I really enjoy WWII historical fiction. This is especially true when it comes to stories that center around lesser-known real events in history. Two books that come to mind are Between Shades of Grey and Salt to the Sea, both by Ruta Sepetys. They both revolve around true events that I'd never heard of, and they were both emotional and moving.

When I picked up Sarah's Key, I was expecting something similar. This is supposed to be about an event that happened in July 1942 when Parisian police rounded up thousands of Jews and sent them off on trains to Auschwitz where they were all killed. It was ordered by the Nazis, but it was actually French citizens who carried out the atrocity. It sounded like it would be a powerful and educational story.

Unfortunately, only a very small portion of the actual book took place in 1942 following the titular Sarah. Instead, we are treated to hundreds of pages following one of the most insufferable protagonists I've ever had the misfortune to read about.

If I'm being honest, even the historical part of this historical fiction didn't move me like I was wanting. Perhaps it was because it was interspersed with all of the Julia dreck. Or perhaps I would've felt more connected to the story if the 1942 sections had been in first person, or if they'd called her Sarah rather than 'the girl'. Whatever it was, I just didn't feel the emotion I usually do when I read about such tragic events.

My biggest issue with this was that it felt like the author was trying to write a chick-lit book and decided to shove in a subplot about WWII. It felt like a plot device used in order to get Julia to admit that she wasn't happy in her life and marriage, and that's a shame. This could have and should have had more impact than it did.

Julia is, as I stated previously, insufferable. Looking through other reviews, I see that I'm not alone in my estimation of this character. She spends the entire book complaining about how she is treated by everyone around her --her husband, in-laws, boss, etc. She is looked down upon by the locals as being 'the American girl'.

Her husband is a total jerk. He talks down to her constantly. It seems obvious to me that their relationship is dysfunctional, to say the least. He cheats on her and she all but catches him in the act. He tells her he didn't cheat...and she just lets it go. She doesn't call him on his bullshit. And then she's shocked to find out he never stopped cheating?! Why the heck would he stop? She was letting it happen for years because she wouldn't stand up to him.
He disregards her feelings and blows her off over and over again. And her reason for staying with him? Because he's hot and he's good in bed. She LITERALLY SAYS THIS. Every time he treats her like dog crap on the bottom of his shoe, she thinks about how attractive he is. Then she continues to complain that she's being mistreated.
When he tries to force her to get an abortion, she nearly goes along with it. And not because she wanted to, because she absolutely did not. She was going to go through with it only because she didn't want him to leave her, which he said he would do if she chose to go through with the pregnancy. I'm going to say that again because I want you to understand why I loathe this character so much. She was going to unwillingly terminate a pregnancy because her piece of garbage, philandering husband threatened to leave her if she didn't. And she was going to do it. It basically wasn't even a question for her. The only thing that stopped her was getting a call from someone who wanted to meet with her that day. That call somehow snapped her out of her idiocy and made her realize that she wanted to have the baby whether her husband wanted it or not. Just a note, some people may think from my hatred of this subplot that I am not pro-choice. Well, I am. I believe in a woman's right to choose. That is why I hated this so much. Her choice was to have a child, and he was trying to take that choice away from her and she was just going to roll over and let him so as not to rock the proverbial boat. Also, would someone who has suffered from multiple miscarriages just ignore abdominal pain in the early part of her pregnancy? It doesn't sound legit to me.

And concerning her husband, Julia remained utterly spineless. She let him call all of the shots surrounding their relationship, and when he left her for the woman he'd been cheating with for years, she was completely passive about it. Why on Earth would you stay married to a man you had such lukewarm feelings for? Oh yeah, I forgot. He's hot and good in the sack. *insert eye-roll here*

Sarah's experience during WWII is pretty much over about half way through the book, and at that point we switch exclusively to Julia's POV. I feel that was a terrible decision. As I said before, I felt like it minimized not only the events of July 16th, 1942, but it also minimized the impact the story had on me, because then I was subjected to Julia's story, which I hated.

Julia does nothing but complain. She talks about family holidays they took where everyone was having fun doing things while she was always left out. The way that she laments this is so aggravating. I just wanted to tell her to shut up and stop whining. She never asserted herself, instead choosing to complain about it later. I hated Julia.

I also hated the end of the book. She goes to New York and starts to basically cyber-stalk a guy she met twice for maybe a couple hours altogether years before. When she learns that he lives in the same city, they end up meeting and even though they're both in relationships she feels drawn to him. She tells the reader she can't stop thinking about him, even when she's with her boring boyfriend, who she has dutiful, boring sex with because: 'I feel like I have to.' Seriously, this woman is the ultimate poor-me, look-at-what-a-victim-I-am type of person and it just pissed me off.

I feel like the people who lost their lives in this terrible tragedy deserve a better tribute than this book. I really do.