Being a huge fan of historical fiction, this book had to be on my to-be-read list. Although stories from WW2 are heart-breaking, they are also inspirational. "All the Light We Cannot See", "Nightingale" and "The Guernsey Literary and Pottato Peel Society" are a great way to start if you are looking for inspirational and meaningful stories about WW2. Lali Sokolov was always a charmer. Everyone simply loved him, especially women. Although his father was not an affectionate and caring husband, Lali learned at an early age what women loved. Flowers, chocolate and attention. He truly believed that every woman was beautiful. One day he would find the love of his life and treat her like every woman wanted to be treated by a man. Daydreaming came to an end when he was sent off to Auschwitz in exchange for his family's safety. Oh, how naive he and everyone else were. No one was safe from Hitler's regime. Prisoners were starved and forced to work until they dropped. Lali was not an ordinary prisoner, he stood out anywhere he went. Catching the eye of an tattooist, he became one himself. A tattooist tattooed identification numbers on incoming prisoners. He hated the fact that he had to hurt people in order to survive. The worst part was hurting all the young, beautiful women who came there in order to work till they die. The agony and sorrow he saw in their eyes kept him up till late at night. Being a tattooist had its perks and it was bigger food portions. One way of expiation was smuggling in some food and later on sharing it with prisoners. Lali woke up one day thinking that it would be like any other day full of work but little did he know that on that very day he would fall in love. He grabbed a hand to tattoo its number but something urged him to look up and see the person he was marking. When he looked into her eyes, he could picture the rest of his life with her. She was only one identification number in the sea of others but to him she was the reason he breathed. Gita. "What a wonderful name", he thought to himself. Gita. Name of the woman who would one day stand with him in front of the oltar, he swore to himself. After completing this book, I asked myself why Lali? Was he simply too lucky and that is why he survived? Later, I realised that he was so lucky beacuse this was his story to tell. He owed it not only to himself but also to the ones that did not make it. Aside from the pain and suffering, this is also a story of love, hope and friendship. In difficult times you have to find a reason to keep going. For Lali it was love and hope that one day he might have a family. With Gita, that dream would become reality. But how to keep another person alive while you are barely surviving? I truly admire the courage and faith all of the prisoners shared. Left with nothing, they still found a reason to smile. There was no dividing, their hearts beat as one. One important lesson was then learned but now forgotten. We should not let history repeat itself but with the current situation in the world I fear that we did indeed let it repeat itself.
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September 2023
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