Saturday, June 27, 2015

Sarah's Key

Historical Fiction. Sarah's Key, by Tatiana De Rosnay, 239 pages.

Sarah's Key switches back and forth between the years 1942 and 2002. In 1942, Sarah is a ten year old Jew living in Paris. The French police are coming around and arresting Jewish Families. When they come to Sarah's house she locks her younger brother in the cupboard, promising to come back for him.

In 2002 Julia Jarmond gets an assignment from her boss to write about the Vel' d'Hiv Roundup. Quick History update: This is the event in which Sarah and her family get arrested. The French Police (NOT nazis) rounded up all the Jews in France and sending them to labor camps, jails, and eventually gas chambers. Julia comes to find that the French do not like discussing this event at all. Very few people are willing to talk about it. This troubles Julia, it is almost as if people have forgotten the thousands that died. 

While digging into the past, Julia finds a connection her family has to Sarah. While working on her article, Julia also comes across some problems in her personal life. I won't go in to detail; nobody likes spoilers. (Except maybe River Song. If you don't know who I'm talking about, go home and watch some british television.)

Sarah's Key was an amazing book! I would definitely recommend it to all of my friends. Warning, it does go over some topics that might be sensitive to some students. If you don't like reading about death or people suffering, this is not a book for you. It does talk about Sarah being sent to a refugee camp, and what happened to her while she was there.

I apologize that this review isn't as long or as detailed as previous ones. That's just what I get for procrastinating until the night before.

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