Title: Sarah's Key
Author: Tatiana de Rosnay
Genre: Fiction
Type: Historical/Contemporary Fiction
Rating: 4.5/5 stars
Summary: Julia Jarmond is an American living in Paris with her playboy husband and her beautiful daughter. She is a journalist, and one of her assignments is to write an article about the Jewish families who were rounded up in 1942 in Paris by the French police. She starts to uncover the story of Sarah, a ten year old girl.
On the night her family was rounded up, Sarah, aged ten, locked her little brother Michel in a closet. She was under the impression that they would return in a few days, and she would be able to set him free them. It wasn't until later that she realized how very wrong she was.
Julia goes on a journey to uncover the fate of Sarah. She learned about her husband's past, and learns to deal with the future that might lay ahead for them.
First of all, let me say that I read this book a few days ago. It had such an emotional impact on me that it's taken me this long to come back to it. It is not a light, mildly interesting read. It is raw and emotional. There are parts of the book that are graphic, though not gratuitously so.
In spite of that, I couldn't put down this book. I just could not. I devoured it up.
I really enjoyed the contrast between Sarah's story and Julia's sixty years later. De Rosnay did a very good job in showing the difference between them, and yet making sure the reader was able to see the parallels between them. The story, up until about halfway through, is told every other chapter by either girl.
Another thing that I really enjoyed was that a part of World War 2 history that a lot of people haven't really heard of (which is covered in the book) was talked about. BUT, don't think that you have to love reading WW2 literature to be able to enjoy this book. The book does not rely on past knowledge beyond that which is very basic of WW2. You do not have to be a history buff to understand what is going on.
SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!!
I spent the whole book rooting for Sarah. I spent the whole book hoping that she'd go back in time to get Michel out of the cupboard or that someone had let him out. Finding out he was dead (which was rather graphically described) was a beautiful let down. My own heart broke along with Sarah's.
ENDING SPOILER
I will say that I was kind of disappointed by the ending. I think it fell kind of flat in relation to the rest of the book.
However, I recommend it ENDLESSLY.
