What do readers think of Daughter of the Reich by Louise Fein? Write your own review.

If you are unfamiliar with 1930's Germany, and the rise of Adolph Hitler, this book provides well-researched background, whilst also weaving into the story characters who are pro-Nazi, and those who become increasingly disenchanted with Hitler and his henchmen. As noted by another reviewer, the book has similarities between the early 1930's and today. An alarming thought! A worthwhile read and suitable for Book Group discussions in my opinion.

Hetty Heinrich, the title character of this novel, has a father who is rapidly rising in the Nazi Party in the late 1930s, a mother who fully supports her husband and a brother who is dedicated to the Hitler Youth movement. Hetty herself is on a path to becoming the quintessential Nazi young woman. Then she crosses paths with a childhood friend of her brother's, a blond, blue-eyed Jewish boy. Slowly her eyes are opened to the truth of Naziism, and the story rapidly unfolds. This very readable novel is a change from the usual perspective on the Nazis, told by an at-first sympathetic German insider, rather than an anti-Nazi outsider. I would recommend this book to historical fiction buffs who might like a slightly different perspective on the rise of Adolf Hitler. This is a timely read.

There is no doubt this book was duly researched. The plot was unlike other "Daughter of" books popular now. I was glad to realize that.
I felt there was too much belaboring all dialogues. Sometimes on-and-on explanations do get tiring and I found myself skipping parts of long paragraphs. This was so when Hetty began writing in her diary. The ending was interesting. But after much detail in the previous story it seemed hurried. Many early readers enjoyed the book and I believe bookclubs will be eager to read and discuss Daughter of the Reich.

I love books that deal with the history of WWII and the Nazi's. Unfortunately, this wasn't one that I enjoyed. I found it to be to long and honestly, tedious and boring to read.

Hetty is a young daughter of a high ranking Nazi officer in Germany. Her story begins in 1933 at the start of the campaign against the Jews. She is indoctrinated by her father, teachers and neighbors to hate the Jews. But as she sees the hatred and cruelty of the Nazis, she begins to question the Nazi ideology. The story follows Hetty for several years into her teens, and develops into a love story between her and her Jewish childhood friend, Walter. She then realizes that the persecution of the Jews is immoral and wrong. When Walter has an opportunity to escape to the West and marry, they lose contact and their lives go separate ways. Eventually, in her later years, Hetty makes it to America and meets Walter's new family. This book could easily be considered a YA (Young Adult). It is easy to read with simple language and much dialogue. Hetty's gradual shift from realizing Nazi ideas are a blow to humanity is interesting to watch as her friend, Erna and she become closer. The concepts of indoctrinating children and young people into the Nazi order of hate reminded me of the movie, JoJo Rabbit. It was an interesting read from the viewpoint of a young German, but the overriding love story watered down the serious content.

Overall I liked the story. There are tons of WWII books out there and this had a slightly different premise than any I've read. I found the book too long (over 500 pages) and dragging in parts. I didn't need so many details over so many days to understand that Hetty had feelings for Walter. I did like Hetty and Erna's friendship and looked forward to the parts where they were together.

Daughter of the Reich is a well researched story based loosely on some details of author Louise Fein's family. While the story was interesting especially because it was written from the perspective of a German youth I found it a slow read. The character development was shallow and I never really felt an emotional attachment to Hetty the main character. I also felt the journal entries were too wordy and especially the middle of the story dragged. The ending was good and kept my interest much better. Perhaps if I had read the note from the author before I started the book it might have made a difference in my perception.

"Daughter of the Reich" is the story of teenage forbidden love between the daughter of a high-ranking Nazi and a Jewish boy and, probably, I would have loved reading it as a teenage girl. However, I did not enjoy the first person, present tense exposition (mostly because the naivete and stupidity the narrator exhibited in certain situations was frustrating to experience in "real time" and also because it just wasn't written very well. I'm pretty sure the author did not intend for me to laugh out loud at some of the 'serious' actions taken by the narrator but I did because they were so dumb.) I wasn't a fan of the constant repetition and lovesick proclamations made by the narrator, although I understand that teenagers can be idiots. And there was a 55-year gap at the very end that skimmed over decades of events that, frankly, I probably would have preferred to read about than the love story between two teenagers. However, I was very interested in the parts of the book not focused on the love story - the takeover by the Nazis of everyday German life, the newspaper run by the narrator's father, the narrator's relationship with her parents, the various Hitler youth groups, the creation of the Lebensborn facilities, etc. If this book interests teenagers in life in Nazi Germany and informs them of the hatred of the Jews leading to diaspora and their state-sanctioned murder by couching them within a soppy love story, then it is successful. It should probably be marketed to the young adult market. It is not a literary masterpiece but it is interesting, especially if you just skim over the goofy teenage love bits which are so repetitive. To be honest, I found the Note from the Author about her father's family and the List of Sources at the end of the book very interesting, more so than the fictional story preceding it. I went through some of the things experienced by the narrator (not Nazi Germany but the teenage issues, including the event toward the end that drives the conclusion) so I should have appreciated the dilemma and drama experienced by the narrator but I just couldn't get past the prose. The book is a fast read and parts were very interesting to me - others may find it more enjoyable.