Хотел Захер

by Rodica Doehnert, Родика Дьонерт

И днес в сърцето на Виена, точно срещу Националния оперен театър, се издига внушителната сграда на хотел с емблематично име - „Захер“. Построен през втората половина на XIX век, хотелът, собственост на Едуард Захер, сина на създателя на едноименната торта, бързо се превръща в център за срещи на виенския, а и на европейския политически и културен елит. В неговите елегантни апартаменти отсядат държавни глави, звезди от цял свят, а в легендарните дискретни сепарета вечерят император Франц Йозеф, кралица Елизабет II, Херберт фон Караян...
Името „Захер“ е известно на милиони хора по света, но малцина знаят, че блясъкът и престижът на хотела, а и дълговечната слава на прочутата торта, се дължат на една жена - Ана Мария Захер, на нейния финес, безпогрешен вкус, неизчерпаема енергия и здрава ръка...

С приложена оригиналната рецепта за торта „Захер“.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Historical, Romance, 19th Century, Historical Romance, Book Club

352 pages, Paperback

First published November 21, 2016

Reviews

[Susan Rosoff · Rating 1 out of 5]

Perhaps one shouldn't be disappointed in a free book, but I expected, as reviewed, that the book would be more about Anna Sacher and her management of the hotel. It was more about those in her circle, and their lives. The writing style was jerky, and the transitions poor. Overall, this was not a book I appreciated.

[Irene Sauman · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are a great many low ratings for this book, which is surprising in some respects. The style seemed to be an issue for many. I agree that it left something to be desired, but didn't find that it distracted from the story.
The lives of the characters portrayed the times well, except for Marie, the girl who spent eight or so years of her life as a prisoner in a crypt under the Opera House. Was that supposed to turn her into the character the author later depicted? It didn't ring true, but she, like the others, was there to portray the social history. They all represented something of Austria's culture in the late 19th and early 20th century, and what led to World War One and the changes that followed.
Concentration on this aspect led to other parts of the story being a little thin. For such a sumptuous hotel as the Sacher, we see nothing of it. There are no descriptions, and I got no feel of Vienna.
I can't help remembering that wonderful book, A Gentleman of Moscow, and how this could have, but doesn't, come close to it.

[Aneta Batakchieva · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Човек винаги проявява най-голям интерес към неизвестното."

Искаше ми се да има повече от историята на Ана Захер, като че ли ми стоеше леко в сянка, а всичко по-важно се случваше около нея и хотела. Повечето от останалите персонажи са художествена измислица, а им се отдели много и на фокус бяха любовните авантюри на две семейни двойки.
Възможно е и това да е бил замисълът.Тя да се явява само обединител ,тъй като хотелът по времето си под нейно ръководство, е бил средище на политически и социални сътресения, а тя умело е успявала да предотвратява напрежението ,както и да си затваря очите , когато се е налагало.

[Kelly Garcia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hmmm. I could not enjoy this book.

I couldn't finish this book. I really WANTED to love this book based on its blurb. But I knew from the first few pages that this was going to be a drag. And I love reading. So FYI, after days and days of trying to get myself interested in this book, I Gave up at 45% and proceeded to write this review.

I enjoy good lengthy storyline with extensive discription, engaging dialogue, and well established charters and relationships (not just romances: mother-daughter, friend-friend etc), and clean romances. This book met none of those delights.

This wasn't like reading a novel. It was like reading postcards stacked on top of each other. The author gave a quick discription of the scene and then "this" happened. You have no chance to connect with any character before you're pushed, prodded and shoveled into the next postcard with all the gentleness of a charging rhinoceros.

Probably the most interesting things in this book were the personifications of Death and Love. Today's typical writing doesn't usually include this style and at first it was refreshing.... Until you see what the author deems as Love has no intention of fulfilling her namesake (true love does not envy or selfishly think only of its own desires but protects, trusts, hopes and perseveres--1 Cor 13:4-8, Bible). No, instead the Love character is just a typical personification of selfish, self-serving Lust, a dry and poor excuse to sate selfish passions--and did I mention selfish?

