An emotional novel about the Russian Gulags presented in a well-written and conceived narrative.
4.5 stars
A follow-up to her powerful The Tattooist of Auschwitz, this is yet another emotional historical read from Heather Morris. It explores the world of the Gulag in post-WWII Russia. That was an area of history that I was highly unfamiliar with.
Having read The Tattooist of Auschwitz prior to this one, I was familiar with Cilka as a person and a character and this was a very good follow up. It was not as involved as Lale's story, but Morris does admit that she had much less information to utilize on this novel and so a good portion of the story comes from the melding of the histories of multiple people or solely from her imagination. That didn't take away from the power of this narrative. The writing remains intriguing and the topic remains gut-wrenching. This wasn't as emotional a read for me as Tattooist, but this may have been due to a few possible things, including the fact I was already emotionally drained from reading The Tattooist of Auschwitz JUST prior to this one.
Overall, I very much enjoyed the story and thought it was well done. However, the ending just didn't feel complete to me. It felt like too quick of a wrap up and didn't give me any sense of closure or transition. That may just be my own personal experience, as we all know I tend to be rather picky about my endings. Regardless, this is still a very good read and a solid follow up novel.
A follow-up to her powerful The Tattooist of Auschwitz, this is yet another emotional historical read from Heather Morris. It explores the world of the Gulag in post-WWII Russia. That was an area of history that I was highly unfamiliar with.
Having read The Tattooist of Auschwitz prior to this one, I was familiar with Cilka as a person and a character and this was a very good follow up. It was not as involved as Lale's story, but Morris does admit that she had much less information to utilize on this novel and so a good portion of the story comes from the melding of the histories of multiple people or solely from her imagination. That didn't take away from the power of this narrative. The writing remains intriguing and the topic remains gut-wrenching. This wasn't as emotional a read for me as Tattooist, but this may have been due to a few possible things, including the fact I was already emotionally drained from reading The Tattooist of Auschwitz JUST prior to this one.
Overall, I very much enjoyed the story and thought it was well done. However, the ending just didn't feel complete to me. It felt like too quick of a wrap up and didn't give me any sense of closure or transition. That may just be my own personal experience, as we all know I tend to be rather picky about my endings. Regardless, this is still a very good read and a solid follow up novel.