Reviews

The German Midwife by Mandy Robotham

lauracooleyjohnson's review

2.0

This book should have been good. It had an interesting premise: what if Adolf Hitler fathered a baby and we told the story from the midwife’s point of view? Sounds good right? Lots of history could be explored and tension to be built. But I thought it fell flat. It was like reading the outline of a story, or a draft script from a puppet show before the characters have depth or the dialogue is actually finalized. “Enter midwife who encounters dashingly handsome SS dude. My, he’s cute. Proceed to have discussion about the big bad Nazis so we can establish that SS dude is really not a bad man and then have plausible romantic sex scene.” Gah! Two things redeemed this from being a 1-star loser in my eyes: credible flashback scenes to life in the labor camps, and the depictions of labor and birth, including the strength of women shining through in horrendous circumstances.

eilzxo's review against another edition

4.0

This is a fantastic book, another one I couldn’t put down. A different perspective of war and a brilliant forbidden romance too.

nastja111's review against another edition

emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

hannahboice's review

4.0

The plot is great and I flew through the book. Definitely an extremely sad read at times

whatdebsreads's review against another edition

medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Pregnancy, Antisemitism, and Miscarriage

Moderate: Hate crime, Sexism, Death, and Medical trauma

mmccarthy14's review against another edition

emotional sad

3.75

tonilynn14's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

3.5

lorna1128's review against another edition

dark informative sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Another WW2 fiction story under my belt. 

These stories will always make me feel something. I know we learn about the tragic events of war in school but I just feel that books like this take that learning even further years after leaving school. 

I really felt for the characters in this one, those on both sides. Seeing that those even closest to the vile happenings were just doing what they knew would keep them alive whilst trying to help really shows you a side that sometimes you forget about. 

Having an insight to what happened to mothers and their babies, it was all truly horrible. 

If you haven’t read this one, pick it up! 

ndbeyer's review

emotional sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

What an interesting storyline- read the author's preface that gives some background into her creation of this book

kzimm2024's review

4.0

3.5 stars and a good reminder why I like fanatsy and sci-fi, this book made me cry! I hate that.
I enjoyed the main h and her story, it was a good reminder to be careful of the depravity that society can delve in to. But I call BS about Dieter.
He was a roaming SS officer, surely he could have found a convenient excuse for his absence and avoided his fate. And what happened to the evidence of their love??? Unnecessary pain to add to the story- the twist of the knife at the end.
I have visited Auschwitz along with countless others, I KNOW real things inspired this work of fiction, but silly me thinking there would be some hea to this, just a tiny bit? To show the triumph of love over evil?
This book stomped all over my feelings and made me bleed. Good if you are in the mood to hate mankind.