So no, I really don't recommend this book if you're looking for any of the qualities I crave written above.
I recommend this book if you enjoy shallow reading: in scenery, character development, plot, and moral fibre.

[Emily · Rating 2 out of 5]

While this book had promise, I cannot recommend it.

Perhaps due to format (I read the Kindle version), it seemed to jump around from one character's story to another character's story within the span of a paragraph or two.

The author had a cast of many characters, and with that, none of them ever really got fleshed out. You got bits and pieces of everyone's story, but never a enough story to explain what the author had designed in her head. In the beginning of the book Anna Sacher seemed to dislike her children then flipped back and forth as they were older between loving and hating them. The dialog was oddly simple between these characters lacking real emotion.

The portrayal of Maxmillan was strange. At two points in the book he forced himself on women who were saying no, but then it was written as if their bodies' gave in and they were fine with the whole situation. The scenes were glossed over and written as if it wasn't an issue.

This could have been a good historical story, but it was a shallow story with too many characters without character building.

[Doronike · Rating 3 out of 5]

Varbūt tas nav piedienīgi, bet man patīk viesnīcas. Visticamāk tādeļ, ka man tās nesaistās ar darbu, bet ar ceļojumiem, brīvību no ikdienas un zināmu anonimitāti, kad tu esi viesis uz īsu brīdi. Turklāt man patīk arī t.s. ražosanas romāni, kad detalizēti tiek apstāstīts par kādas nozares/profesijas aizkulisēm. Tādēļ es laikam izlasīju "Zahera viesnīcu", lai arī neko lielu no romāna negaidīju. Jāsaka, ka romāns atstāj skaista skeleta iespaidu - viesnīca te ir tikai viena no darbības vietām, bet viesnīcas saimniece Anna tikai viens no daudzajiem personāžiem. Neteiksim, ka arī pārējie varoņi būtu nopelnījuši daudz laika romānā, tās ir tikai skices plašos triepienos. Varbūt grāmata iegūtu augstāku vērtējumu, ja lasītājs nejustu, ka viņš varēja dabūt daudz vairāk. Vīne un Berlīne 20.gs. sākumā ir krāšņas un notikumiem bagātas pilsētas, bet no tām ir tikai atblāzma.

[Christina Merrill · Rating 2 out of 5]

Picked this as my Kindle First because theoretically, this should have hit all my buttons - historical setting, multiple characters, strong female protagonist. What I expected was an engaging historical novel that captured the atmosphere of turn-of-the-century Vienna. What I got was a rushed, disjointed narrative with characters that felt like puppets. I have to wonder if elements of this story were lost in translation because I didn't understand so many of the choices with regards to plot and characterization. The allegorical characters of Love and Death made absolutely no sense to me - what was even the point, because there were no other elements of magical realism in the story at all. I really thought the author should have spent more time fleshing out her principal characters instead of just jumping around from vignette to vignette. I didn't like any of the characters that we did get to spend time with, either. This novel could have been so much more than it was. Blah.

[Kristīne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Romāns pēc scenārija.

Ja nebūtu zinājusi, ka vispirms tapusi televīzijas filma, un tikai pēc tam sarakstīta grāmata, varbūt lasītu grāmatu savādāk. Tagad šis tiešām šķiet kā papildinājums filmām, ar īsām mizanscēnām, pārāk daudziem varoņiem (kuru raksturi noteikti labāk nolasās vizuālā medijā).

It kā interesanti, bet tai pašā laikā ne pārāk - jo ar varoņiem emocionālo saiti nepaspēju izveidot.

