The German Midwife Rant Review

 The German Midwife by Mandy Robotham

2018

Historical fiction, Romance(?)

This is a rant review, so a lot of MAJOR spoilers

I wasn’t going to write a review for this book. I borrowed The German Midwife because it was sorted into the available popular books section of my local library and I like historical fiction. My experience reading the novel was subpar; I finished the book only because I wanted to know what happened at the end. In fact, I wasn’t sure if I wanted anyone to know that I had even read it. But once I sat down and put my pen to paper, I realized how much I had to say about the book. So settle in folks to my second ever rant review! 

The premise of the book is interesting enough upon first glance. An incarcerated midwife, Anke, is ordered to aid Eva Braun to deliver her child. The father? Adolf Hilter. The setting is Braun’s chalet in the German Alps. Over her months there, Anke engages in an affair with a S.S. officer and finds herself in a plot to steal the fuhrer’s child. And I know this is a very short summary, but trust me, it was a lot when I was reading it too. 

My first thought is that it can be interesting when authors in historical fiction choose to include real people. When done well, it can further immerse the reader in the historical reality. Unfortunately, that is not this book. I found reading about fictionalized versions of real, very bad people… icky.

I can’t say I hated Anke as a main character, but I had trouble with her entire characterization and some of her choices. I felt like I still knew very little about her by the end of the book, which is never a good thing for a protagonist. Robotham tells us some things about Anke, but doesn’t reveal others. For example, I didn’t know how old Anke was until the EPILOGUE. As in I couldn’t tell if Anke was 23 or 53 while reading the book. One of the reasons I felt this way was because Anke seemed to attribute a lot of the way she thinks to her father, a political professor. Yet she showed midwifery experience of someone double her age. While I know that people exist like this in real life, I wish that as a 30 year old woman, Anke attributed more of her thoughts to herself.

Throughout the novel Anke is a character with supposedly strong morals. I know this because I was told this by the author, but there were many times where Anke’s choices made me question that. Let me explain. Anke treated patients regardless of religion or nationality, a crime in Germany’s political climate. She was put into a work camp because she was so attached to upholding her morals. That’s badass. Yet Eva Braun, who is carrying Hitler’s child, is put in front of her and Anke doesn’t immediately question how Braun is attached to a bad person the way I expected her to. Rather than examine the complex relationship Braun had with Hitler, Anke infantilizes her (I’ll get to that later.) What made me really question the characterization was when Anke begins a relationship with a German S.S. officer by the name of Dieter.

Dieter was the EPITOME of “not all men”, except in this concept, it was “not all Nazis”. Now don’t get me wrong, I know there’s complexity within the Nazi party, especially with the whole “are you responsible for your actions or were you simply told to do so” question. So I understand Dieter could have truly had no choice (even though we were literally presented people willing to die for their cause at the beginning of the novel… Anyways). Maybe he had family being held at gunpoint, needed information to help the resistance, etc. I might have been able to accept any of these answers. Except his backstory was never mentioned at all, only hinted at when he was in the midst of seducing Anke. Even worse, Anke just accepted his vague backstory and slept with him? When Anke was in the camps, she had a hatred for the guards and all members of the Nazi party. Yet because she was attracted to Dieter, she didn’t question his morals or what his motives were. It’s just frustrating, because it seemingly goes against everything we’re told Anke believes in.

One thing I hated more than Dieter was Eva Braun’s character and how she was portrayed. While I understand why Anke would have pity for her, Anke seemed to view Braun as more of a child. Anke attributed Braun’s association to Hitler as acceptable because she didn’t know any better. While Braun could have possibly been groomed by Hitler according to some historical sources, she is an adult woman in this book and very much responsible for her actions. It’s important to remember that Eva Braun was a real person connected to a very bad person. I feel like Anke’s dilemma in treating Braun could have been better done overall instead of a light tap on the wrist. 

After examining the characters, I now get to talk about the plot. The book can be divided into two parts. The first half of the book has midwifery scenes (which were actually very interesting) intermixed with some boring story set-up for the second half. The second half of the novel is where everything else starts to go downhill. The rushed romantic subplot seemed to take over everything else and for some reason Robotham, chose to ignore midwifery and the main plot.

I only finished this novel because I wanted to have the satisfaction of knowing what happened. The ending was very unsatisfying because of how rushed it felt. It felt way too abrupt considering how much went wrong with the birth, and the whole kidnapping of Hitler's baby was resolved in ONE paragraph. It felt like some of the subplots were leading up to nothing. Another chapter or two would have tied up the loose ends instead of throwing all the answers in the epilogue.

The only message I actually liked from the book was the message that children aren’t their parents and that children with disabilities have a right to life. But unfortunately that isn’t the only message this book sends. If you like historical fiction, romance, or literature that stands up when you analyze it, I honestly wouldn’t read this book. It seems okay upon the page, but the more you think about it, the more issues arise. 

Rating 1/5: I finished the book, that’s about all I can say.