Book Review: In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson

Disclosure and Spoiler Alert:  Due to a combination of listening to this book while working and thus not paying full attention, and the fact that the narrator sounded like a 1940's newscaster and couldn't keep my attention very well to begin with, I only got these take-home messages from this book: Hitler and the powerful Germans of his time were completely crazy and often referred to as displaying child-like behavior and mentalities, Martha was a unabridged whore and Dodd was an affable idiot.  That was it, along with 10 hours of other words that couldn't quite captivate me.

I love Erik Larson's style, and thoroughly enjoyed "Devil in the White City," but I believe this particular work would've been better appreciated if I had actually read it.  Admittedly, I'm also not a Holocaust enthusiast.  In conclusion, my mediocre regard for "In the Garden of Beasts" is a result of the fashion in which it was absorbed and my lack of zeal on the particular subject.  Nevertheless, Martha's many culturally diverse and politically taboo indiscretions were remarkably entertaining.  This book's poor performance notwithstanding, I still anticipate relishing in "Thunderstruck" as it seems to mimic the feel and manner of the aforementioned work, which I adored.