Book Choice Submisson

1) Book Title: Sarah's Key
Author: Tatiana De Rosnay
Date of Publication: 2007
# of Pages: 293

2) I chose this book because it was set around World War 2 when the Jews were being prosecuted. The events of World War 2 are extremely interesting to hear about and it would be cool to hear them from the perspective of a little girl's life and an woman who researches what happens many years later. Also I think it would be interesting to hear the things people went through during that time in order to survive. The author of this book was born in France so her perspective of World War 2 may be different than what we have heard in North America. Another reason I chose this book is because it is based on a real even which makes it more interesting to read what people actually thought happened back then.

3) I really enjoy this book so far.It's very interesting and I never want to put the book down. It's a good idea that the author switches from past to present telling the story of Sarah and Julia.The story of the Holocaust always interested me. Reading it in the form of a novel showing the lives of a certain Jewish family is more fascinating than reading about a random person that I know nothing about. So far, Sarah has locked her brother in the cupboard to hide him from the French police and that really molds the beginning of the novel because you wonder if she'll get back in time to save him.

4) So far I have read 40 pages of the book. I've read 6 chapters about Sarah and her family and 6 chapters about Julia and her family. I've read far enough to get the basic information on Sarah's life and Julia's to understand the plot of the book.

5) Sarah's Story(May 1942) :
Plot- So far Sarah and her family (except brother) have been taken to an arena by the French police with all the other Jews. Sarah locked her little brother in a cupboard to hide him from the police keeping the key to give to her hidden father who would later save him. Thinking his whole family was taken, her father gives himself into the police so he can be with his family not knowing the brother was locked in the cupboard. Sarah and her family are kepy with the other Jews and Sarah realizes that her yellow armband is the reason they got taken from their homes. While in captivity one of Sarah's classmates, Léon, tries to escape the French police so he doesn't get taken away and offers Sarah to come along. Which she refuses.
Setting- Paris, France, Sarah's House, a large garage(Arena)
Characters- Sarah, Sarah's brother, Sarah's mother, Sarah's father, Léon (Sarah's classmate), concierge girl at Sarah's apartment
Mood- gloomy, mysterious, suspenseful, lonely, hopeful, sad, tense, confused
Julia's Story(May 2002) :
Plot- So far Julia and her family Bertrand and Zoë are moving into Bertrand's grandmother's old house. They were visiting the house trying to decide what needs to be renovated. It tells you how Bertrand always makes fun of Julia about how she's American and how she's fed up with him. Julia's boss Josh asked her to do a commemoration for Vélodrome d'Hiver which was the event that involed Sarah and her family back in the 40's.(This is how Julia's story connects with Sarah's story)
Setting- Mamé's house, Julia's work, Hervé and Christophe's house(Julia's old roomates/house)
Characters- Julia, Bertrand(Julia's Husband), Zoë(Julia's Daughter), Joshua (Julia's Boss), Mamé(Bertrand's grandmother), Antoine (Bertrands business assistant), Bamber and Alessandra (Julia's coworkers), Sean and Heather Jarmond (Julia's parents), Charla (Julia's sister), Hervé and Christophe (Julia's friends)
Mood- exciting, lonely, confused, annoyed

Things I've noticed:
Julia gets asked to make a commemoration on the events of Vélodrome d'Hiver, 1942, at work, which is how Julia and Sarah's stories connect to each other.

6) Some themes that I see forming are:
Loyalty: Sarah promises her brother she will come back to save him and all he has is to trust her.
Racism(religion): Sarah's family is going to be put through horrific events just because they are Jewish.
Survival: This is the biggest theme for Sarah because we aren't sure if Sarah and her family will survive the Jewish genocide.
Desire to escape: Sarah really wants to escape this torture and just get back home with her family.
Self (#1): Julia always feels like an outsider because she is an American living in France even though she has lived there for a really long time.
Self (#2): Julia is questioning her marriage because she is not happy with her new husband and the way he treats her and she's getting tired of it.
I think the author is trying to say that these themes are cruicial to the development of the plot. Sarah's main theme is survival and it goes the whole book wondering if she will live. Julia's main theme is Self because she struggles with fitting in with Parisians and figuring out her marriage.

7) Some secondary sources I have found so far in the novel is that Julia is researching the Vélodrome d'Hiver from books and internet which is the event that happened to Sarah. That is a secondary source because it is describing events written back in time. Also these sources that Julia was looking up was saying all about the involvement of the French which I personally did not know about after all these years of studying history. I looked this up on the internet because I never knew the French police were involved. I just thought the Germans were. It's interesting how it wasn't only the Germans to blame about what happened. It's confusing though that we were taught that the French had no involvement with arresting and killing Jews. It's weird that we were never taught that and that we were only taught a certain thing.

8) One line in the novel so far that speaks to me is "I'll come back for you later. I promise." I think this is an interesting line because sometimes you can't keep your promises. Sometimes people make promises that they truly plan to keep but sometimes they get broken because something else happens to screw it up. Most promises are broken because a problem will come up and the promise isn't followed through with. Connecting that to the novel I think that Sarah won't be able to get back to help her brother since there are so many things working against her favour.