"If you wake up in the morning, it is a good day"

Let me just start by saying this book left me completely breathless. I would definitely rate this book a 5/5 it is heart-wrenching, true survival story of never giving up on love. This book was phenomenal to say the least; if you are a fan of the history of WWII I would highly, highly recommend reading this story.

I personally don't want to go too in depth with this review because I think you should read it yourself, but here are some spoilers so beware.....

The story starts off as most WWII novels start about a Jewish man being told if he surrenders himself to the cause his family will be spared....well that never happens which is a tragedy in itself. Lale was one of these men, he took a suitcase his best suit and was placed on a train. From the train he was then transported into a cattle car and taken to Auschwitz. Once he arrived in Auschwitz there is a sign that reads ARBEIT MACHT FREI (work makes one free) once again another lie told by the Germans. Luckily Lale speaks six languages (Czech, German, French, Hungarian, Polish, and Russian) fluently and can interpret what the Germans are yelling at them. He translates for everyone around him and tells them to pass it along. They are told to leave their personal items and they will be returned to them at a later date (once again another lie). The story goes into detail of how they are then tattooed, forced into old Russian uniforms, shaved, given a cold shower, and shown to the bunks they will share with multiple men. Let me just pause here and tell you how horrifying and sad this is...I will NEVER understand how another human could treat someone so terribly, like where did your humility go...

From this day forward Lale vows to never give up hope and that he will one day live to tell this story to others. He learns quickly that you have to do as you're told in order to survive, he ends up getting Typhus the men in his block bring him back to health and he gets a job as a Tatowierer (tattooist). He is not pleased with this job as he doesn't want to inflict any more pain on the millions of people who have to enter Auschwitz, but quickly realizes that he can ease this pain with a smile and a quick conversation. He ends up finally having to tattoo young girls and he has an extremely hard time realizing he has to defile their bodies with a number. This is also where he meets the love of his wife Gita he is the one who tattoos her and gives her comfort in knowing things will be okay.

Throughout the story we learn of their love and how they have to sneak around to meet with each other. They are the only happiness in each others lives and the reason and will they have to push forward and survive. This was the most important part of this entire story; even though they were seeing death everyday, being treated horribly, and worrying about living till the next morning. They found some happiness and love, it is honestly so beautiful. Gita and Lale had many tough obstacles, but always remembered that together they could overcame every single one of them and lived to tell the story.

In conclusion this was an incredible true story of true "love and survival." This was one story that made me cry at many points just because of the lack of humility from the Germans; but I was also impressed with how many people risked their own lives to help people inside and out of the camps.

If you get the chance seriously read this one!!

I would Love to hear your thoughts on this book if you have read it or are adding it to your TBR. Lets start a convo!

Thank you so much for reading my blog review and I hope you all have a wonderful Wednesday!! Until next week, stay reading.

Selena Torres