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A review by gal33
A Meal in Winter by Hubert Mingarelli
3.0
I felt as if this book was trying to forcefully be groundbreaking. It wasn't.
The thing is, if you're going to write through the point of view of Nazi soldiers, you have a very tricky job in front of you. On the one hand, your characters need to be relatable. On the other, you cannot underestimate the horrors of what they did.
But I feel like this book failed to do that. I couldn't connect with the characters, none of them, the writing was bland at best and not even the plot was captivating. And the thing that bothered me the most was the portrayal of the killing. The killing is described as something that harms just our narrators, they're poor souls who have been forced into murdering these people. Eye roll.
The only attempt of compassion our narrator shows, when he talks about feeling sorry for the victims' mothers, feels so forced and sudden, it's just not honest.
If you want a good book that is through the eyes of the 'bad guys', I suggest you just go read [b:All Quiet on the Western Front|355697|All Quiet on the Western Front|Erich Maria Remarque|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1441227765s/355697.jpg|2662852] instead of this and do yourself a favor.
The thing is, if you're going to write through the point of view of Nazi soldiers, you have a very tricky job in front of you. On the one hand, your characters need to be relatable. On the other, you cannot underestimate the horrors of what they did.
But I feel like this book failed to do that. I couldn't connect with the characters, none of them, the writing was bland at best and not even the plot was captivating. And the thing that bothered me the most was the portrayal of the killing. The killing is described as something that harms just our narrators, they're poor souls who have been forced into murdering these people. Eye roll.
The only attempt of compassion our narrator shows, when he talks about feeling sorry for the victims' mothers, feels so forced and sudden, it's just not honest.
If you want a good book that is through the eyes of the 'bad guys', I suggest you just go read [b:All Quiet on the Western Front|355697|All Quiet on the Western Front|Erich Maria Remarque|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1441227765s/355697.jpg|2662852] instead of this and do yourself a favor.