Friday, January 25, 2008

Sarah's Key


Every once in a while you read a book that changes how you feel inside and alters how you view and think about the world. The Diary of Anne Frank was one of those books for me. It opened my eyes to the presence of true evil in my world.


I knew it was possible to hate someone who had hurt you, or done something cruel to you. But until that time I didn't understand that there were people who could hate an entire race, an entire section of humanity based on nothing but skin color, religion, country of origin or circumstance of birth.


The diary of Anne Frank change the way I viewed everything around me. Sarah's Key has changed it again. I am shamed to admit my ignorance. I never knew that the Jewish people had been exported from France. I new about Germany, about Poland, about the others. I never knew about that fateful day in France when thousands of people were rounded up and taken to camps.


This book captured me from the very first page and for the next 292 pages I found myself gasping, crying, feeling my heart break for these people and all they suffered. This book is so well written you feel like you are right there next to Sarah as she and her family are marched through the streets of Paris where they board a train to another world. You feel her anxiety and she clutches the key in her pocket and fears for her tiny brother locked in the cupboard at home.


I felt anger, fear, righteous indignation, sadness, hopelessness, anxiety, frustration. I was captivated and was unable to put this book down until it was finished.


This book is #1 on my recomendation list right now. Please read it.

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