Review: Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay

Sometimes, we expect books to be brilliant masterpieces, they are talked up consistently to us, they hit the bestseller list and ricochet up for weeks or months at a time.  Or a friend lends us a book, promising us that we "won't be able to put it down."  Sometimes we expect it.  And sometimes, it catches us completely by surprise.

This was one of those times.

Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay, is a book that I picked up as part of a book club that I'm involved in.  I ordered it from Amazon and didn't think too much of it when it arrived.  I read other books first.  Then today I picked it up.  And just finished it a little while ago.  I could not put it down.  This is a book that does not allow for you to have an outside life while you read it. 

In July 1942, little ten-year-old Sarah is awakened in the middle of the night by French soldiers who have come to round up the Jews in Paris.  She hides her four-year-old brother in a secret cupboard, locks him in, and promises to return to free him soon.  Sixty years later, Julia, an American journalist, stumbles upon Sarah's story as she is investigating the roundup of the Jews and their incarceration at the Vel d'Hiv before their deportation to Auschwitz.  Her curiosity, partnered with the revelations of some ancient family secrets, lead Julia on a mission that will change her life forever.

When I finished it, I didn't hesitate about what rating I would give it.  Generally, I think about this very carefully.  Not this time.  I went to Goodreads and clicked on "five stars", because I felt I had no choice.  This book is magnificent.

It is told, originally, from two points of view -- Sarah's and Julia's -- until a certain point in the novel.  The writing is stunning and fluid, the chapters are short, you can't put the book down because there never is a good place to let it go.  The stories of both women are heartbreaking in their own ways -- Sarah, a child of the Holocaust determined to rescue her little brother, and Julia, an American-born Parisienne who is struggling with a difficult marriage and a harsh decision that will change her life, one way or another, forever.   Some of the scenes are extremely difficult to read about, especially the days before the deportation, when hundreds of French Jews were crammed into the Vel d'Hiv without adequate food, water, or sanitation, and the days of the deportation itself, when families were separated.  Heartbreaking.  I feel like that might be the only word for this book.

And yet, there's something truly redemptive about it, as well.  About people discovering what is important to them, why the past cannot remain dead and buried, why some things must be dragged up and analyzed and discussed.  About two women realizing what they truly need, even if it is not the easiest, or obvious thing to do.  About the consequences of our actions, or inactions, advancing far into the future.

This became one of my favorite books instantaneously.

Rating: *****