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| Book Cover from Amazon.com |
For example, becoming a foodie and knowing what the story is behind some of the best foods in the world, is a big thing right now. When a book can take the reader to the distant past, only to contemplate their current situation, that is an extraordinary journey indeed. Want to know more? Get yourself a mocha, and a slice of Sachertorte my friends, it’s time for a review of “Hotel Sacher: A Novel” by Rodica Doehnert.
Opinion
Let me start by saying, I read this lovely book during Thanksgiving afternoon. The prologue was divine and had me looking for how to guides on YouTube on how to make a proper Sachertorte. Granted, I purchased the book in August, but due to all the other stuff I’d been doing, I never got around to reading it before Thanksgiving. As I was relaxing after eating the delicious Thanksgiving meal I had, and fantasizing about a slice of cake that sounds like heaven in food form, I opened this up, and I couldn’t put it down.
Hotel Sacher is a perfect complement to a holiday meal that is based on gratitude. The story itself is not about gratitude though. The story instead talks about where someone should feel gratitude and where recognition is demanded when it’s not earned. It also is about how women of all ages, shapes, and sizes, can rule their destiny when they want to.
We are given an exciting tale where the main focal point of the story, is both a food and a hotel. Now, I love to cook. The act of making delicious food for someone you love, or for your family, is something I take seriously. This book starts on the most delicious prologue I’ve ever seen. For my foodie friends, you should just read this book for the fact the food sounds incredible. There is literal decadence on every single page.
However, after one gets past the food, and trappings of 1890 Vienna, there is a seriously exciting story about two couples who are from very different backgrounds. Among that, woven in like expertly spun silk in a tapestry, are beautiful secondary characters that make every bit of this story fun and fulfilling. This is, however, one of those times when I’m left wondering whom does the author consider the protagonist? I don’t think it matters who that character is, because the focal point of the story is life and how it goes on.
I would love with all my heart to see this novel turned into a Masterpiece special on PBS. I think they could do it easily. Also if they do put it on PBS, someone has to make one of these Sachretorte’s for all to see. No joke, the cake is not a lie in this book my sophisticated internet friends.
This is a fun story that I found just as rich and beautiful in my mind as anything you could see on television. Moreover, the poetic pieces about Love and Death add a perfume of sorts to the tale, leading the reader to consider both a realistic vision of a room, with a supernatural gaze as well.
I do have a couple of criticisms though. As poetic and lovely as this book is, there are times the alteration is far too much for a scene. While I am a massive believer in adding the five senses to any scene, I don’t necessarily think that when there is a part such as someone dying, it needs every grisly piece in it in a book like this. I feel more than when the lovemaking scenes and the scenes of someone dying were poetically put as opposed to graphically placed; they felt more real to the tone of the rest of the book. That is my only complaint to it. The eating scenes drove me insane. I had a big meal, but there was food all over this book. Read with caution if you are on a diet.
Let me also talk about a couple of intriguing elements to this story. Marie, who is a secondary character but one who is incredibly important to the main plot, is impressive. I love the character. I’d like to see a sequel or something just about her and what she ends up doing with her life. I’d love to know how she turned out during World War 2.
Maximillian is a scum bag. I struggled with his character because he was a selfish prig and cheered when I found his ending matched what he deserved. No joke, I thought that was the best justice I’d seen on a character since Gollum fell in a lake of lava for trying to keep the ring. Gollum was more personable than Max. In my opinion, that guy was just disgusting. I don’t care what he did off the page to try to redeem himself; the man was gross. I felt so badly for his wife, and for the woman he wanted. I could argue, he probably was more disgusting than the old prince in this book, for several reasons.
As far as other characters, I wish I would have had more of a feel for Annie. Annie I think was a character that was added to give heart and wonder to her scenes. Moreover, yet, as time went on with the narrative, her role was not only featured less, but I wish she hadn’t been lost off the page. I wanted more Annie. I would have felt more at ease if I had any real closure with her. Wouldn’t it have been just lovely if Annie had some moment where she told her mother Ann off, and it lingered causing her mother great pain? I guess that’s my lament because if that scene happened, I didn’t get a chance to read it.
Overall this story is lovely. If you love Downton Abby, or you were a fan of Victoria on PBS, you probably will enjoy this story. It’s not about England at all, but it’s that flavor period when we were at the end of the Victorian era and through World War 1 in Vienna.
I think Rodica did a fantastic job with everything she put into this story. I hope to read more of her work going forward because I genuinely enjoyed the experience this novel brought me.
Score
I am going to give Hotel Sacher a well-deserved 92/100. It’s beautiful to read; also it has an Audible tag to it if you want to listen to it as well, and it’s perfect for afternoons with hot tea and cookies.
