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The Moment
by
Douglas Kennedy (Goodreads Author)
From the New York Times bestselling author of Leaving the World comes a tragic love story set in Cold War Berlin. Thomas Nesbitt is a divorced writer in the midst of a rueful middle age. Living a very private life in Maine, in touch only with his daughter and still trying to recover from the end of a long marriage, his solitude is disrupted one wintry morning by the arriva...more
ebook, 544 pages
Published
May 3rd 2011
by Atria Books
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The Moment by Douglas Kennedy was such a suprise in a good way in that it was much better than i could of ever expected. While i was drawn to the book by the setting of Cold War Berlin something i have been facinated by for many years what totally suprised me was how good the overall story was. At no point did i feel that the romantic parts were overdone or cliched. The story itself was truelly gripping and engaging. At times sad, at times hilarious but at no time boring something emphasised by...more
As the book opens in modern day the reader is introduced to a man, Thomas, about to get a divorce. The book soon goes into flashback and the story of Thomas's great love is revealed. Set in Berlin just prior to the fall of the Berlin wall the book is full of the dark, distrustful atmosphere you would expect. The woman that 25 yr old Thomas meets is Petra and her story, when it is finally revealed, is peppered with the horrors of living through incarceration and interrogation before finally being...more
The Moment by Douglas Kennedy is primarily a Love story with a little historical content thrown in.
This is the story of Thomas Nesbitt who is a divorced American writer living in Maine. He lives a quiet life until one day a package arrives from Berlin and his past is brought back to haunt him.
The package is from Petra Dussmann a woman he had an intense love affair with over twenty five years ago in a divided Berlin under the shadows of the Cold War.
Petra Dussman was a refugee from the police sta...more
This is the story of Thomas Nesbitt who is a divorced American writer living in Maine. He lives a quiet life until one day a package arrives from Berlin and his past is brought back to haunt him.
The package is from Petra Dussmann a woman he had an intense love affair with over twenty five years ago in a divided Berlin under the shadows of the Cold War.
Petra Dussman was a refugee from the police sta...more
Not everything I am going to say about this marvelous book, The Moment by Douglas Kennedy is going to be good. This engaging, driven novel should have an exceptional review because the story is that good, however, the review will not be exceptional.
Thomas Nesbitt, an American writer, who does travel books, is our narrator. We follow him as he escapes from a bad childhood and as he starts his writing career. He has just successfully published his first book about Egypt when he decides that Berlin...more
Thomas Nesbitt, an American writer, who does travel books, is our narrator. We follow him as he escapes from a bad childhood and as he starts his writing career. He has just successfully published his first book about Egypt when he decides that Berlin...more
This is what I would call a "yes" and "no" book. To steal the author's theme, I'd say that it has great 'moments'...but then goes wandering off somewhere.
The pace of the novel tends to dominate the reading experience. I found it so slow at first that I almost put it back on the shelf.
It gradually gathered pace until it was rolling along very nicely and I was immersed in the intrigue. The plot was sometimes predictable, sometimes surprising.
And then it crashed. The reading of Petra's journals wa...more
The pace of the novel tends to dominate the reading experience. I found it so slow at first that I almost put it back on the shelf.
It gradually gathered pace until it was rolling along very nicely and I was immersed in the intrigue. The plot was sometimes predictable, sometimes surprising.
And then it crashed. The reading of Petra's journals wa...more
somewhere between 2 and 3 stars, actually....I wanted to like this so much more than I did. The overall story was good - I loved the setting of the Cold War in Berlin - but it could have been about 200 pages shorter. It was very wordy and at times I found myself skimming. Also, I never connected to the characters - I had a hard time liking them. Every once in a while I found a line of text that really stuck with me (I even teared up a bit at the end), but overall, I was just anxious for the stor...more
"The Moment" is about a man who never got over his first love, and continues to live his life in somewhat of a numb and dissociative state. His affection for his daughter is genuine and touching, but his interactions with all women except the one who got away are rather cold or perversely clingy.
My favorite part is of course the segue in Germany and his relationship with Petra. His interactions with Alaistair has to be some of the best dialogue I've ever read.
I can't help but feel however, that...more
My favorite part is of course the segue in Germany and his relationship with Petra. His interactions with Alaistair has to be some of the best dialogue I've ever read.
