Max Hardcover – March 7, 2017

As a young reader I devoured stories of the Nazis. I was astounded at the atrocities and could not imagine how anyone, let alone practically an entire nation could be made to act in such cruel ways. I’m not sure how I would have received this book when I was a young teenager. It should come with some warnings. Max is written from the point of view of a child of the Nazis. Our protagonist Max starts starts his tale in vitro, so it’s a bit unbelievable, to say the least. I suspended my disbelief and continued to roll with it waiting and waiting for Max to come to his senses and show enough humanity to rebel. I don’t want to give the story away. It’s a difficult read—brutality, rape, children who murder, all in vivid detail. I would say the author was courageous to tell this story the way she did. She gives us very little reason to like the protagonist, but I stayed with him hoping and hoping he would take a stand.

I am not ready to write a review on this book. I need to try to digest this book. Try to understand what the message actually meant.

Wow!!! Wasn't sure if I was going to like this book but the writer did a great job. Better than expected

This is the story of a child born under the Nazi "Lebensborn" program, which was essentially a program to breed pure Ayran babies who would be the future leaders of the Third Reich. Max is born on April 20, 1936, making him the first baby to roll off the production line. He is also the narrator of this story which covers not just the Lebensborn program but also the abduction and "germanification" of suitably Ayran children from other countries and the lives of ordinary Germans as the war drew to a close. Real people and events are woven into the story.Max is a lively narrator who is initially very euphoric about all things Nazi and who can't wait to grow up and fight for the Fatherland. While he never knows his mother, he understands that she was selected and rigorously examined to ensure that she was a perfect Ayran specimen. He is indoctrinated in Nazism from infancy and therefore is very matter of fact about the abduction of Polish children - in his eyes they are lucky to be receiving a German upbringing. However things become murkier when he befriends Lukas, a blonde and blue eyed Pole who is secretly Jewish. Gradually his enthusiasm will wane and his disenchantment will grow over the course of the war.My central issue with the story is Max's youth. He has only just turned nine when the war ends. Essentially, his narration is a device and you have to suspend disbelief that a child would think the things that he does and just go with the story - which he starts telling us when he's still a foetus in the womb.Originally published in France in 2012, Max has only recently been translated into English.

This is one of the most unsettling books I've read this year. It is the adult tone of the narrator, which never varies from his introduction in the womb until the end of the book. It is the unflinching descriptions of rape, murder and human experimentation. It is the nazi rhetoric that the narrator is born believing in wholeheartedly and without question. Honestly, it makes for compelling and horrifying reading. I found it hard to put down, but I'm not sure it is something everyone should pick up. Readers who aren't careful might just miss the message, and I honestly feared that this much exposure to nazi rhetoric was a bad idea, even though I understood the ultimate goal. It is a book that I think needs to come with a careful discussion and guidance. As a teacher, I can say it's going to be problematic for schools because of the content - graphic descriptions of awful crimes against humanity and blunt descriptions of sex, mostly non-consensual. I get the message the book is intending to share and it is a powerful work. I really liked the book and I believe it is an amazing concept, but it isn't something I would hand to a YA reader. I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley, though this in no way influenced my review.

I read a lot and this book was different from anything I've read. The premise is so different (narrated in adult language but by a baby in-utero until age 9). The writing is terrific and the story is like no other I've read. I hadn't found any great historical fiction books on the Lebesborn program and this one gave much detail. I highly recommend this book-still thinking about several days after finishing.

I think this is one of the most powerful books I have ever read, and I have read A LOT of books in my life. I was quite familiar with the subject, thanks to other parts of literature I had been exposed through school, yet this one came as the missing link to a ton of things that were scattered as ideas of the unthinkable. If I could compare it I would put it among 1984, Arrival and departure and The land of the Blind. Somehow it combines both, like a good punch in the underbelly of the reader.In these pages one sees how youth from the WAVE, EUROPA EUROPA , Anne Frank and her buddies in hide, The kids of the white rose club, the Children of the Swing, sharing the same plate and beating.I could not read it right through, it took time to stomach it properly. But it changed my life forever, too.A MUST read.

This book is remarkable and one of my favorite disturbing historical fiction novels. With Max's narration, the reader sees a while new side of the deeply ingrained psychological and spiritual beliefs of the Natzi regime. This book should bother you on multiple levels and force you to think about Max, his mother, and his entire world as he develops from the "perfect Aryan baby" to a misguided concept.

This novel is just a great read from start to finish. Seeing the twisted world of Max from before he was even conceived is both interesting and confronting about the efforts in WWII. Max goes from a fully indoctrinated child to slowly learning about how to care about other people, especially when the closest thing he has to friend turns out to be Jew. Though Max initially has some horrific views about the world and about different people, as he grows he begins to question what he's being taught, especially when Germany starts losing the war later on.A moving story, I definitely recommend.

I've never read a book quite like this one... disturbing, heartbreaking, emotional, horrific ,funny and educational.Everyone should bear witness to this, everyone should remember and learn.No monster could ever be as evil as some humans.Max/Konrad was psychologically broken, brainwashed and a scary little child, but his journey back to humanity was incredible... In writing, character development and as a story that kept me hooked from start to finish.

Honestly I went into this book sceptically. I wasn’t sure the perspective from a foetus, baby and then child was going to be too hard to believe but I was so completely wrong. It is so clever, so well written and brilliant. I was completely drawn in to the characters and sad when the book finished, I wanted to know more, where they ended up and how they lived. Fantastic book.

Great read. X

My new favourite book! Educational and captivating! Could not stop reading.