Varbūt sižets zaudē no nekorektā nosaukuma? Man ļoti patika tādi tv seriāli kā Dauntonas Abatija, Misters Selfridžs, un liktos, ka Zahera viesnīca seko šiem pašiem principiem - viena leģendāra vieta, kas sevī savij tur mītošo/strādājošo cilvēku likteņus. Kur vieta pati kļūst par stāsta varoni. Zahera viesnīca gan te parādās tikai kā foajē, kur varoņiem tikties, un pāris gadījumos kalpo par grēka vietu laulības pārkāpējiem.

Varēja būt labi - šī leģendārā vieta (par kuru gan dzirdēju pirmo reizi), solītais aristokrātijas noriets līdz ar 1.pasaules kara sākumu, kaislības, nu viss, kas sasolīts uz pēdējā vāka - kaut kur pazuda. Grāmata varēja būt - biezāka, detalizētāka, pamatīgāka. No slavenās Zahera tortes palicis tikai gaisīgais biskvīts, bet kur aprikožu ievārījums, kur šokolādes glazūra un putukrējums?

[Karma♥Bites ^.~]

I went to select this month's First Read, saw this book & immediately thought:


With biergartens, wiener schnitzels & desserts like the famous Sachertorte, how could I *not* gain weight whilst in Wien??

And how could I not select this book? :-)

[Lily Pink · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oh dear, a decent enough idea but clunky sentence construction and a strange lack of detail,maybe it was the translation. I know Vienna, the Hotel Sacher and am aware of Austria’s turbulent history and this novel did not convince on any level.I kept hoping for better but nothing came.

[Irene · Rating 3 out of 5]

Als Eduard, de man van Anna Sacher en directeur van het hotel, overlijdt, gaat iedereen ervan uit dat ze zich zal terugtrekken uit het hotel. Anna laat zich niet in een keurslijf dwingen en besluit zelf de leiding te nemen. Als op een dag een echtpaar uit Berlijn en uit Wenen in Hotel Sacher arriveert, raakt hun leven in een stroomversnelling.

Een redelijk vlotlezend boek over Hotel Sacher in de jaren 1892-1918. Hoewel de achterkant doet vermoeden dat het verhaal vooral over Anna Sacher gaat en dat zij alles op alles moet zetten om te voorkomen dat ze meegesleurd wordt in een draaikolk van liefde en verraad, blijkt dit niet helemaal waar te zijn.
In het boek volg je vooral Martha en Maximilian (echtpaar uit Berlijn) en Konstanze en Georg von Traunstein (echtpaar uit Wenen) en gedeeltelijk Anna Sacher. Daarnaast wordt ook Marie gevolgd en zijn bepaalde stukken geschreven vanuit De Liefde en De Dood. De Liefde en De Dood mochten wat mij betreft meer uitgewerkt worden om het symbolisch over te laten komen. Wat mij betreft was het niet van toegevoegde waarde. Feitjes uit de Weense geschiedenis zijn overigens wel goed in het verhaal verwerkt en achterin is een handige tijdlijn te vinden.

De personages mochten wat mij betreft iets meer uitgewerkt worden en af en toe werd er al heel snel gewisseld van personage. Dit was tijdens het lezen niet altijd even prettig.

Los van het feit dat de achterflap iets anders vertelde en bovengenoemde punten, heb ik in het algemeen toch best lekker gelezen.

[Jennifer Lafferty · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this Vienness soap opera spanning the late 19th century to post WWI 20th century. The multiple, interwoven plotlines centering around the Hotel Sacher are provocative, entertaining and poignant. It is a well-written story that reflects on the evolution of society and human beings.

[Helen Hollick · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the exclusive Hotel Sacher, the proprietor Eduard Sacher is dying. His wife Anna is doing what she sees as her wifely duty by checking on her husband from time to time and seeing that the hotel is running as smoothly as the guests expect. She hopes to continue managing the hotel after her husband’s passing and feels she is fully capable of doing so. Her father-in-law, who is in retirement, arrives and tells her he has other plans. He wants to sell the hotel, and cannot imagine that Anna – a woman and mother of young children – can run it properly.

