Eve's Tattoo

by Emily Prager

On her 40th birthday, Eve gets a tattoo of the number 500123 on her wrist, a copy of one Eve has seen on a nameless woman in a photograph taken at Auschwitz in 1944. A non-Jew's bizarre attempt to decipher the reasons for the Holocaust, Eve's tattoo becomes a stigma that will estrange her from her lover and the facile, fashionable world that was once her natural habitat. "Compassionate and informed."--New York Times Book Review.

Genres: Fiction, Jewish, Holocaust, Literary Fiction, Novels, Womens

194 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1961

About the author

Emily Prager is an American author and journalist.

Prager grew up in Texas, Taiwan, and Greenwich Village, NY. She is a graduate of The Brearley School, Barnard College and has a Masters Degree in Applied Linguistics.

(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Karen Reynolds · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found the individual stories of victims of the Nazis interesting but was not that interested in eve to be honest. She seemed superficial to me and attention seeking although perhaps that was the point. Might have been better as short stories without Eve.

[Juliet Wilson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eve is a middle class New Yorker tired of her shallow life, so she decides to have the number of an Auschwitz prisoner tattoed onto her arm for her fortieth birthday present. She then uses this tattoo as a starting point to tell the stories of Auschwitz victims to everyone she meets. The stories she tells are heartbreaking and the novel is noble in its intent but sometimes comes across as preaching. I think it would have been more powerful presented as a series of short stories.

[Debbie · Rating 5 out of 5]

this was an absorbing and easy to read book. eve gets a concentration camp number tattooed on her wrist which she saw on the arm of a woman in a random picture. most of the book then is people asking her about the person and eve replying with possible scenarios

[Hilary · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has been sitting on my shelves for more years than I care to mention so it seemed like it was time to read it. It's one of the most intriguing books I've ever read, not an easy read as its subject is the victims of the Nazi holocaust, or rather one victim in particular.

*SPOILER ALERT*

Eve, who is a student of holocaust literature (which must be kept hidden from her French boyfriend, Charles César) comes across a photograph of a woman with a prisoner number tattooed on her wrist. Intrigued, she decides to have the number copied and tattooed onto her own wrist to mark her 40th birthday, and to commemorate this unknown woman. Charles is unhappy about it and it transpires he has been hiding his Jewish identity. Their relationship collapses.

Eve starts to be asked about the tattoo and each time she tells a different story about the victim whom she calls Eva. It struck me towards the end that what Prager is doing through each of these detailed vignettes is demonstrating the truth of the poem "first they came for the Communists, but I was not a Communist and so I said nothing ..." as the final story concerns a fanatical Hitler devotee who for reasons I won't divulge here gets taken off to Auschwitz. She is the true "Eva".

Following an improbable accident at the end of the book Eve loses her tattoo and is reunited with Charles, but by the end of this story everyone, including the reader, is changed by the experience. I found this a morbidly compelling read, and finally thought-provoking.

[Malcolm · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an unsettling novel; on her 40th birthday Eve Flick gets a tattoo copied from a photo of a woman in Auschwitz in an effort to ensure that she is not forgotten, but Eve knows nothing about the woman. As a result, every time she asked about the tattoo she tells a different story, but each is a tale of women in Nazi Germany – Jews, doctors, Catholics and others – and in doing so she tells the tales of the camps, of the Euthanasia programme, of the demands for conformity, and of the anti-humanism of fascism. But it comes at the expense of her relationship and much of her sense of self.

Prager writes serious with a light touch and constructs both a chilling set of tales of women in the Nazi state and a powerful but not-obvious-in-the-way-it-seems AIDS metaphor without drawing parallels. One of the more unsettling elements of the story is that as she retreats into herself, she becomes more confident and open, more assertive about her place in the City and her house, and more willing to explore the bits of her Greenwich Village neighbourhood that had not seemed so obvious or to which she had become oblivious – all because of a desire to ‘remember’ a woman she knew nothing about.

It could have been mawkish, it could have been all wrong, and any tale of genocide could be, but instead it is fabulous (although part of me suspects I like the concept better than the book itself)!

[Aimee Dars · Rating 5 out of 5]

When Eve's Tattoo by Emily Prager was published in the early 1990s, I was in college and it quickly became one of my favorite books.

