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By the Chapter Chats

By the Chapter Wrap Up: Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay

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Last week Marcia from The Printed Page and I discussed Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay. I missed our wrap up on Friday due to illness so I’m posting now instead.

Sarah’s Key was such a powerful and emotionally charged book. I haven’t read a book such as this for a long time and it will be a long time, if ever, that this one will leave my memory. I know it sounds odd to say you enjoy a book like this since it has a lot of difficult subject matter to read but you enjoy it in that it’s one of those books that it’s important for you to read and learn from.

The story is told in a real and honest way that I appreciated. The beginning of the book is told in small bits from both Sarah’s perspective back in 1942 and then Julia’s perspective in 2002. The start of this novel will grab you and not let go—you are literally compelled to continue reading even though all the while you are horrified with what you are learning about that awful time in history. That time being the round up of the Jewish people by the French police in 1942. People being taken to a stadium and left there in the most horrible conditions imaginable without food or drink and then shipped off to their deaths.

This book falls for me right along with Diary of Anne Frank in that way of leaving me feeling so sad. Sad that this happened to human beings. Sad that it was allowed to happen. I will not forget what I’ve read in this novel ever. The author drew me so completely into both Sarah’s and Julia’s story that I felt I knew them personally. I shed many tears reading this novel and that’s not necessarily a bad thing–it shows me that I’m human and that there is no way I could ever treat another human being in this kind of way. It showed me again the strength of people who were put in these circumstances to survive.

Like Marcia, I read this novel in a few days and like her also the only part I felt detracted from the story was the later half when it reverts only to Julia. I didn’t really feel that Julia’s marriage had much to do with the story at all and could have been left out. Still, Julia was a character I really liked and I wanted the best for her in the end. Sarah’s Key was impossible to put down once I started reading it. I needed to know what would happen to Sarah—would she survive, would she save her brother, would her heart be broken…

Many thanks to Marcia for sharing the first By the Chapter book discussion with me. It was really great and this was such a good book to start off with. It would make such a good book club selection as there is so much to discuss. If you missed any of our By the Chapter installments, check them out here…

  • Monday here at The Printed Page
  • Tuesday here at Peeking Between the Pages
  • Wednesday here at The Printed Page
  • Thursday here at Peeking Between the Pages
  • Friday Marcia’s wrap up here and also a guest post by the author here and above for the wrap up at Peeking Between the Pages

Check back as I’ll have my final review hopefully posted sometime today too. Thanks to all who commented and joined in the discussion.

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Life Update: Been Sick

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Hi everyone, I’ve been really hit hard by the flu. The last three days have been spent in bed without even the energy to get up for anything. You know the kind—bronchitis with a really bad headcold to top it off. Something I’ve not shared on this blog I don’t believe is that I have rheumatoid arthritis (an auto-immune disease that affects your joints); so when I get hit by a flu like this it also affects every joint I have making it extremely painful for me to move around and sapping even more of my energy. I think I’m on the mend now though. I feel partially human this morning so I’m thinking that’s got to be a good thing right???

Oh yeh, on another note—I went back to the eye doctor for my eye that I hurt after Christmas (remember the whole cut cornea incident). Turns out it’s still bothering me because it’s not healing properly. I’ll be going back later this week to have my cornea scraped to take down the scar so it’ll start to heal. Let me tell you that I’m more than nervous about this so if anyone has ever had a cornea scraped and can tell me that it’s not so bad I’ll be eternally grateful. For now, I’m ready to run the other way. Anything near my eyes makes me extremely nervous-always has.

I am very behind on my blog stuff. I’ve got to draw for a winner of The Italian Lover first thing here this morning. Then I must apologize once again to Marcia at The Printed Page for not getting my wrap up done on Friday of Sarah’s Key. I absolutely hate letting people down like that. So, that is also on the agenda for this morning.

Unfortunately for me I didn’t get any reading done. I couldn’t even do that with the bad headache I had. On a good note, in my mail today I saw that I won Signora da Vinci from Julie over at Booking Mama. I must admit that went a long way to cheering me up this morning. I really, really wanted that book. Thanks again Julie!

So, that’s all for now. I’m going to get started on trying to get everything back together here and running smoothly again. I’m feeling a tad overwhelmed at this point but I’m sure with the return of some of my energy I’ll get things under control.

