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There are currently 22 member reviews
for At the Wolf's Table
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Barbara K. (Brooklyn, NY)
Disappointed
This is a well written book that unleashes a topic about Hitler's Nazi regime that was new to me ... taking young girls and forcing them to eat food that was prepared for Hitler and testing it to see if it contained poison. They were chosen to do this ; they weren't volunteers. Interspersed ,there is a view of wartime Germany, how people lived, the poverty, lack of food for the average person etc. Also, there was an attempt to show the relationships among the young girls and focusing mostly on one of them as she narrates her life in Germany at this time. Unfortunately, I did not enjoy this book. I could not get emotionally attached to the story or its characters .
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Virginia P. (Tallahassee, FL)
At The Wolf's Table
I was part of a local group that promoted Holocaust awareness and education for a number of years and this group included a book club. Meeting each month we read books about different aspects of the Holocaust so I am very familiar with this period in history. This true story of a taster of Hitler's food had possibilities but did not measure up to most of the other stories I read. It seemed to drift from one topic to the next and in the process, lost its focus. To not know what happened to our protagonist after she left Wolfsschanze until she had her final meeting with Gregor was an odd approach to take to their relationship. There were just too many unresolved portions of the story to make it a satisfying read.
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Cheryl W. (Crosby, MN)
Taste testers for Hilter
My first thoughts were, what could you write about a taste tester for Hitler? This was a very compassionate story about Germany women and the perils they faced. The book is very depressing. These women could never catch a break. They got to eat well but their children at home were starving and the husbands were at the front. These 9 women were always at the threat of the guards and each other. This is another window to war and the suffering of people.
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Nancy K. (Perrysburg, OH)
Hitler's tasters
A rather unusual book about a part of Nazi Germany I had not read nor heard about. The Nazis used Women, who were called employees, to taste every meal before it was served to Hitler.
Based on the life of Margot Wolk, the last living food taster, we read about what it must have been like to face each day not knowing if you would be poisoned or live for another day. That part of the book,which really was the first half, was the best part for me. It appeared to me that the author then wanders off this subject and the book becomes a sad, tragic story about the affair between Rosa, the taster, and one of her guards. The ending comes as a surprise because the reader is left in the cold as to how Rosa lives her life during the many missing years. Perhaps a short story would have been a better way to tell the story. My book clubs would not enjoy reading this book- too sad and too violent at times with no real ending. Perhaps that was what the author was trying to tell us about this chapter in German history.
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Mary Jane D. (Arlington Heights, IL)
Slow Read
I was anticipating an interesting and compelling book about women who were recruited to be taste testers for Hitler. I have read many books about Germany during WW2 but nothing on this topic. I was disappointed in this one.The lack of character development made it hard for me to relate to most of the characters and insignificant details seemed to make the story drag. I was confused with the relationship between Rosa (the main character) and the other women. I was interested in her thoughts and feelings about her lost husband but disappointed in the ending that attempted to tie up the loose ends. I read the biography of Margot Wolk on whom the story was based and even though it is a fictional account I don't think it did her justice.
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Loretta F. (Fountain Inn, SC)
A Disappointment
Although I've read many books on WWII, I had never heard of Hitler's food tasters and was excited to learn more. Ten young women were hired to eat the meals prepared by Hitler's chef to make sure that he was not poisoned. At a time when many Germans were going hungry, the food and pay was most welcome to the women. However, the stress was not. Besides the fear of poison, they were continually bullied by SS guards.
The historical details about Germany in the waning days of the war were interesting, but I found the writing hard to follow at times. For example, at the end of Part two, Rosa is fleeing the countryside hidden in a freight car headed for Berlin. Germany is losing the war, and all is chaos. Then, the beginning of Part three has her arriving in Berlin, but many years have gone by. We are not told anything about her arrival in Berlin, whether she survived or not. Instead, we are jolted into the future, and unprepared for the few revelations to come. The ending was very unsatisfying and puzzling to me.
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Diana C. (Delray Beach, FL)
Unresolved loose ends
This novel based on the real life German women who were Hitler's food tasters during World War II, reveals their unlikely friendships, rivalries and intimate stories. I generally do not read books from this period in history because so much has been written a lot of it tends to sound the same, but this story is quite unique in it's perspective and historical significance. The author's attempt at fully bringing the characters to life falls short however, and the various character story threads were mostly left unresolved. At the end of the story the integration of present and past was uneven and unsatisfying.
