Goodreads Mobile | see what your friends are reading

Jan 14, 2012

Joy H. rated it:

Added 11/8/09.

In _Sarah's Key_ the chapters alternate between the war era and the time sixty years later. We watch as a reporter tries to find out more about what happened during the 1942 round-up of Jewish people in France (known as the "Vel' d’Hiv’ Roundup") (Vélodrome d'Hiver). We also watch the actual round-up as it is happening. The alternating views keep you reading as the suspense builds up.

This is a heartbreaking piece of fiction. It brings home the horr More...

5 comments like (16 people liked it)

Dec 06, 2008

Sol rated it:

It should never be forgotten

By Sol Tetelbaum

Review: Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay

Almost a hundred readers published their reviews on Tatiana de Rosnay’s novel Sarah’s Key. Most of them rated the book in four or five stars, but some of them calling the novel “mediocre” showed a lower rating – three stars. It is necessary to admit that their opinions weren’t unfounded and most critical comments were fair. However, from my standpoint, despite the fair criti More...

21 comments like (196 people liked it)

Aug 24, 2011

Jeanette rated it:

3 1/2 stars

This author grew up in France and was never taught at school about the French complicity in rounding up Jews for the Nazis. When she discovered information about the Vel' D'Hiv' roundup, she knew she had to write about it. The book is her tribute to the 4,000 children who were victims of that roundup.
I cried for these little people. They were robbed of their chance at life before it ever really got started. Bad enough that they were killed, but before that, they More...

2 comments like (10 people liked it)

Oct 22, 2009

Carol rated it:

October 2009: re-reading this book again for another book club. I hope I like it better than the 1st time but so far I'm not seeing it. Why would she use a word like "ingurgitating" when you can say "ate"?? That kind of writing irritates me a lot. The true story is heartbreaking, and very interesting, but her writing just doesn't impress me as expressing the true horrors experienced by the deported Jews, or any real feeling for Julia's anger at her husband disdainful More...

23 comments like (48 people liked it)

Sep 30, 2009

Molly rated it:

I was intrigued by the plot for this book. A young girl locks her brother in a cupboard at their apartment in Paris before the Police, at the behest of the Nazi's, take away her and her family. They wait for several days in a detention center, in conditions like the Superdome, before being sent to camps in Southern France, and we wonder if she will retrieve her little brother before he dies or starves or hopefully, is rescued. Unfortunately, another storyline involving a two dimensional American More...

13 comments like (69 people liked it)

Mar 04, 2009

Teri rated it:

I might have given this book higher marks if I hadn't just finished the infinitely superior The Book Thief. But as it is I'm feeling pretty generous with my 2 stars. The subject matter was intriguing. I didn't realize what had happened with the Jews in France. But the author spent too little time with Sarah and her experience there and too much time with boring, self-absorbed, present day Julia and her sex life. Snore! More...

9 comments like (59 people liked it)

Dec 28, 2011

smetchie rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

6 comments like (19 people liked it)

Jun 28, 2008

Hara rated it:

Two horrible situations form the premise of this novel. The first is the factual story of the French roundup of the Jews during World War II, which took place in Paris under the auspices of the French Police. It was the French Police, not the Nazis, who dragged French Jews from their homes, separated parents from children, and sent them on to their deaths, all of which was witnessed by French citizens who did little to stop these horrific events. Because so few people are aware of this chapte More...

8 comments like (23 people liked it)

Aug 26, 2008

Sandi rated it:

I finished "Sarah's Key" this morning and I have so many thoughts going through my head about it. I loved the pacing of the story, how it switched between Sarah's story and Julia's story up until the point where the two merged. I loved how the style of Sarah's story was completely different than the style of Julia's story. I loved how both stories made me cry, even though I knew what was coming. I loved how realistically the characters were portrayed. Nobody was all good or all ba More...

7 comments like (31 people liked it)

Aug 25, 2008

Lisa rated it:

I wasn’t sure how the back and forth chapters between one girl in 1942 and a different woman in 2002 were going to work for me, but this story is so well told.

I thought I’d be interested in the 1942 story but wasn’t sure how much I’d become involved with the 2002 story, but much to my relief I enjoyed both stories, although I did think Sarah’s 1942 story was slightly stronger than Julia’s 2002 story. However, I do think my favorite character might be Zoe from the 2002 story.