Hope you all have an awesome week!

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By the Chapter Day 4: Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay

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This week’s By the Chapter novel is Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay and is being discussed by Marcia at The Printed Page and me here at Peeking Between the Pages.

It is by far one of the best novels I’ve read in a long time and one I don’t ever see myself forgetting. Like Marcia I was trying to pace myself and read the book in sections for the chat. I gave up on that idea yesterday and just went ahead and finished it. This is definitely one of those page-turning, I have to finish it right now kind of books. If you haven’t read this book yet and it’s still sitting on your pile like mine was, dig it out—you won’t be sorry.

Today I want to talk more about Julia Jarmond and how her story connects with Sarah’s. It really is fascinating how the story comes together in a way I really didn’t expect. I had been thinking in a different direction than what had actually happened. The story in the beginning alternates between Sarah back in 1942 and Julia in 2002. At one point in the story after a devastating incident the story reverts only to Julia.

So, I did mention earlier that Julia is a journalist assigned to do a story on the roundup in July 1942 of thousands and thousands of Jewish people. They are all thrown together—mothers, fathers, grandparents, children—into a stadium and left there in absolutely horrific conditions. They aren’t given food or water. Julia is devastated by what she learns as was I. She follows up and does more research. She visits places where the Jews were kept trying to find people to talk to and getting photos. At one point she visits a daycare which had been an old train station. Above the door is a plaque reminding people of what had happened there. Julia asks the daycare worker about it and if she had known what happened. The answer was no. The daycare worker had never even taken the time to read the plaque that was staring her in the face. At another point Julia visits Drancy, a camp where the Jews had been held before being deported to Poland. People are living there now in small apartments with cheap rent. Honestly I was appalled. Granted most probably have no idea what had happened there but if they did, how could they live there? I couldn’t—the memory of the Jewish people held there would haunt me forever making a life there impossible.
As the story progresses Julia learns more and more about Sarah and her connection with the Tezac family (her husband’s family). The author has weaved such a compelling tale around Sarah’s story that you are drawn completely in and you just can’t let go of the story. I can’t say a lot more on that without giving away a very interesting part of the story.

This book has really had an impact on me. I can’t stop thinking about it and what happened to the Jewish people. My heart just aches at the atrocities that went on. People who lived in the Beaune-la-Rolande watched the Jews being taken through their town on their way to being deported. How could people just watch?—I guess they too were frightened. Again, I say to those who helped, who fed the Jewish people and those who kept them hidden for years—thank you. It was brave and a true show of the kindness of the human spirit.

I want to leave today’s post with this statement from Julia when asked why she was so desperate to find Sarah…
  • ‘Sorry for not knowing. Sorry for being forty-five years old and not knowing.’ (pg 192, taken from an ARC copy, final published copy may be different)

I’m sorry too, sorry that at forty-two I also had no idea of this happening. And finally…

  • ‘Zakhor, Al Tichkah. Remember. Never forget. In Hebrew.’ (pg 288, taken from ARC copy, final published copy may be different)

These are important words…this is an important book.

If you’ve missed any of our previous chats, check them out here…

  • Monday at The Printed Page
  • Tuesday here at Peeking Between the Pages
  • Wednesday at The Printed Page
  • Thursday you can find above
  • Friday will be a wrap up at The Printed Page and Peeking Between the Pages

Tomorrow I will give a general overview of the novel and Saturday I will post my final review. Check in tomorrow at The Printed Page as Marcia will have a guest post from the author. Please join us in our discussion of this amazing novel.

I also want to thank Marcia at The Printed Page for sending me my copy of Sarah’s Key. Thank you Marcia. This is one novel that will be staying on my shelf to be reread again in the future.

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By the Chapter Day 3: Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay

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This week’s chat on the incredible novel Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay continues over at The Printed Page. Please be sure to pop over and check out Marcia’s discussion today here.

If you’ve missed any of our By the Chapter installments, check them out:

  • Monday here at The Printed Page
  • Tuesday here at Peeking Between the Page
  • Wednesday here at The Printed Page
  • Thursday will be here at Peeking Between the Pages
  • Friday will be a wrap up between The Printed Page and Peeking Between the Pages

Please feel free to drop in on any By the Chapter discussions and leave us a comment especially if you’ve read the book. We’d love to know how others have felt about this amazing book.