Two couples arrive that same night. Maximilian and Martha Aderhold from Berlin are on their honeymoon. They have come to Vienna to find authors for their new publishing house. The second couple is Prince Georg von Traunstein and Princess Konstanze. Their six-month-old marriage is not a love match but one of mutual benefit, she having Money and he having a Name. These two couples along with the disappearance of a young employee of the hotel provide a web of plots that are intertwined. The Sacher Hotel is the hub against which the pivotal events of their lives are played out.

Two other unusual characters deserve a mention: Love and Death. As soon as I read in the prologue, of Love taking a seat in the foyer and Death climbing a rear wall of the rear of the hotel, I was hooked. And inevitably I said to myself: I wish I had thought of that.

Through the author’s deft writing we see romance, politics, war, infidelity, tragedy, some happy endings, some not so happy, and women’s attempts to traverse the outer reaches of the Imperial court. We examine women’s tottering steps at self-reliance and the tremendous strength it takes to remain independent, and the many aspects of love. The plot is character-driven and the characters are believable, true to themselves.

The author plays out the story line skilfully and subtly. So, to summarize, the book is brim-full of interest.

I have one caveat. There is quite a long list of characters, and the narrative hopped about between them in, sometimes, short segments. Since most of the characters are fictional, I think some of these sections could have been combined in a longer sequence. It would have made the story flow better.

Even so, I thoroughly enjoyed this book, one of the best I have read in a long time, and recommend it for anyone who fancies something different.

Anna Sacher and her children were real people, and the Sacher Hotel still exists today. I was in Vienna five years ago on one of those self-indulgent/research jaunts, but I never saw the hotel. If I had, I might have popped in for a cup of tea and a slice of the famous Sachertorte, a chocolate cake created by Anna’s father-in-law. There is a recipe for it at the beginning of the book.

Reviewed for Discovering Diamonds

[Iset · Rating 2 out of 5]

Don't get me wrong, just because I didn't finish this book doesn't mean I think it's terrible. I've read far worse in my time. But what it simply came down to was that I wasn't enjoying it, I had no interest in what was going to happen next, and frankly there are far better books waiting for me to pick them up.

Part of the problem was my expectations going in. I expected a strong focus on Anna Sacher and the hotel, a kind of historical fiction business drama with lots of lavish descriptions of the Viennese Belle Epoque... The book was nothing like that. The focus is not on the Sachers and their hotel, but often on completely fictional characters whose boring romantic troubles I had no interest in. And the book was sadly lacking in lavish descriptions.

But mainly the problem was with the writing style itself. Each section is incredibly short, sometimes no more than two or three paragraphs. I felt like I never really got to know any of the characters. There was never an opportunity to sit down with them and reflect for a length of time, to get to know them in depth. As a result, I really didn't care about the stories of these people who were barely more than their names to me. And I didn't enjoy the rather ham-handed allegories of Love and Death personified - that was all too on the nose, too obvious, trying too hard to be literary and pretentiously clever.

Not the book for me.

3 out of 10

[Marjolijn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ik las dit boek eigenlijk alleen maar omdat ik in Hotel Sacher een van de lekkerste (en duurste) stukken taart ooit heb gegeten. En omdat Wenen zo’n fijne stad is.

Het boek leest als een soap, maar wel eentje die in mijn geliefde belle epoque speelt.

[Monica Lynne · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5. Read this book a while back but was watching the German TV miniseries on PBS and I was reminded of the book and that I enjoyed it.

[MK ( MaKayla) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Death and Love as narrators ?? When it became clear that Death and Love were going to narrate this story I was skeptical that I would enjoy it at all . Despite this I decided to give it a go anyways , thinking this kind of narration deserves a try . It turns out that I was wrong , I quickly went from skeptical to irritated .This POV was all over the place ( just like this review 😂) the POV switched back and forth without any sort of division , or warning about the change .

