Sarah's Key

When I picked this book I really didn’t know what I was doing to be honest. Jen told me it was my turn and I was still 40 pages into The Help, and thinking no one is going to want to read the Nicholas Sparks book that just came out… I could just see Abby’s literary prowess laughing at me. So I actually googled top book club reads and that is how we all ended up here. I read this book on the subway to and from work and it only took 3 weeks, I couldn’t believe how fast it went for only devoting about 30 min a day. I think I was so intrigued by Sarah’s story and what happened to her that I just wanted to read faster.
I loved Sarah, like Abby said you’re a wench if you don’t. Julia left me bored at times but at others my heart completely went out to her. To be faced with the choice of giving up your baby or losing your husband and everything she dealt with in that particular situation made me feel sick, that she was having someone else control her life and her body. I loved Zoe, she is so outspoken and has such a strong character. And Eduard, when he stood up for Julia in front of his family it spoke volumes about him.
One message I really felt was present here was that you have to be able to live everyday for what you have right now and not be afraid that everything you know can change in a second. When Julia began researching her story she never expected it would turn out the way it did, that what she uncovered would so deeply and profoundly impact her life, that her personal trials would try and get the best of her. When Sarah’s mother opened that door for the French police everything in her life changed. We need to be so grateful for the life and blessings we are holding onto at this very moment.
To kind of respond to Jen’s question a little about how the French government could let this happen… I have read a lot about WWII and during the German occupation of the allied countries the government wasn’t the same as it was in peace time. In France the Vichy is what they called the French who sided with the Nazis. And those were the types of people in charge of the country. It’s hard to judge the French police and say they were bad people, I’m sure a lot of them were just following orders, simply doing what they were told to try to stay alive. At that time everything was rationed you didn’t have a lot of opportunities to do what you wanted whenever you pleased, so having a job that supported your family may have been a larger priority than what they were told to do.
I have spoken with my grandmother a lot about this because she lived in Germany during the war. Her family hated the Nazis and everything they stood for- but my Great-grandfather was a German Soldier. If you didn’t do what they wanted really bad things happened to you and your family. And as for concentration camps they didn’t even know they existed. My grandmother said they knew that Jews weren’t liked, and they had to wear stars on their clothing. She told me a story of one woman in her town who she remembers left and never came back and she always wondered what happened to her- but they had no idea people were being sent away to camps and killed. And people who did know about camps thought they were just work camps where they sent Jews to build things for the war.