More...

13 comments like (24 people liked it)

Nov 15, 2010

Kim rated it:

I agree with Katie on this one. I did not enjoy this book. It tells two stories -- one, about a young French girl whose family is rounded up and taken away during the Holocaust, and the other about a modern-day journalist who is tracking down her story. Julia, the contemporary narrator, was self-obsessed, clueless and downright annoying. I couldn't stand her husband, or even her perfect little kid, for that matter. It made it hard to root for them because they were just so unlikeable. The More...

1 comment like (23 people liked it)

Sep 02, 2008

Michelle rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like (11 people liked it)

Feb 09, 2008

Angie rated it:

I struggled whether to give this a two-star rating rather than a three. I enjoyed reading it, but I didn't read it very thoroughly. I would find myself really blazing through some sentences so that I could discover where the plot was headed (what happened to the boy locked in the cupboard when the rest of his family was dragged off?). The book needed better characterization---I didn't really CARE about the main character (an American journalist who lives in Paris in the current day). The ide More...

2 comments like (14 people liked it)

Feb 08, 2008

Susan rated it:

The book concerns a part of French history that I didn't know about (i'm embarrassed to say). On July 16, 1942 more than 10,000 French Jews were arrested by the French police, kept for about a week in horrid conditions in the Velodrome d'Hiver in Paris, then sent first to internment camps in France, and then on to Auschwitz. The story is a fictional account of one young girl who, with her family, is arrested, and then the parallel story of an American woman married to a Frenchman who discove More...

0 comments like (7 people liked it)

Mar 04, 2009

Corinne rated it:

Let me start off by saying I could not put this book down. I must also say, that this book ripped my heart into tiny pieces and I'm not sure I'll ever be the same. Really. Maybe it's because I'm a mom or maybe I'm just an incredibly sensitive person. But I now have images in my brain that will never leave.

Sarah's Key takes place in France - switching between the modern day and the early days of World War II. I really like books like this, and I think the author did a fine job of tran More...

4 comments like (27 people liked it)

Nov 06, 2011

Aubrey rated it:

History was always my least favorite subject in school. I couldn't relate to it because it was already in the past. Yet the parts of history that I was drawn to were the struggles, the suffering, the wars. The Holocaust, in particular, has had my attention from the get go. I have read books on it, visited museums dedicated to it, and listened to survivors tell their story. So when I found out that Sarah's Key had the Holocaust as a primary focus I felt I had to read it.

What I loved a More...

2 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 24, 2012

Carolyn rated it:

This book consists of two stories intertwined: a fictional account of Sarah, a young Jewish girl who escaped a French internment camp for Jews rounded up on July 16, 1942 in Paris, and the story of Julia Jarmond, an American journalist living in Paris, who uncovers the mysterious and tragic story of Sarah.

The story of Sarah is compelling and powerful. The shameful Velodrome d'Hiver round-up, conducted by the French police of the Vichy government, was denied and hidden by the French More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Nov 30, 2011

Melissa rated it:

Sarah’s Key by Tatiana De Rosnay is a book of fiction that reads like a true story . I felt the author Tatiana De Rosnay did a superb job at writing this book. She took a not so well know history of France and made it relevant in a very tasteful way. This event was used for the book’s base but the characters where fiction. I had a hard time at the beginning ( I know very little about France) of this book but I am thankful that I completed this book. I would have missed out on a great story th More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Apr 29, 2011

Susan rated it:

This Holocaust related novel explores France's Vichey's government's not-so-often spoken-of-complicity with the Nazis in 1942 and the French people's reactions to this slice of history, ranging from accepting resignation to denial to shame. At the core of the story is the Vel d'Hiv roundup of Jews by the French police; the Jews were then deported to Nazi work and death camps. Sarah's Key is a compelling, thought-provoking read.

3 comments like (3 people liked it)

May 31, 2009

Sylvie rated it:

Based on the historical part of the novel, I would certainly give a 4.5 if not a 5 ... As a Canadian not Jewish, I feel ignorant about the Holocaust or any war facts (our country went to war but its people never lived a war). I was actually listening to the book (commuting to work) in the weeks that followed my return from Germany where I had visited Dachau. Tears came up while listening...
Unfortunately, the parallel story was SO bad that it took away from the emotion. Specially the secon More...