I can't help but feel however, that...more
What an ordinary book written by an extraordinarily average writer. Perhaps that’s why readers like his writing? He makes his story seem better than it really is by using a few props. He gives his character an unusual job, throws in a few foreign phrases, and crafts seemingly ‘clever’ backstories. Until you realise they are all vignettes without substance.
Or maybe I’m just a dull reader who doesn’t get it at all.
This book was a trial at 488 pages. When you start out with a protagonist who is ess...more
Or maybe I’m just a dull reader who doesn’t get it at all.
This book was a trial at 488 pages. When you start out with a protagonist who is ess...more
The further into this book I got, the stronger my feeling was that it was going to be one of those books that I would never forget. And it has stayed with me ever since I finished it. What an amazing title, first of all. Especially in these times, we know what it means to live in "the moment", even if we are not often able to do exactly that. But, what if you could look back and pinpoint the exact moment that your life changed its course - forever? That is exactly what Thomas Nesbitt is able to...more
I just finished this book and find myself stomping around in utter annoyance. This book took me forever to get through. I found the beginning very lethargic and difficult to plow through. It took off past the midway point. I ran the gamit from boredom, to interested, to enthralled, to frustrated by some cheesiness that eventually seemed warranted so I accepted it, then back to enthralled, then bored, and then annoyed. I didn't care for the wordiness and over philosiphication that went on (yeah p...more
Had to buy a book at Adelaide airport. It could have been worse. Set in Berlin while the wall is still in place - I found it a bit over-written. Like another book I read recently, it revolves around falling in love in an instant. I have fallen in love in the space of a night so I find this credible though have to remind myself because it was a long time ago. It deals with the difficult choices made by two characters as a result of the politics of the time (about 1984). I found the plot predictab...more
Everybody has a 'moment.' Can many people string it out into a whole book? Probably not. But Douglas Kennedy does just that...
This book made me do three things that I've never done before as the direct impact of reading a novel.
1) Cry
2) Become emotionally involved
3) Enjoy reading long pages of one narrative
Douglas Kennedy, where have you been all my reading life? This novel was absolutely breath-taking from start to finish. At first I detested Kennedy's attention to detail, the way he delved i...more
This book made me do three things that I've never done before as the direct impact of reading a novel.
1) Cry
2) Become emotionally involved
3) Enjoy reading long pages of one narrative
Douglas Kennedy, where have you been all my reading life? This novel was absolutely breath-taking from start to finish. At first I detested Kennedy's attention to detail, the way he delved i...more
Our lives are made up of a series of moments. For some, one incident can make or break you. Will you come to regret a decision you only had a moment to make? Or will it be the best decision you ever made?
"Though you might think, at the time, that this "something" is rooted in an obvious need (sex, romance, or other variations on an amorous theme), the truth is: you won't understand what the true meaning of the moment was until long after it has been stored in that cluttered room we litter with m...more
"Though you might think, at the time, that this "something" is rooted in an obvious need (sex, romance, or other variations on an amorous theme), the truth is: you won't understand what the true meaning of the moment was until long after it has been stored in that cluttered room we litter with m...more
I have read a hundred books in my life, but there's only a few that I will never forget. This book is one of the few.
The Moment tells the story of Thomas Nesbitt (the travel writer) and Petra (the translator) who met and fall in love at the time when Berlin was divided in two. Thomas, an American, decided to write about Berlin in his second travel book. He met Petra, an aloof german translator who was recently exiled from East Berlin. While Petra tries very hard to avoid Thomas, because of the o...more
The Moment tells the story of Thomas Nesbitt (the travel writer) and Petra (the translator) who met and fall in love at the time when Berlin was divided in two. Thomas, an American, decided to write about Berlin in his second travel book. He met Petra, an aloof german translator who was recently exiled from East Berlin. While Petra tries very hard to avoid Thomas, because of the o...more
Book Review
The Moment is a novel written primarily about Berlin in 1984, when the Wall was still in place, dividing East from West Germany. Mr. Kennedy writes a story of a travel writer who goes to Berlin to write the follow up to his debut novel. Perhaps because the story is about a writer, I found it took a very long time to get to the main plot of the story, with a lot of unimportant details. There was much written about the main character's life before his trip to Berlin, which was really un...more
The Moment is a novel written primarily about Berlin in 1984, when the Wall was still in place, dividing East from West Germany. Mr. Kennedy writes a story of a travel writer who goes to Berlin to write the follow up to his debut novel. Perhaps because the story is about a writer, I found it took a very long time to get to the main plot of the story, with a lot of unimportant details. There was much written about the main character's life before his trip to Berlin, which was really un...more
Cold War. Berlin. Two subjects that are normally not my cup of tea, but I found this novel completely engrossing. Douglas Kennedy is a master of storytelling-he is able to breathe life into his characters-so much so that you feel that they are sitting right next to you on your sofa.
