Feature Review

Falling Star: The Curse of Lída Baarová, by A.G. Mogan, is a fascinating story about a famous Czech actress, Lida Baarová, whose rise to fame just before the outset of WWII, catches the attention of film producers and Joseph Goebbels, Hitler's political propaganda man, who was instrumental in navigating the German populace into supporting the Nazi regime, who manipulates Lida into a romantic affair. As the war breaks out, Lida finds herself in a complicated moral stranglehold; she doesn't agree with the Nazi's, she doesn't support them, but her lack of moral compass keeps her attached to Goebbels despite the fact that he is married with children and is Hitler's vocal muscle. The convoluted real-life drama that ensues, follows the actress through the war period, and after, when she becomes the target of both Russian and American interests because of her close affair with Goebbels, and the very desperate roads she must follow to find her way out of the pit she finds herself in. The story is based on actual events; and while the author takes some literary license to fill in parts, overall this is a story, not so much inspiring, but certainly enlightening, showing what happens when fame steps over the line of morality and ethical boundaries, where personal lust and desire transcend propriety, and just how dark that road ahead can become when one continues to walk it. The perspectives, as seen from Lida's eyes, as she skirts the ominous world of Nazism, and her eventual realization of what she has done and her attempt to escape it all, makes for a very interesting read. Recommended.

Review by International Writers Inspiring Change