Sarah's Key - A (Tearful) Review

Shortly after my husband and I were married, we were sitting in our hotel room in the Dominican Republic. He was slipping through the t.v. stations and I was on the bed flipping through the final chapters of The Notebook. As I turned the last page, I burst into tears and my husband immediately dropped the remote and rushed to my side.

I'm not a big crier, so he was obviously alarmed. Through sloppy tears, I tried to explain to share the powerful message of this book and the heartbreak I felt I was experiencing after reading it. He just stared at me, not sure of how to react. Of course, he couldn't understand a word I was saying so, after he realized I was not in physical pain, he started laughing hysterically at my emotional breakdown. I wanted to hurt him.

We laugh about it now, but I'm really glad he wasn't by my side last night as I finished reading Sarah's Key. Wow. Talk about emotional. I read at night before bed but found myself thinking about the story of Sarah and Julia during the day as if they were walking with me. I couldn't escape the horror of the brutal Vel' d'Hiv' roundup and imagined myself in Sarah's shoes on that fateful July morning in Paris, 1942.

While the story is fictional, the book is based on the very real experiences of French Jews during World War II. In the spirit of some of my favorite books of all time, All Quiet on the Western Front and A Farewell to Arms, author, Tatiana de Rosnay, invites the reader to experience a historical event through the eyes of her expertly developed characters.

Sarah's story is truly devastating. Heartbreaking. Almost unbelievable...if you didn't know it could be true. This innocent child transformed into a hardened and scarred woman virtually incapable of experiencing joy at the hands of a world that completely discounted her existence. How could this happen? I couldn't even hold back the waterworks until the last page turned. Usually, when I love a book, I am crushed when it ends. In this case, the ending was satisfying. Kudos to de Rosnay for her perfect timing (sometimes an author just doesn't know when to call it quits). After I (somewhat) pulled myself together, I hovered over my sleeping children and thanked God for their rhythmical breath -- for their carefree giggles -- for their warm and sticky hugs.

Simply put, I LOVE THIS BOOK. I am better for reading it -- which is rare.