The novel begins in the present, with Thomas Nesbitt's failed marriage and divorce. The marriage never stood a chance, Thomas realizes because he never fully gave his heart to his wife. Despondent, he receives a myste...more
The novel begins in the present, with Thomas Nesbitt's failed marriage and divorce. The marriage never stood a chance, Thomas realizes because he never fully gave his heart to his wife. Despondent, he receives a myste...more
Berlin, the Cold War and love. Present day Maine,a redone house, and divorce. These are the backdrops for this novel about love and choices by Douglas Kennedy. Thomas Nesbitt writes travel books and while doing so, isolates himself from his family. Divorce papers arrive on his doorstep intensifying his already tense mid-life crisis. Then, just as he is settling in to his new life, a box arrives with the name "Dussman" on it. The name brings with it memories of a very special love affair from the...more
Apr 17, 2011
Beth
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
first-reads-and-early-reviews
In THE MOMENT by Douglas Kennedy, a divorced man, a writer living alone in a cottage, receives a package in the mail. He doesn’t immediately open it but does recognize the name of the sender. It’s from Petra, someone he knew many years ago, back in the 1980s when he was 25 and living in Germany.
He kept a notebook during that time. And now he takes it out to read BEFORE he opens the package. (That was just the first unbelievable incident in this book.)
So now we go back to the 1980s. After being s...more
He kept a notebook during that time. And now he takes it out to read BEFORE he opens the package. (That was just the first unbelievable incident in this book.)
So now we go back to the 1980s. After being s...more
How do you know those moments that will change your life forever? How do you recognize them for what they are? If you do recognize them, how do you proceed, knowing that no matter what you do, your life will never be the same? Douglas Kennedy’s The Moment is a beautifully written exploration of just that, as Thomas Nesbitt reminisces on his life-changing moment many years ago in divided Berlin, his regret over not recognizing it for what it was, and the impact of it on the rest of his life. Fill...more
"The moment came. The moment went. And I still think of us and cry"
Поредната прекрасна книга от любимия ми Дъглас Кенеди! Голяма, ужасно интересна, с много мъдрости и мисли за живота и за това какви сме ние хора и как действаме. Историята е грабваща. Изпипана е много добре. Размислите на автора посредством героя му са много в целта. Стилът на Кенеди - с кратките изречения, мъдрите мисли, острите фрази, остроумните диалози, правят четенето едно чудесно приключение за ума и душата. Най-добре е да...more
Поредната прекрасна книга от любимия ми Дъглас Кенеди! Голяма, ужасно интересна, с много мъдрости и мисли за живота и за това какви сме ние хора и как действаме. Историята е грабваща. Изпипана е много добре. Размислите на автора посредством героя му са много в целта. Стилът на Кенеди - с кратките изречения, мъдрите мисли, острите фрази, остроумните диалози, правят четенето едно чудесно приключение за ума и душата. Най-добре е да...more
This book has a great story but also some big ideas. In the book, Thomas talks a lot about moments that change everything. They are the so called watershed moments where you can point to a specific before and after of the event. These are the moments that we look back to be able to understand where we are at in the present. They're the things that almost haunt us in a way. Kennedy does a wonderful job of using words to make the reader hone in on this idea of life being a series of game changing...more
Thoughtful and complex!! THE MOMENT by Douglas Kennedy took me by surprise. In the beginning I was put off by a character that I found hard to identify with or like very much. However, as the story began to unfold I was really caught up in the cold-war world of divided Berlin and the ex-pats who gathered there for various reasons. The ever present Wall acts as a character in the book and is a vital part of THE MOMENT. Careful not to be over dramatic, Kennedy paints a very grey world on one side...more
Jan 24, 2012
Sterlingcindysu
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
arc-first-wins-reviews
First, I didn't understand how the cover fit in with the story. I received an ARC and I've seen that it's been changed, so that's good.