We have Death one minute ,and then Love is there giving her input on the situation from her POV just out of nowhere . Then the next chapter I believe was from the wife of the hotel owner and then Death and Love are just randomly popping in . Then suddenly it's a little girls POV ,she works at the hotel , and suddenly getting another side narration . It was just way too confusing. 😅

Secondly this is the kind of book that helps carry on the stigma of historical fiction being seen as boring and dry . It just lacks a certain something .

Thirdly I don't know if it's because it was translated into English ,but the writing was just off . I was listening to this and even still I struggled to figure out what was going on at certain points .

[Michelle DiCandido · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have been to Vienna and the Sacher Hotel. I also enjoy historical fiction. I found the book to be a quick read and entertaining. Maybe not a page turner, but I did find myself looking forward to reading it each night and trying to figure out what would happen with the characters. The characters were believable and the intertwining of a Love and Death character added an interesting twist. Overall I would recommend this book if you enjoy historical fiction. I had recommended it to my husband, before I read it, since he had spend several months in Vienna for business, and was looking for a new book to read. He enjoyed it, so I decided to read it. Also, this was one of the free books with Amazon Prime. So, I was pleasantly surprised with how enjoyable of a read it was, as the free reads tend to be hit or miss.

[Valeria · Rating 3 out of 5]

Knjiga o pričama isprepletanim oko Ane Zaher, prve biznis žene Austro-Ugarskog carstvu, oko njenog hotela i u njemu, nastala po scenariju za istoimeni film snimljen 2016. Dobila sam je kao rođendanski poklon, na dan svog prvog putovanja u Beč dok je na listi šta treba uraditi bilo napisano: "Jesti original Zaher tortu". Evo sada, dva meseca kasnije, iako sam priču znala odgledavši film još onomad kad je bio nov, prisećala sam se razdaljine od opere do hotela i bogatog ukusa bezmalo dva veka stare poslastice.
Sigurna sam da bih više uživala da sam je čitala na Nemačkom jer mi rečenice poput:"Tek sa njim se osećala kao putena žena" izazivaju fizički otpor ali zahvalna sam drugarici koja mi ju je poklonila. Upotpunila je moje Zaher iskustvo. :)

[Kristin · Rating 1 out of 5]

Terrible. Actually started fairly interesting. The characters locked me in it could have been so fantastic. However it became extremely disconnected, The try at having death and love as characters became ridiculous and absolutely stupid. I ended up hating everything about this book. I can't even call it a story. Honestly it starts well, but gets really dumb. I am annoyed that I spent time reading it.

[Lola · Rating 3 out of 5]

Insgesamt unterhaltend, aber leider war mir die Geschichte an vielen Stellen zu wenig ausgearbeitet, sodass z.B. Handlungsstränge ziemlich plötzlich abgerissen sind.

[Kelly (AndKellyReads)]

Never really kept my interest so it was a struggle to get through. I had a hard time keeping all the characters straight, but I honestly did try. Beautifully written otherwise.

[Hedvig · Rating 3 out of 5]

Magyarul. Elég érdekes volt ahhoz, hogy végigolvassam, de ez napokig tartott.

[Maija Dobele · Rating 3 out of 5]

Laba un viegla nedēļas nogales lasāmviela, kad domas gribas novērst no darba nedēļas. Lai gan uzmanībai uz tēlu izpēti pietrūka dziļuma, kas traucēja izveidot emocionālu saikni ar varoņiem, un brīžiem radās iespaids, ka sižets ir izstiepts, bez pārliecinoša un skaidra vēstījuma, ko lasītājs varētu saņemt no romāna, bet tieši valoda un veiksmīgi izmantotie mākslinieciskās izteiksmes līdzekļi un atsevišķas trāpīgās domas sniedz vislielāko pienesumu, un to bija patiešām daudz. Te dažas:

"Ielas laternas iezīmēja miglā pienainus gaismas ķegļus."

