Sarah key how many pages

Paris, July Sarah, a ten year-old girl, is brutally arrested with her family by the French police in the Vel' d'Hiv' roundup, but not before she locks her younger brother in a cupboard in the family's apartment, thinking that she will be back within a few hours. Paris, May On Vel' d'Hiv's 60th anniversary, journalist Julia Jarmond is asked to write an article about this black day in France's past.

Through her contemporary investigation, she stumbles onto a trail of long-hidden family secrets that connect her to Sarah. Julia finds herself compelled to retrace the girl's ordeal, from that terrible term in the Vel d'Hiv', to the camps, and beyond.

As she probes into Sarah's past, she begins to question her own place in France, and to reevaluate her marriage and her life. Tatiana de Rosnay offers us a brilliantly subtle, compelling portrait of France under occupation and reveals the taboos and silence that surround this painful episode.

De Rosnay's novel is captivating, and the powerful narration gives it even greater impact. Martin's hardcover. All rights reserved.

Pivotal to this novel is the key in ten-year-old Sarah's pocket. It opens the cupboard in which she has hidden her younger brother from the French police, who are rounding up Jews in Paris. It is July 16, , and Sarah, along with her parents and hundreds more people, are brought to the stadium Velodrome d'Hiver, where they spend several days without food or water before being sent to French camps en route to Auschwitz. Arriving at the camp Beaune-la-Rolande, Sarah is separated from her parents and manages to escape.

Nearby farmers not only protect but eventually adopt her. 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 woman whining about her insensetive French husband comes in every other chapter and the mediocre writing makes what could have been an interesting story less than satisfying. 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. This story could only have been written by a French person because anyone else could, and possibly would, be seen as casting stones.

Fortunately, Tatiana de Rosnay is a French citizen and her bravery is outstanding as she brings to light the heartbreaking historical story that runs underneath the fictional story like a dark, terrifying catacomb below the streets of Paris. On July 16 and 17, , 13, Jews were arrested in Paris and the suburbs, deported and assassinated at Auschwitz. May those who tried to save them be thanked. Passerby, never forget! A huge arena with seats and galleries reaching nearly to the roof where usually races were held; on those days of July, the walls were filled permanently with fear, confusion, desolation, and misery.

Over six thousand Parisian policemen were commissioned to carry out this atrocity. This is also the story of Julia who, for the 60th anniversary, was to write the story of this terrible event for the American magazine she worked for in Paris.

This novel is brilliant, and so well written that when I set the book down the first time after starting it, I was convinced I would never be able to write a review because I was too upset. Not just upset, angry. We are now almost 77 years removed from this event — and how quickly we forget.

They are already happening. Ultimately, 76, Jews were deported from France for assassination during occupation by the Nazis. This could not have happened without the cooperation of the police and the people who informed on their friends, neighbours, doctors, lawyers, teachers, writers, artists, librarians, salespeople, service contractors.

Yet, power-mongers continue to manufacture and use fear — and continue to be listened to, revered, and in some cases elected to offices of authority and power. Kudos to Tatiana de Rosnay for her courage in telling this story. It has already been read by millions of people around the world. My hope is that it continues to be read by millions more.

Zakhor , Al Tichkah. Never forget. Lots of spoilers. Don't read this. I give the Holocaust negative infinity stars, if you were wondering.

Fuck you Sarah's Key , you manipulative sonofabitching asshole. How dare you make me feel like this at Christmas?! Dead baby brother in a cupboard?! Gassing the parents at Auschwitz wasn't enough?

None of the miserable crap in this story would even happen! Here's Sarah and her little brother as the police are banging on the door and taking the whole family away for being Jewish: "She grabbed him, but he wriggled out of her grasp and slithered into the long, deep cupboard hidden in the surface of the wall of their bedroom.

The one they played hide-and-seek in. They hid there all the time, locked themselves in, and it was like their own little house. Maman and Papa knew about it, but they always pretended they didn't. You unlock it and hide the key. No one would do that. Not even a year-old. You'd just close him in.

If the police try to open a cupboard to look inside and it's locked, they're going to make you unlock it. In times of extreme fear does a 4-year-old kid decide to stay in a cupboard instead of going with their parents? Have you ever had a mouse die under your refrigerator? A raccoon die under your porch? But lets just assume that the family doesn't smell it. Maybe they don't have noses! The whole premise of the whole plot is just one flaw after another.

