The Taster

★★★

The Taster by V.S. Alexander is a novel that brings a new perspective to WWII historical fiction- it’s a different and refreshing read in a literary world filled with novels about this time period. It’s unapologetically honest with no pretenses about heroism in the protagonist. I especially liked it because I learned a ton about the key players in the Nazi Party (people behind the scenes), which was both fascinating and horrifying.

Synopsis:

25-year-old Magda lives with her parents in Berlin in 1943, but with the war escalating and the Allies making their way to the city she is sent to live in the country with her aunt and uncle. While there, she finds a job working as a taster for Hitler himself - tasting his meals for him in case of poison. She ends up living with the other tasters in the dormitories at two of Hitler’s headquarters the Berghof & the Wolf’s Lair. Through her relationships and experiences she comes to hate the Nazis and what they stand for. As she watches her country being ripped apart, she vows to find a way to end it all.

Thoughts:

I found this story to have a very interesting and unique perspective on WWII that I hadn’t read before. I loved that Alexander was inspired to write the story based on the recounts of a true taster for Hitler and incorporates true historical figures and events (even through the lead characters are fictional). I found Magda to be infuriating at times but also likely a very realistic character. There are no heroic pretenses about her and there are many situations she finds herself in where I feel complete frustration by her actions, but understand that she would probably have died much sooner if she hadn’t done what she did. I keep going back to her passage at the prelude talking about how sorry she is, and I have to believe that’s true. One character I was extremely curious about was Eva Braun (Hitler’s mistress and eventually his wife); she was someone that I had never heard anything about. It was very interesting to understand how flighty and childish she was, especially because it felt like such a stark contrast to Hitler’s personality as we’ve come to think of him. It also was extremely difficult to read about how lavishly they lived during the war when everyone else was starving and dying.

Overall:

I give this book a 3.5/5 but am rounding down as the historical element was the most compelling part of the book - not necessarily the characters or writing. I really loved learning about this portion of the war, though, so I would definitely encourage big historical fiction fans to check it out. I breezed through it in about a day too, so it’s not a major time commitment.