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I will review this book in my sermon at Beth Yeshurun, Friday night, Nov. 27, 6 p.m.
Deciding which book should be the inaugural selection of our new Jewish Book Circle wasn't easy. I received many, many suggestions, both as posts on this blog and via individual emails. The most popular suggestion was Songs for the Butcher's Daughter; however, because it is being read by several other reading circles in town, I decided to go a different direction by selecting another book which also comes highly recommended, Tatiana de Rosnay's wonderful Sarah's Key.Here's what Publisher's Weekly had to say about this powerful novel: "De Rosnay's U.S. debut fictionalizes the 1942 Paris roundups and deportations, in which thousands of Jewish families were arrested, held at the Vélodrome d'Hiver outside the city, then transported to Auschwitz. Forty-five-year-old Julia Jarmond, American by birth, moved to Paris when she was 20 and is married to the arrogant, unfaithful Bertrand Tézac, with whom she has an 11-year-old daughter. Julia writes for an American magazine and her editor assigns her to cover the 60th anniversary of the Vél' d'Hiv' roundups. Julia soon learns that the apartment she and Bertrand plan to move into was acquired by Bertrand's family when its Jewish occupants were dispossessed and deported 60 years before. She resolves to find out what happened to the former occupants: Wladyslaw and Rywka Starzynski, parents of 10-year-old Sarah and four-year-old Michel. The more Julia discovers—especially about Sarah, the only member of the Starzynski family to survive—the more she uncovers about Bertrand's family, about France and, finally, herself. Already translated into 15 languages, the novel is De Rosnay's 10th (but her first written in English, her first language). It beautifully conveys Julia's conflicting loyalties, and makes Sarah's trials so riveting, her innocence so absorbing, that the book is hard to put down."
The reviews of Sarah's Key have been uniformly glowing. Some examples:
"A haunting, riveting novel... This book grabs your heart in the opening chapter, and its scenes and characters stay with you long after you finish." —Publishers Weekly, a PW 2008 Staff Pick
“Masterly and compelling, it is not something that readers will quickly forget. Highly recommended.” —Library Journal, Starred Review
“A powerful novel… Tatiana de Rosnay has captured the insane world of the Holocaust and the efforts of the few good people who stood up against it in this work of fiction more effectively than has been done in many scholarly studies. It is a book that makes us sensitive to how much evil occurred and also to how much willingness to do good also existed in that world.” —Rabbi Jack Riemer, South Florida Jewish Journal
“This is a remarkable historical novel... it's a book that impresses itself upon one's heart and soul forever.” –Naomi Ragen, author of The Saturday Wife
As you read the book, you are invited to post reactions on this blog or read those submitted by others. At our Friday night service Nov. 27, I will speak about Sarah's Key and, needless to say, it would be a pleasure to have you there. Along the way, I may post some observations of my own; feel free to agree or disagree!
I hope you enjoy our Jewish Book Circle's first selection and, as before, I'm open to suggestions for December and upcoming months.
“A powerful novel… Tatiana de Rosnay has captured the insane world of the Holocaust and the efforts of the few good people who stood up against it in this work of fiction more effectively than has been done in many scholarly studies. It is a book that makes us sensitive to how much evil occurred and also to how much willingness to do good also existed in that world.” —Rabbi Jack Riemer, South Florida Jewish Journal
“This is a remarkable historical novel... it's a book that impresses itself upon one's heart and soul forever.” –Naomi Ragen, author of The Saturday Wife
As you read the book, you are invited to post reactions on this blog or read those submitted by others. At our Friday night service Nov. 27, I will speak about Sarah's Key and, needless to say, it would be a pleasure to have you there. Along the way, I may post some observations of my own; feel free to agree or disagree!
I hope you enjoy our Jewish Book Circle's first selection and, as before, I'm open to suggestions for December and upcoming months.
—Rabbi Rosen
Did anyone read the book? Any comments? Does anyone read this blog?
ReplyDeleteI read the book and heard the sermon :-)
ReplyDeleteA lot of people at last Friday's service raised their hand indicating they had read the book.
If I understood Rabbi Rosen correctly, I had a similar observation that he did. A major theme of the book is whether or not it is always better to know the truth or if ignorance sometimes is bliss. The book seemed to come down pretty hard on the side of the former, including in its somewhat clumsy ending. I definitely enjoyed the book and felt it was worth reading. I am very excited by the book circle.
Where will the next book be announced? Rabbi Rosen named it in his sermon, and I remembered the author but not which book. Also, I think the congregation gets a donation if we purchase the book through a link they provide, and I would like to feel like my purchase of the book helped.