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tl;dr Review:
With an utterly selfish protagonist and overly graphic descriptions of the horror of WWII, this book is one to avoid.
Full Review:
I hate having to pan books because most times I can find some redeeming qualities in any story. However, this book made that basically impossible.
I’ve been on a bit of a WWII kick lately (see: The Women In The Castle and The Room on Rue Amélie) and was excited at first to read about a job I had never known existed during that time: the role of taster for Hitler.
The book’s description reads:
“Amid the turbulence of World War II, a young German woman finds a precarious haven closer to the source of danger than she ever imagined—one that will propel her through the extremes of privilege and terror under Hitler’s dictatorship . . .
In early 1943, Magda Ritter’s parents send her to relatives in Bavaria, hoping to keep her safe from the Allied bombs strafing Berlin. Young German women are expected to do their duty—working for the Reich or marrying to produce strong, healthy children. After an interview with the civil service, Magda is assigned to the Berghof, Hitler’s mountain retreat. Only after weeks of training does she learn her assignment: she will be one of several young women tasting the Führer’s food, offering herself in sacrifice to keep him from being poisoned.
Perched high in the Bavarian Alps, the Berghof seems worlds away from the realities of battle. Though terrified at first, Magda gradually becomes used to her dangerous occupation—though she knows better than to voice her misgivings about the war. But her love for a conspirator within the SS, and her growing awareness of the Reich’s atrocities, draw Magda into a plot that will test her wits and loyalty in a quest for safety, freedom, and ultimately, vengeance.
Vividly written and ambitious in scope, The Taster examines the harrowing moral dilemmas of war in an emotional story filled with acts of extraordinary courage.”
While I knew of kings and queens of yore having people taste their food to avoid poisons, I didn’t really think that this was something people still did in the 20th century. That fact caught my attention and propelled me to read this book.
But outside of learning more about this type of role, the protagonist had few other redeeming qualities.
Not only is Magda self-obsessed, she’s also extremely selfish. She struggles to see outside of her realm of wants and needs and in numerous instances takes selfish actions that leave others dead or to die.
The pace of the story moves in such a way that everything seems a little too perfect. Things just happen to fall into place and work out in ways that made me want to roll my eyes. It was like watching a telanovela where the most basic of scenes become ridiculous and contrived. (Not knocking telanovelas – just speaking the truth.)
On top of all of that, the detailed accounts of some of the atrocities that took place under Hitler and during WWII felt gratuitous. I not only dislike graphic displays of violence (hence why I can’t watch Game of Thrones), but I especially dislike them when it feels like they are out of place and only included to create a background for the protagonist’s story.
As much as I wanted to like this book and for as much as I love historical fiction, I just couldn’t take the selfishness of Magda. the all too convenient plot lines, and the over-the-top descriptions of violence.
I give this book one thumps up out of five.
