by Joyce Nwaogazie » 02 Sep 2022, 02:45

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Privilged Descendants" by Gernot Hucek.]

3 out of 4 stars
 

Privileged Descendants is a book by Gernot Hucek, centered on the noble von Hohenwart family during the ten years that allied forces occupied Austria during the post-WWII period. Count Florian von Hohenwart, his wife, Isabel, and their two children, Lucas and Marie, returned to Austria after eighteen years in Switzerland in 1951. In their absence, Friedrich and Gretchen von Bruhl handled the smooth running of the castle. It didn't take much time for Lucas and Marie to get accustomed to Austria. They noticed how the citizens struggled to break free from the shackles of the aftermath of the war. Marie chose to go into politics, so she could be among those that would help Austria regain its freedom. Lucas went into the banking sector but later diverted to the agricultural industry. They encountered various circumstances, which they found ways to overcome. Gretchen had a daughter named Sophie Amalie von Bruhl, an art enthusiast who got involved with a married man, Mr. Aziz Sulayman, which was against their culture. Later on, Mr. Aziz was found dead in his apartment by a woman. An investigation was launched to ascertain the cause of his death. To find out the prime suspects and the ripple effect this incident would have on some of the characters, I'll advise picking up a copy of this masterpiece. The narrative kept changing from one character's life to another.

There were various admirable qualities. At the beginning of the book, the author lists the main characters' names. I thought highly of this gesture because readers were made acquainted with the names they would be seeing while reading. The author was thoughtful enough to incorporate live images into the book. I appreciated this gesture because it made the contents more striking. Readers could also visualize the message being passed across effortlessly. I loved the relationship between the von Hohenwart family. I appreciated that Marie could tell her mother, Isabel, anything bothering her, and her mother would advise and help her without derogatory words. And the relationship Lucas had with Florian, too, adequately depicts a balanced family. I admired how the author didn't make the chapters lengthy. This made the contents easy to assimilate. It also eliminated any chance that boredom would have crept in. I loved the fast-paced narrative and the authentic writing style of the author.

I noticed a discrepancy on page 15 of the book. At the beginning of the chapter, Florian was said to have been assigned 180 men to lead, but after some time, it was reported that he had been appointed 150 men. I was confused by this. Numerous characters were mentioned, and this made it an uphill task to memorize their names. These, however, didn't affect my overall enjoyment of the book.

An aspect that affected my appreciation of the book was the numerous errors I encountered. This showed the book wasn't subjected to thorough editing. Because of this, I'll be giving it a rating of three out of four stars.

I recommend Privileged Descendants to avid readers fascinated by books in the historical fiction genre with intriguing characters and a captivating storyline.