And then that terrible poem at the end! Fucking Julia. I wish she would die in a locked cupboard. She takes up most of the book with her idiotic pregnancy and her arrogant French husband.

How refreshing! An arrogant Frenchman! Where on earth did the author come up with that?!? Obviously this book made me really really mad and I gave it two stars, which is kind of weird! But here's why: The Sarah part of the story was really quite good. I learned about the Vel' d'Hiv Roundup, which is interesting and upsetting and I'd never even heard of.

It made me feel awful and guilty and pissed off, but it made me FEEL. And that's something. When she named the baby Sarah, even though I saw it coming a mile away and I hated her anyway so why do I care?!?! I hated Julia, not the baby. I'm sure the baby was sweet. Carol Wagers. October 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 treatment of her. I felt I wasted my time on this book selected for a book club I belong to.

This is a dual-timeline historical fiction novel, about the arrests of Jewish families in France during WWII and their terrible experiences, focusing on the actual historic Vel' d'Hiv' roundup in July , and a modern journalist's investigation of that event and her search for some of the people involved. Her 3 or 4 year old brother, terrified, hides himself in their secret hiding place, a hidden cupboard. Sarah locks him in, assuring him that she'll be back in a few hours.

The family, frantic to get their little boy, plead with the police, but nothing is done. In the other timeline, the year , also in Paris: Julia Jarmond, an American journalist married to a Frenchman, who has lived in Paris for about 25 years, is asked to write an article about the Vel' d'Hiv's roundup on its 60th anniversary.

As she investigates, she finds that her husband's family home is where Sarah's family lived before they were arrested. Julia feels compelled to investigate this particular aspect of the tragedy, and gets involved deeper and deeper, despite resistance from her husband and others. This book had a major impact on me, and when I first finished it I thought it was an easy 4 stars, despite some significant weaknesses in characterization and what felt like author manipulation.

But in the cold light of morning those things are bothering me more. The characters, especially the present-day ones, are mostly stereotypes: the suave, cheating French husband, the wise-beyond-her-years daughter, the over-eager nurse at an abortion facility, people hiding old secrets with a stiff upper lip.

It's pretty well written, but they're still thin. It's also an emotionally manipulative book, from Sarah's experiences to Julia's love life. I felt like the author was too obvious in pushing the reader to feel in certain ways. But there were a couple of unexpected twists for me in the plot, and the Vel' d'Hiv' plotline is truly compelling.

It brought tears to my eyes. I don't regret reading it at all, if only because I'm glad to know more about this tragic historical event. A tragic and beautifully told story that is moving and evocative. Having read this as a book club read some years ago it was nice to read it again and take it for what it was just a well written and beautifully told story, and a book that will stay with me many years from now.

Sarah's Key is the poignant story of two families, forever linked and haunted by one of the darkest days in France's past. In this emotionally intense, page-turning novel, Tatiana de Rosnay reveals the guilt brought on by long-buried secrets and the damage that the truth can inflict when they finally come unravelled.

I find I read books differently when I am reading them for sit in book club as opposed to leisurely reading for my own enjoyment, I sometimes think I am trying to hard to find the discussion value in the book or how others might see a situation or how my own opinion might become altered in the discussion.

Based on an event in history Known as the Vel' d'Hiv Roundup French police, directed by Nazis, arrested and deported 13, Jewish men, women and children and the majority of those arrested were deported to Auschwitz.

The book follows two main characters Sarah, the young daughter of a Jewish family taken in and Julia, a journalist in modern day Paris, who has an assignment to write about the Vel' d'Hiv Roundup. While I really enjoyed the book for its page turning value and memorable characters. However I really did enjoy the novel and any book that highlights important events in history in my option are worth their weight in gold.

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 bad, just human with human frailties. I loved the depictions of the small acts of conscience and kindness. I had no idea about the roundups of Jews in France. I did know that the Nazis tended to just send children who were too young to work straight to the gas chambers.

I think the author did a good job of illustrating why the French people seemed to forget what had happened and how the Holocaust indirectly affected them. I hope writers continue writing stories like "Sarah's Key" that bring the atrocities of the Holocaust to light so we can learn and not repeat those mistakes. 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. There are some great movies available on Netflix , whether you want comedy, drama, or thriller. Last Updated: 17th June, Qunfeng Siemers Professional. What happens at the end of Sarah's Key? Sarah Starzynski. Bennie Dafonte Professional. Who wrote Sarahs Key? Tatiana de Rosnay.

Liwei Neches Professional. What genre is Sarah's Key?