The premise is that we all have "moments" in our lives and the star-crossed lovers here, Thomas and Petra have to live their lives on the happiness and hope of their moment in their mid-20's. I just don't buy that. If it were really so spectacular, why didn't they pick up again at some point? And who's to say we only have one "moment" in our lives and when that'...more
The premise is that we all have "moments" in our lives and the star-crossed lovers here, Thomas and Petra have to live their lives on the happiness and hope of their moment in their mid-20's. I just don't buy that. If it were really so spectacular, why didn't they pick up again at some point? And who's to say we only have one "moment" in our lives and when that'...more
The first half of this book was fantastic. Good thing, since I'd picked it up as my only entertainment on a 9 hour flight from Amsterdam. The level of detail about 1980s Berlin and pre-reunification Germany was awesome. And since I'd spent some time in Berlin in the 80s, reading about the wall brought all those images back to me. The story was fascinating and the characters, although I didn't like them immediately, grew on me. Trying to finish the last third of the book back home was a little m...more
I gave this book four stars as I found it just so interesting. Set in the Cold War period, a young American journalist moves to West Berlin to write a travel memoir about his experiences in both West and East Berlin. He moves into the seedy district of Kreuzberg, minutes from the Wall, and populated by interesting and absorbing characters whom he observes and documents. Eventually he lands a job in a radio station broadcasting into East Berlin, where of course, he meets the love of his life!
Anyw...more
Anyw...more
This is one of my favorite books EVER! I've never read anything by Douglas Kennedy and I think I'll have to read more.
This is the story of Thomas Nesbitt, a travel writer, who just received divorce papers from his wife. After avoiding a freak-accident, Nesbitt returns home and finds a box from a long-lost love. The story begins as he remembers his time in Berlin with Petra. The story ponders the idea of being in the moment and how our decisions really do have long term effects. I loved the char...more
This is the story of Thomas Nesbitt, a travel writer, who just received divorce papers from his wife. After avoiding a freak-accident, Nesbitt returns home and finds a box from a long-lost love. The story begins as he remembers his time in Berlin with Petra. The story ponders the idea of being in the moment and how our decisions really do have long term effects. I loved the char...more
I must say this book started out a bit slow for me. But Im a fan of the author and pressed on. So glad I did, as about halfway through, there were twists and turns that I didn't see coming, and I was eager to see how it all ended. Story of a man reflecting back on his life and time spent in Berlin before the wall came down. He meets and falls in love with a German women - but is she who she really says she is? And how does he respond when he finds out truth later?
Douglas Kennedy certainly knows how to weave a tale, this time a love story re-lived by middle-aged writer Thomas Nesbitt as he pieces together his puzzling past, unraveling the series of events surrounding his love affair with Petra Dussman back in the mid-1980s during the period prior to the tearing down of the Berlin Wall. My only complaint...a bit redundant and at times drawn out -- a little tighter editing could have helped this powerful story continue at a faster pace.
I have enjoyed my previous Douglas Kennedy books - but with this one he seems to have completely changed his style resulting in the fact that the book is just far too long - the story is intriguing but he just overdoes the detail and unnecessary padding. It really did not need 630+ pages which for me spoilt it although I did plod through to the end. Get a good editor and keep it shorter and sharper Mr Kennedy, like your other stuff.
Excellent, engrossing, I did not want to put this down! So far one of my favorite Douglas Kennedy books next to The Pursuit of Happiness. This author's stories are intelligent and sophisicated. Recommended to me by my friend Gerard, I now find everyone I recommend Kennedy's books to becomes an avid fan themselves.
Finally, I think this story would transition into a quality film.
Finally, I think this story would transition into a quality film.
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Douglas Kennedy was born in Manhattan in 1955. He studied at Bowdoin College, Maine and Trinity College, Dublin, returning to Dublin in 1977 with just a trenchcoat, backpack and $300. He co-founded a theatre company and sold his first play, Shakespeare on Five Dollars a Day, to Radio 4 in 1980. In 1988 he moved to London and published a travel book, Beyond the Pyramids. His debut novel The Dead He...more
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Nov 10, 2012 12:12pm