Breaking history's secrets and silences with Cilka's story
Heather Morris' Cilka's Journey might be a companion novel to her bestselling The Tattooist of Auschwitz - but it's also a remarkable, important story in its own right.
Cilka's Journey gives shape to the experiences of the real-life Cilka, as well as women and girls like her, who, through immense personal sacrifice survived the Holocaust and hostile regimes in post-WWII society.
Perhaps most notably, the novel confronts the issue of rape during wartime, during periods of social and political unrest. Cilka's Journey does not accept the secrets and silences that often obscure women's and girls' histories. Instead, the book tells an unflinching but empathetic story, emphasizing to readers that "time's up".
What I loved about Cilka's Journey:
- Morris' spare but evocative prose
- The book's (and the author's) relationship to historical research and testimony
What I struggled with, in Cilka's Journey:
- Uneven characterization
- Structure (e.g. flashbacks not consistently effective, for me as a reader)
By the end, I didn't want to put the book down, because of my investment in Cilka's story. I'm hoping, soon, to revisit the historical notes and to find a copy of The Tattooist of Auschwitz.
Thank you to Heather Morris, St. Martin's Press, and Bookish First for my advance readers' edition.
Cilka's Journey gives shape to the experiences of the real-life Cilka, as well as women and girls like her, who, through immense personal sacrifice survived the Holocaust and hostile regimes in post-WWII society.
Perhaps most notably, the novel confronts the issue of rape during wartime, during periods of social and political unrest. Cilka's Journey does not accept the secrets and silences that often obscure women's and girls' histories. Instead, the book tells an unflinching but empathetic story, emphasizing to readers that "time's up".
What I loved about Cilka's Journey:
- Morris' spare but evocative prose
- The book's (and the author's) relationship to historical research and testimony
What I struggled with, in Cilka's Journey:
- Uneven characterization
- Structure (e.g. flashbacks not consistently effective, for me as a reader)
By the end, I didn't want to put the book down, because of my investment in Cilka's story. I'm hoping, soon, to revisit the historical notes and to find a copy of The Tattooist of Auschwitz.
Thank you to Heather Morris, St. Martin's Press, and Bookish First for my advance readers' edition.