0 comments like (7 people liked it)

Feb 09, 2012

Toki rated it:

I loved the idea of this book and Sarah's chapters were great but I pretty much skimmed over Julia's chapters after about 4 of them. Once Sarah's chapters were over (which happened much too soon) I skipped whole pages because I just didn't care. Julia's chapters ruined what could have been a great story. Maybe if I were a middle aged woman, I would have loved this book...?

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Aug 03, 2011

Cheryl rated it:

Four hundred and fifty French policemen in Occupied France, obeying the demands of the Nazis, arrested 10,000 Jewish men, women, and children on July 16, 1942 and brought them to the Velodrome d'Hiver stadium. This would begin the process of their extermination.

Who can unlock the soul of Frenchmen who facilitated the emptying of Jewish homes, denied them food, water and sanitation in the Velodrome for days, drove the buses and trains that delivered them to a nearby internment camp, sep More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Apr 17, 2009

Annie rated it:

Our book club decided to read Sarah's Key this month. We're meeting this Saturday to discuss the book. I loved the story as it wove back and forth from Sarah's story than to Julia's story. I hung on every word through Sarah's story in 1942.

Sadly, I did not know of the horrific roundups in Paris on July 16, 1942 which brought all the innocent Jewish people to the Velodrome d’Hiver stadium. I will now forever remember all the people who had to endure such torture and loss. Ms. de Rosn More...

0 comments like (6 people liked it)

Jan 14, 2009

Jen rated it:

This book is really amazing and sad. It's about the round up at Vel' d'Hiv in 1942 by the French Police. It is a story that switches from present day back to the time of the round up of the Jews living in France during the War. It's so incredibly written and so unbelievably heart wrenching. The main character is a journalist, an American, who is married to a french man and is asked to write about the 60th anniversary of Vel' d'Hiv. She struggles as an American-- having not been taught in hi More...

2 comments like (5 people liked it)

Oct 12, 2011

Book Concierge rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Jan 19, 2012

Laurel rated it:

There are two parallel stories here: one is of a young Jewish girl named Sarah living in Paris in 1942 during the Nazi occupation. Her life is brutally interrupted one dark night as the French police (not the Nazi soldiers) go door-to-door to arrest Jewish families and send them off to concentration camps. Hoping to protect her younger brother, Sarah locks him in a secret cupboard, promising to come back for him when it is safe.

The second story takes place in present-day Paris, as More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 09, 2011

bookczuk rated it:

This was another one of my "mountain healing" books that I read while up in the mountains. As I said in another review, this has been a brutal year for me and for my family (the death of our mother, injury of our sister in law in the attack that killed our brother, a successful battle with cancer for another one of us, and attack of the swine flu in the last two weeks of the year for yours truly). My surviving family got together at our cabin, but I wasn't much good for anything, as m More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Oct 12, 2010

Meghan rated it:

I'd give this a 3.5 stars just because the subject matter is so important, but the writing is really too simplistic for it to be a full four stars. I thought this may be a YA story, but I'm not sure. That said, this is a book that everyone should read because to not know should be a crime.

It seems like I've been reading a lot of books set during WWII. From the Guernsey Literary Society to the Piano Teacher to the Rape of Nanking, I'm really getting an eyeful of what life was like aro More...

2 comments like (4 people liked it)

Jan 31, 2011

Barbara rated it:

Tatiana de Rosnay has expertly penned this novel of the events surrounding the mass roundup of Jews in Paris to the Velodrome d'Hiver (Vel d'Hiv). Literally thousands of families were herded into this indoor stadium, formerly used for bicycle races. There they remained under armed guard, packed tightly, without food, water or sanitation, for 4 days. From this appalling place, they were sent to a horrifying assortment of concentration camps.

DeRosnay has related this grim, heartrending More...

19 comments like (4 people liked it)

Nov 06, 2008

GirlwiththeBraids rated it:

On July 16th 1942, Sarah’s life changed forever. French policemen were going door-to-door through Paris arresting Jewish families to bring to the Vel’ d’ Hiv and then taken to camps where their lives would be put to an end. Frightened, ten-year-old Sarah locks her little brother in their secret hiding place, while she holds the key and thinks that she will come back that night. What she doesn’t know is that she will be gone for months…

60 years later, Julia, an American journalist, is More...

3 comments like (3 people liked it)