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By the Chapter Day 2: Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay

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This week Marcia from The Printed Page and I are talking about Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay.

Some background on the novel for those not familiar with it:
  • Paris, July 1942: Sarah, a ten year-old girl, is brutally arrested with her family by the French police in the Vel’ d’Hiv’ roundup, but not before she locks her younger brother in a cupboard in the family’s apartment, thinking that she will be back within a few hours.Paris, May 2002: On Vel’ d’Hiv’s 60th anniversary, journalist Julia Jarmond is asked to write an article about this black day in France’s past. Through her contemporary investigation, she stumbles onto a trail of long-hidden family secrets that connect her to Sarah. Julia finds herself compelled to retrace the girl’s ordeal, from that terrible term in the Vel d’Hiv’, to the camps, and beyond. As she probes into Sarah’s past, she begins to question her own place in France, and to reevaluate her marriage and her life. (taken from St. Martin’s Press)

This book alternates between little 10 year old Sarah living this nightmare and the modern day Julia Jarmond who is a journalist doing a story on the Vel d’Hiv’ roundup for the sixtieth anniversary of its occurance. It is a very compelling novel and extremely hard to put down even though I’m horrified reading the sections on Sarah. I keep wanting to read and keep praying that Sarah will at least come out of this alive.

I stopped myself at 120 pages last night but I’m just itching to get back to it. So far, Sarah and her family have been literally torn from their home and taken to the velodrome where thousands of other Jewish families have been taken also. The conditions are absolutely horrible—there is no water, no food; nor is there any proper medical care and it’s very hot. Sarah just doesn’t understand what is happening to her once sheltered life. She’s scared and confused—her parents look beaten, her mother unrepsonsive. Her feelings can be summed up in this thought from her:

  • ‘Why was this happening to her? What had she done, or her parents done, to deserve this? Why was being Jewish so dreadful? Why were Jews being treated like this?’ (pg. 47, an ARC copy-may be different in final published copy)

Why indeed, this is a question that keeps pounding in my head over and over again as I read of the horrors occuring. I know how mean people can be but for myself I can’t wrap my mind around being that cruel to anybody. After days in these conditions, Sarah’s family was taken away on buses again to a camp where after some time she ended up separated from her parents who had been taken away to death camps. What horrified me even further was that they called the whole operation of taking the Jewish people from their homes, throwing them in these awful conditions and treating them like animals in the velodrome to taking them to Auschwitz — Operation Spring Breeze.

France sent 80, 000 Jews to death camps and only a few thousand made it back. Of those, hardly any were children. Reading this novel has my emotions on edge. There are many parts in this book that have me in tears. There are some good tears too though because even through all the horror there were still some good people who tried their best to help.

I haven’t touched much on Julia Jarmond. I will on Thursday. Today I wanted to talk more about the importance of this novel. The importance of telling this story, of making people aware of the horrors that occurred back in July 1942. That is only 67 years ago—have we learned enough to this point in our lives to make sure it never happens again. There are days I’m not so sure when I watch television and still see the horrible things happening all over the world.

If you’d like to catch up on our chats, check out the links…

  • Monday was at The Printed Page
  • Tuesday (is above by yours truly at Peeking Between the Pages)
  • Wednesday will be at The Printed Page
  • Thursday will be here at Peeking Between the Pages
  • Friday will be a wrap-up between The Printed Page and Peeking Between the Pages

I’ll be back Thursday with more thoughts at By the Chapter. Please join me. And check back tomorrow at The Printed Page for more thoughts on this novel from Marcia.

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By the Chapter: Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay

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This week Marcia from The Printed Page and I are discussing Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay. This is a very enthralling read so far and is very hard to put down.

Please pop over to The Printed Page here to check out Marcia’s discussion on Sarah’s Key today along with the comments.

This week will be as follows:
  • Monday at The Printed Page
  • Tuesday here at Peeking Between the Pages
  • Wednesday at The Printed Page
  • Thursday here at Peeking Between the Pages
  • Friday will be a wrap-up between The Printed Page and Peeking Between the Pages

Please feel free to join us if you’ve read the book and even if you haven’t.

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