The novel tells a harrowing story of a tattooist (Lale) who tattoos the identifying number on Jews in the concentration camps during WW2. What’s fascinating about Lale that he obsesses about his mother—almost admitting that whoever he marries should be like his mother. That his mother taught him everything there is to know about women. There is short section where he talks about not having any faith but he tells the girl he wants to marry, Gita, that she can have as much faith as she wants. The ending is predictable and the epilogue was unnecessary. Since this was based on a true story, I am unsure as to why it wasn’t written as non-fiction .