A review by faithtrustozdust
Marlene by C.W. Gortner

adventurous emotional informative reflective slow-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I read this book as someone who is a fan of Dietrich and knew the broad basics of her life, but wanted something more in depth without being a straight up biography. This book fit that to a T, covering her life from a very young age to after WWII. The main flaw here being that because there is not one central event or relationship explored in depth, to me if felt some extremely fast paced, never stopping anywhere I wanted long enough, and extremely slow. I also felt there lacked a central arc, and though there is a sense of growth as you follow Dietrich, it doesn't feel satisfying.

The best part of the book is the section on WWII which is unfortunately, towards the end. One of the scenes in particular,

a meeting with her sister, who, along with her husband, worked for the Nazis

was absolutely gut wrenching to read.

Overall I would recommend the book for fans about Dietrich or those curious to get a little more perspective on any of the fascinating time periods she lived through. You do benefit a lot from being directly inside her head. The version I consumed was the audiobook, and the woman who read it did a fantastic job.