On her fortieth birthday, Eve gets a tattoo reproducing a prisoner number from a Nazi concentration camp. Her family and friends are horrified, but to explain the tattoo, which she calls a living memorial, she tells each person a different story of the woman assigned the number 500123, a version of the story that will resonate with them.

As much as I adored the book, I haven't reread it since for fear it won't hold up to my memories. Additionally, I worry about cultural appropriation which was not something I considered at the time.

I'm not sure if I ever will read it because I want to preserve my memories. However, even looking back, I find the themes relating to storytelling and memory compelling. And the dedication—For the women who resist, and the women who don't—remains one of my favorites.

Unfortunately, the book is out of print, so it's only possible to get used copies.

[Melanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

What does it mean to witness? What responsibility do we have to lives that have been upended or extinguished? Although a description of Eve's Tattoo reads like some early-1990s literary quirkiness (woman gets an ill-advised Holocaust-inspired tattoo and her relationships quickly go south), this is a short novel preoccupied with how to make sense of senselessness, how to bear witness, and how to reconcile a life of privilege and comfort with the tragedy and brutality of the past and the present. Some of the plot elements seem a little tacked-on, but I think that the character of Eve and the stories she tells about Eva (the real-but-imagined inspiration for Eve's tattoo) work well, particularly set against (and in conversation with) the social and political backdrop of the early '90s (the fall of the Berlin Wall, Nelson Mandela's release from prison, the AIDS epidemic).

p.s. Goodreads lists the original publication date of Eve's Tattoo as 1961, which is definitely incorrect. (See above about the Berlin Wall, AIDS, etc.)

[Kim · Rating 2 out of 5]

A quick read, with an interesting concept that is unfortunately drowned out by a self-centered protagonist surrounded by wooden characters.

On her 40th birthday, Eve tattoos her arm with the numbers of an unidentified Concentration Camp prisoner. Some time earlier, Eve had come across a photo of the prisoner, saw a striking resemblance to herself, and became obsessed with the woman. In tattooing her arm, she jolts herself out of the cushy world to which she had become accustomed, losing her love and friendships. At the same time, her obsession with the prisoner, whom she calls Eva, deepens, to the point of them becoming one at times. Eve works to find out who Eva really was, while grappling with her own latent anti-Semitism and sense of guilt.

The concept of this book is fairly unique and could have been very, very well done. But, Prager's sloppy writing (particularly dialogue) and thinly-developed characters detract from the story.

[Nicholas George · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is one of the novels where I admire the writing style but have problems with the plot structure. The Eve of the title is a 40-year-old single writer living in New York City. For some reason (not adequately explained, which is one of my quibbles) she is obsessed with the Holocaust, and gets a concentration camp victim's number tattooed on her arm. This leads her to relate, to people who notice tattoo, many different theories on who the woman (whom she calls "Eva" even though she doesn't know her name) was and what led her to the camps. This provides a broad and unflinching look at the state of Nazi Germany and the people who lived through that time, but it all seems a bit too gimmicky. I never fully understood Eve's motivation, which also results in the loss of her boyfriend, a nice French chap who, it turns out, is Jewish and is turned off by having to look at Eve's tattoo when they attempt sex. The resolution, in particular, is abrupt and unsatisfying.

[Commodore · Rating 2 out of 5]

White lady gets a tattoo she cribs from a photograph of a woman in Auschwitz. She doesn't know anything about said woman, she just thinks it'd be cool, more or less (making her the original appropriating hipster, I suppose). She goes around self-righteously white-splaining to people about said tattoo and making up stories about the woman who originally had, and generally kind of makes an ass of herself.

I guess my opinion is slightly softened by the fact that this book was written in the 60s, but god it still gives me a lot of second-hand embarrassment at how self-righteous Eve is.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

The most powerful parts of the book are the fantasies Eve creates surrounding her tattoo.

The ending is disappointing--climactically and narratively.

I might teach this book for a Holocaust class, and I think it would be a great text for Holocaust representation issues.

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting analysis about the significance of a tattoo.

Eve gets a tattoo, and in doing so sets her world atilt including her relationship with her husband, her family and more.

[Debbie · Rating 5 out of 5]

this is a book that has stuck with me through the years. I really enjoyed it and would recomened to anyone who enjoys a really engrossing story...

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

For book club this was a love it or hate it book, for me it was love it. Very original and clearly pushed a lot of buttons. I like a book that gets a reaction!

[Carol Holder · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just finished it again for the third or fourth time. It's like visiting an old friend.