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Sektion 20
Alex Ostermann lives in an apartment block with his family in East Berlin. He hates the regime and his parents are worried that Alex and his sister, Geli, aren't displaying the correct 'socialist attitude'. After school they are often followed. Friends suddenly break off relations. The final straw comes when Alex is arrested. With the help of professional 'escape assistant...more
Paperback, 288 pages
Published
February 14th 2012
by Bloomsbury USA Childrens
(first published September 5th 2011)
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I have read two other books by Paul Dowsewell and his new books are always pretty good. Although this book has a similar story line to Auslander, as the plot revolves around a teenage boy, who wants to escape his life once he realizes the world is not quite what the authorities tell him it is. Plus add a love interest that is not to mushy who he can relate to but that comes from a totally different background then his, and you have nearly the same plot set up. This book focuses on Alex who grows...more
Review by Beth
When I received this novel in my last haul from Emma, I have to say the cover didn’t impress me. It looked like it was going to be action-packed and adventurous which is not my usual style. I couldn’t have been more wrong.
Sektion 20 is far and beyond one of the best accounts of post-War Eastern-Bloc Germany I have ever read and I’ve studied German History at degree level. This story worked perfectly, clearly showed how lift in the Communist East was far from the idyll that they po...more
When I received this novel in my last haul from Emma, I have to say the cover didn’t impress me. It looked like it was going to be action-packed and adventurous which is not my usual style. I couldn’t have been more wrong.
Sektion 20 is far and beyond one of the best accounts of post-War Eastern-Bloc Germany I have ever read and I’ve studied German History at degree level. This story worked perfectly, clearly showed how lift in the Communist East was far from the idyll that they po...more
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This is a wonderful, compelling young adult novel, portraying life in the former East Germany from the point of view of a teenage boy who is beginning to struggle to deal with all the constraints that that society imposed on the cultural and lifestyle choices of its’ inhabitants. Alex and his sister Geli live in East Berlin in 1972 and are trying to grow and develop their own interests, his in music and hers in photography, but under the restrictive rules of the socialist realist dictates of the...more
I once again fell victim to Kindle's Daily Deals with Sektion 20. The £0.99 seemed so inviting and the synopsis sounded interesting. It wasn't. Instead this felt like the type of East Berlin-based thriller you'd get in an episode of MacGyver or 1980s Mission: Impossible. The author writes at the end that he tried to offer a balanced portrayal of East Berlin and the DDR as many who lived through it talk favourably while others are highly critical. This is certainly not the impression I got. For s...more
Alex lives in East Berlin. The cold war is raging and he and his family are forbidden to leave. But the longer he stays, the more danger he is in. Alex is no longer pretending to be a model East German, and the Stasi has noticed. They are watching him.Alex is told that further education will be blocked to him. His summer job is mysteriously cancelled, and friends begin avoiding him. His parents start to realize that leaving the East may be the only option left to them, but getting across the Wal...more
4.5 stars.
Firstly, there is one thing that I wish I had done: I wish I had read Sektion 20 after I had visited Berlin, after I learnt more about The Cold War, the Stasi, and the idea behind the Berlin Wall, and the rest of the history being there where it all happened. After I became to know the city inside out like a resident of Berlin does. But I hadn’t. I read Sektion 20 fourteen days before I left for Europe, for Berlin. It would’ve been wholesomely better and I more connected if I had exper...more
Firstly, there is one thing that I wish I had done: I wish I had read Sektion 20 after I had visited Berlin, after I learnt more about The Cold War, the Stasi, and the idea behind the Berlin Wall, and the rest of the history being there where it all happened. After I became to know the city inside out like a resident of Berlin does. But I hadn’t. I read Sektion 20 fourteen days before I left for Europe, for Berlin. It would’ve been wholesomely better and I more connected if I had exper...more
Also reviewed on the blog: http://gloriousbooks.blogspot.com/201...
This was a new kind of read for me, apart from Between Shades of Grey I've never read anything based on any kind of war because it normally doesn't really appeal to me.
This was quite a good read for the most part. The problem for me though is that it doesn't completely keep me utterly engrossed in the story the whole way through. I only started to get into it around half way through even if exciting things happened throughout. It...more
This was a new kind of read for me, apart from Between Shades of Grey I've never read anything based on any kind of war because it normally doesn't really appeal to me.
This was quite a good read for the most part. The problem for me though is that it doesn't completely keep me utterly engrossed in the story the whole way through. I only started to get into it around half way through even if exciting things happened throughout. It...more
This story takes place mostly in East Berlin in 1972, when it was under Communist rule & two teens rebel against the strictness & dreariness of life, while their parents struggle to keep them on the safe & narrow path that will get them opportunities for a good education & job. Gives you a look at a way of life that no longer exists in Germany, since the Berlin Wall came down.
Good story, but brought down by bad writing. The entire thing was an example of why 'show don't tell' is so important, along with copious amounts of confusing head-hopping. :|
An excellent way for children to gain some historical knowledge of life in East Germany under the Stasi.
This was a very traditional book, and very simple until the end.
A quite enjoyable YA novel that gives a great insight into what life may have been like in the DDR in the 1970s before the Wall fell.
The main character dreams big, but at times I didn't feel as invested in his plight as I imagine the author would have liked. In fact, I believe I would have got more enjoyment out of the book had I been following his girlfriend Sophie as her story was of more interest.
That being said the research into this time, and the attitudes of the teenagers all felt authenti...more
The main character dreams big, but at times I didn't feel as invested in his plight as I imagine the author would have liked. In fact, I believe I would have got more enjoyment out of the book had I been following his girlfriend Sophie as her story was of more interest.
That being said the research into this time, and the attitudes of the teenagers all felt authenti...more
Clear depictions of sad life
Boek over het leven in Oost Berlijn voordat de muur viel. Blijft een bizarre samenleving als de organisatie van die samenleving niet gebaseerd is op vrijheid van meningsuiting. Boek met historisch besef maar traag. In bibliotheken in de collectie voor jongeren. Ben benieuwd wat jongeren er van vinden. Is de spanningsboog voldoende om door te lezen en zo een vleugje geschiedenis mee te pikken?
Good teenage fiction that shows what life was like for teenagers growing up in East Berlin during the 1970's.
Found this book slow for the first half but definitely worth the read.
I found that I could relate to the main character and could wholly imagine the situation and the need to question and rebel. The oppression Alex and his family felt was tangible with the description of school and life as a teen in East Germany shockingly clear. Great book.
I was surprised that this wasn't as skillfully written as Dowswell's other book, "Auslander". Only 3 stars because of the amateurish style--it just didn't flow very well for me.
Apr 04, 2013
Obssesive Girl Loves Chocolate
marked it as to-read
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Mar 28, 2013
Gilda [Shipwreck In A Sea Of Faces]
marked it as to-read
Mar 16, 2013
Skyla
marked it as to-read
Feb 23, 2013
Jennifer Crispin
marked it as to-read
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