Ratings

Content Ratings based on a 0-5 scale where
0 = no objectionable content and
5 = an excessive or disturbing level of content

Guide to Rating System

LANGUAGE

VIOLENCE

SEXUAL CONTENT

ADULT THEMES

 

Ratings Explanation

Language: A fair amount of swearing and 2 F-words

Violence: A mother jumps to her death holding her baby. A young girl’s earrings are ripped through her lobes. A mother’s dress is ripped open in order to be searched. Mothers and children forcibly separated. The mothers are hit and beaten when they struggle to hold on to their children. Police spray water on them to keep them apart. Children are slapped and kicked by police.

Sexual Content: A husband grabs his wife’s behind. It is stated that a couple has passionate sex after a fight. Sex is discussed frequently. It is stated that a woman’s boyfriend took her to bed. Sex has become something she has to do; there is no heat or desire. It is strictly mechanical.

Adult Themes: Jews are turned in by former friends. The French police round up the Jews of Paris and hold them in a velodrome for several days in deplorable conditions. Many children die during this captivity. Wearing the yellow star brings disdain from other children. 4,000 French born Jewish children are deported and most of them are sent to Auschwitz. The German police literally tear a sick Jewish girl away from the French people who are caring for her.

A modern-day husband treats his wife poorly. He is unkind and sarcastic. She acknowledges that he does not treat her well, but she puts up with him for the great sex. He had, and perhaps still has, a mistress. His wife confronted him about it. When his wife becomes pregnant he does not want the child and tells her that if she has the baby their marriage is over. They discuss abortion.

Julia has friends who are a gay couple.

Synopsis

Julia Jarmond is a 45-year-old American journalist living in Paris with her French husband and 11-year-old daughter. Assigned to cover the 60th Anniversary of the Jewish round-up in 1942 Paris, she delves into her research both to uncover the horrifying story of the Vélodrome d’Hiver and to distract herself from her crumbling marriage. As she becomes engrossed in the shameful events in which France participated, she uncovers the story of 10-year-old Sarah Starzynski and her family.

On July 16, 1942 when the French police come in the middle of the night, forcing Sarah and her family out of their home, Sarah thinks it is only temporary, very temporary. So she locks her 4-year-old brother in their secret cupboard where he will be safe until she can come back for him. But their expulsion is not temporary and Sarah and her parents are haunted every day, hoping that somehow little Michel was able to escape.

The stories of Julia and Sarah are told through alternating chapters in the book and eventually Julia discovers a family secret that links Sarah to her husband’s French family. Anxious to put things right, Julia searches desperately for Sarah, hoping to convince her that people still remember and honor the children of the Vél’ d’Hiv’.

While Sarah’s Key presents an interesting story of the Vél’ d’Hiv’, one I was completely unfamiliar with, I was ultimately disappointed in the book. I like an ending in which at least one of the characters has improved or benefited from their hardships in some way. I did not find that with this book. Also, the alternating short chapters resulted in a choppy feel and made it difficult to establish a good flow to the plot. Not terrible, but not one of my favorites either.