"Nelaimīgs vīrietis nespēj darīt sievieti laimīgu. Viņš spēj padarīt to tikai atkarīgu."

"Mīlestība vēroja abus cilvēkus, kurus vienoja neredzama saikne. Visums bija pilns ar šādām saiknēm - tās veidoja neredzamu tīklu, kas saveda kopā tos, kuri bija izkaisīti pa visām debesmalām."

"Cilvēks meklēja savu trūkstošo daļu. Un reti atrada meklēto. Vēl retāk viņam izdevās ar otra cilvēka palīdzību remdēt ilgas pēc savas paša pilnības."

"Šī diena ir vakardienas rezultāts. Mums jāpēta, ko vakardiena gribējusi, ja zināt vēlamies, ko gribēs nākamā," Marija citēja rindiņas no Heines dzejoļa."

[Sandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Die letzten 70 Seiten stimmten mich versöhnlicher. Der Roman beschreibt die Handlung des TV-Zweiteilers "Das Sacher-in guter Gesellschaft". Leider tut es aber auch nicht viel mehr. Über 250 Seiten wird eigentlich eins zu eins der Film nacherzählt, was nicht schlimm wäre, wäre da nicht die Oberflächlichkeit. Die Charaktere haben keinen Tiefgang und erst die letzten ca. 60 Seiten konnten mich fesseln, sodass ich immer noch ein Kapitel mehr lesen wollte.

Mein Fazit: Man darf nicht erwarten etwas über das bekannte Hotel Sacher zu erfahren, denn dieses ist vor allen ein Hauptspielplatz der Handlung, wobei Anna Sacher nicht sehr viel Raum einnimmt.
Es ist eine oberflächliche Liebesgeschichte mit einigen Wendungen, die aber auch keine große Überraschung sind.
Ich würde es nicht unbedingt weiterempfehlen und vergebe 2,5 Sterne, wobei wie erwähnt nur die letzten Seiten den halben Atern zusätzlich gebracht haben.

[Cindy (BKind2Books) · Rating 2 out of 5]

The reading equivalent of a foreign film...I think that perhaps something was lost in translation, or maybe it’s the cultural differences or references that are missing. Whatever the cause, I could not find myself caring about the characters. The writing seemed disjointed and choppy. I think there was potential here - the author was writing about a real people in a time that could have been exciting. Even the title is somewhat misleading as the hotel is only on the periphery for much of the novel. The action covers the late 1890s / early 1900s through WWI. But the times are less important than the interplay between the 2 main couples. I guess that is my other complaint-the grand passions seem so dull and prosaic. I’m just glad this was a free book.

[Sharon · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book begins at the very end of the 1800's and extends until the end of WWI. The hub of the book is the Hotel Sacher, an establishment in Vienna a city in the Austria-Hungarian Empire run (very atypically) by a woman. Although much of the action occurs away from the hotel, each character has a connection to it. Through these connections and an examination of the many lives that flow through the hotel, we see the circumstances that led to the war as well as viewing the lives, both high, low and middle class that were changed by that war. The characters are interesting and the book inparts the atmosphere of the times. As a bonus the book includes a recipe for the famous Sacher tort!

[Elizabeth Edwards · Rating 5 out of 5]

new author 2 me, I look forward 2 more from this writer, this cover, totally drew me in. the coloring, the calm-ness .. always a fan of a great cover. 1892 ... a not normal time era for me to read in ...but I love changing it up ... well written, super great characters, love the style and quickly drawn in. oh yeah!!

[Linda Bridges · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't know if it was the translation or the actual writing, but I found this book to be incredibly dull. The characters were very one dimensional and wooden. Also the book wasn't exactly about the hotel at all but about people that interacted with it peripherally. I only gave it a two star rating because there was at least a plot.

[Tracey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Normally I don’t like books that bounce around between the various characters but the flow of this book was wonderful. It’s smartly written and should be required reading for high schoolers. Maybe they would finally understand that war didn’t solve anything.