alive in your mind—you can feel the pain and horrors that the Jewish people went through and you weep tears for them. The story alternates between Sarah back in 1942 and Julia Jarmond in 2002. The way their stories will come together is truly fascinating.

The story starts with ten year old Sarah waking up to pounding on her apartment door. It is the French police. They order her and her mother to get dressed and come with them. In the meantime Sarah’s little brother hides in this secret cupboard in their bedroom. Sarah locks him in and promises she’ll be back as soon as the police release them. This never happens and we don’t find out anything about Sarah’s brother until the end of the story.

Sarah and her parents are taken in the Vel’ d’Hiv’ roundup that night and taken to the velodrome where they are kept in horrific conditions for days without food or drink with thousands and thousands of other Jewish people. Many die there. Later they are taken away again, this time for the death camps. Sarah manages to escape though and her journey to survive is terrifying. Her only thought is to get back to her brother like she promised.

The other viewpoint in the novel is Julia Jarmond, a journalist living in Paris. She’s given the assignment of writing about the Vel’ d’Hiv’ roundup for the sixtieth anniversary of it’s occurrence. Julia is horrified by what she learns as she had never known that this even happened before being assigned this story. It seems that the roundup of the Jews is never spoken about. Julia pushes on though and does more research. What she ends up finding she could never have imagined–Sarah’s story has such a deep connection with her husband’s family. Julia finds herself really caring about Sarah’s story and needing to find some closure in it for herself.

This novel is very emotional and really not an easy read. There is a lot of disturbing material to get through. Is it a good read and one worth reading–absolutely! It’s also an important book as how many people are out there who didn’t know about this roundup of Jewish people in 1942? I’ve read books on the Holocaust but have never heard of this happening. I was horrified and heartbroken. The story is very well written and never confusing even with jumping into the past and present.

I participated in a chat for this novel and more of my thoughts can be seen in a few of the posts I did here, here and here. To end, I’d like to leave off with a quote that is extremely important. This is a book I won’t soon forget, if ever.
  • ‘Zakhor, Al Tichkah. Remember. Never forget. In Hebrew.’ (pg 288, taken from ARC copy, final published copy may be different)
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Filed Under: 100+ Reading Challenge 2009, 2009 ARC Reading Challenge, 2009 Book Reviews, Historical Novels

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. bermudaonion says

    February 18, 2009 at 6:41 pm

    I’m looking forward to reading this one.

  2. Jo-Jo says

    February 18, 2009 at 6:48 pm

    I’m glad you liked it Dar. I am planning on reading this one in a couple of weeks.

  3. samantha.1020 says

    February 18, 2009 at 7:08 pm

    This sounds great! So glad to hear that you enjoyed it and I’ll be reading it myself eventually 🙂

  4. Ladytink_534 says

    February 18, 2009 at 7:56 pm

    I will make sure to read this one someday.

  5. Lynne says

    February 18, 2009 at 8:59 pm

    This is one of the best books I’ve read. It made me think, it made me feel, it made me cry.

  6. S. Krishna says

    February 18, 2009 at 10:05 pm

    I’ve heard such great things about this one. I need to read it!

  7. Kaye says

    February 18, 2009 at 10:12 pm

    Wasn’t this just such a wonderful book? Loved it. That first chapter had me almost holding my breath, it was so well done. Great review. This is one book that should be on everyone’s “must read” list.

  8. Serena says

    February 19, 2009 at 12:31 am

    I have this in my tbr pile. Can’t wait to have time to read it.

  9. Joy says

    February 19, 2009 at 12:57 am

    I’m really looking forward to reading this one – hopefully that’ll happen this year.

    I hope you are feeling better, Dar. 🙂

  10. naida says

    February 19, 2009 at 1:55 am

    wonderful review and posts about this book. glad you liked it so much and it was such a moving read.
    http://thebookworm07.blogspot.com/

  11. Dar says

    February 19, 2009 at 3:55 pm

    Ladies, I look forward to seeing what you think of this one when you get to it.

    Kaye, I agree. I think I had my breath held for that whole first half on Sarah and what was happening to her. I just love when I put down a book and miss it—knowing I’ve read something so good.

    Naida, thanks. It is a really good book for discussion. There’s so much to talk about.

    Joy, I am feeling better. Slowly but surely. This cold seems to want to hang on tight.

  12. Tatiana de Rosnay says

    February 20, 2009 at 4:31 pm

    Thank you so much for all your feedback !
    all best from Paris, France,
    Tatiana de Rosnay

    http://www.tatianaderosnay.com/

  13. Dawn - She is Too Fond of Books says

    February 21, 2009 at 5:53 pm

    I really enjoyed this too. The story of Sarah and her family was riveting and horrifying. I think the contemporary “lighter” story about Julia and her husband balanced the storyline set during the war (it gave us readers a break from the tension)

  14. Dar says

    February 21, 2009 at 9:33 pm

    Tatiana, thank you so much for stopping by. Your novel is amazing!

    Dawn, you know you’re right. That lighter story in between really did offer a break from the heavy stuff. I hadn’t thought of it in that way before.

  15. Trish says

    February 22, 2009 at 2:56 am

    It sounds like a really heartbreaking but poignant read. I’m glad you liked it, Dar, and I’ll definitely have to put this one on my list. I agree that reading about these tough things is important, even if it is difficult.

  16. Anna says

    February 23, 2009 at 12:43 pm

    Great review, Dar. This one is in my TBR pile, and I plan to read it for the challenge. I’ve seen a lot of documentaries about Hitler and the Holocaust lately, and the things that happened were beyond imagination. I expect this one to be a hard book to read.

    –Anna
    Diary of an Eccentric

  17. Wanda says

    February 24, 2009 at 5:15 pm

    As I mentioned in one of your earlier chats, this is definitely a must read book. Thanks for the review, Dar … and I’m not sure when you changed it (last week was a wash “blogwise” with my little one home sick with the flu) but I LOVE the new look of your blog! Very nice. 🙂

  18. Anna says

    December 30, 2009 at 10:47 pm

    After reading your wrap-up post, I realize I never told you we posted this on War Through the Generations. You can find it here.

    –Anna
    Diary of an Eccentric

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