Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

City of Women

by David R. Gillham (Goodreads Author)

3.85 of 5 stars 3.85 · rating details · 3,255 ratings · 691 reviews

Whom do you trust, whom do you love, and who can be saved?

It is 1943—the height of the Second World War—and Berlin has essentially become a city of women.
Sigrid Schröder is, for all intents and purposes, the model German soldier’s wife: She goes to work every day, does as much with her rations as she can, and dutifully cares for her meddling mother-in-law, all the while i...more

Hardcover, 392 pages

Published August 7th 2012 by Amy Einhorn Books/Putnam

more details... edit details

Get a copy:

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

The Comfort of Lies by Randy Susan Meyers

Smart Summer Reads

29th out of 212 books — 352 voters

Four Sisters, All Queens by Sherry Jones

Historical Fiction 2012 Releases - Which books are you looking forward to the most?

59th out of 178 books — 1,185 voters

More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

(showing 1-30 of 3,000)

filter | sort: default (?) | rating details

Feb 11, 2013 Lisa Vegan rated it 4 of 5 stars

Recommended to Lisa by: Diane D.

Shelves: fiction, novel, historical-fiction, gr-groups-buddies, bookclub, reviewed, altta, holocaust

4 ½ stars

I’m struggling because I want to do this book justice but I am not in the mood to write a review. I want to get something down though when everything is fairly fresh in my mind, because I loved this book.

I read this as a buddy read with my Goodreads friend Diane, and also read it for my real world book club. I’ve been wanting to read this for ages, and I’m so glad I got to this no later than I did.

I even liked the love story, and I’m not a romance fan.

Many of the characters are so memo...more 4 ½ stars

I’m struggling because I want to do this book justice but I am not in the mood to write a review. I want to get something down though when everything is fairly fresh in my mind, because I loved this book.

I read this as a buddy read with my Goodreads friend Diane, and also read it for my real world book club. I’ve been wanting to read this for ages, and I’m so glad I got to this no later than I did.

I even liked the love story, and I’m not a romance fan.

Many of the characters are so memorable. I love how the people are complicated and the relationships are complicated. They felt very real. I appreciate that a male author could write such an authentic seeming female character, telling the story in third person but mostly from her point of view. I developed such strong feelings for the characters, ranging from love and admiration to hatred and, until the end of the book, at times I felt confused by some of them. With some characters, I enjoyed getting to know them layer by layer; it’s how people generally do get to know each other.

There is also such a rich plot, with many twists, a few of which I guessed ahead of the reveal, most of which I didn’t guess, and a couple that I didn’t at all see coming. I loved how at one point in the story, I had to suspend disbelief in a major way, but then because of a twist, that part of the story made total sense, that really something else was going on that was a much more sensible thing to have happened. Everything, about people’s motivations and personalities, and what happens in the story, they all ended up making sense to me, even though some were emotionally disturbing. In some chapters, so much action is packed into so few pages.

I learned some things too. I had no idea that there were that many Jews left in Berlin in 1943. I got such a feel for WWII Berlin. The atmosphere came through so well, both of the city, and of Sigrid’s internal experience. At the beginning, in particular, the oppressiveness was so well drawn. Sigrid’s life as it was, the experiences in the bomb shelters, just everything had me captivated.

I loved the writing style.

I relished the suspense, and there was a lot of it.

I got completely engrossed in the book and it was really hard to put down. When I did keep reading, the pages, chapters just flew by. I was trying to keep in sync with my buddy (which we basically were able to do) and at one point the narrative was so gripping that, even though I was keeping careful track, I hadn’t realized I’d read from one chapter into the next.

Like many Jews, I've always wondered about what if I was in the Holocaust? Would I have been shot, drowned, gassed, starved, beaten to death, or would I have gotten out of occupied Europe in time, or gone into hiding, etc?? And then I wonder what if it was here and now and another group of people, a group of which I was not a part? Would I risk my life to help them directly? Indirectly? Would I help in ways with less risk to myself? Would I try to ignore the situation and do nothing? I'd like to think I would help, but I've never felt all that brave. I love these kinds of books, fiction and non-fiction, because they do make you think, as well as entertain you. This is a perfect book to get me again thinking of these questions. And there is a lovely 4 page long author’s note at the end that addresses some of the “what would you do” question.

This is a great book! I highly recommend it to all historical fiction fans, particularly those interested in the WWII years, and especially those who enjoy reading books with strong female characters.(less)

22 likes · like · see review

Sep 20, 2012 Daisy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Recommended to Daisy by: Irene

Shelves: ww2, germany, berlin-read-summer-2012, around-the-world-challenge-2012

This is the third book in a row I've read about Berlin in the late 1930s-early 1940s (before this: Kino and before that All That I Am: A Novel).
With every one, details accumulate to make this era more personal, more human, somehow realer to me. This book has some good, sharp dialogue, especially between Sigrid and Ericha and when Sigrid meets Brigitte and Carin. The plot is enthralling although it ties up too quickly in the end. Maybe that's just because I want more of the story and the charact...more

14 likes · like · see review

Oct 16, 2012 Rebecca Huston rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 20th-century, 2012-around-the-world-in-52-books, germany, historical-fiction, nook, wwii

A quick paced thriller set in WWII Berlin where the Allied bombs fall nightly, and nothing can be trusted. Sigrid is a young woman with an absent husband and a vile mother-in-law who finds herself thrust into an entanglement with a secret lover and a mysterious young woman that could easily get her killed. All sorts of twists and turns, and a few surprises. While some of it is predictable, I was so involved in the story that I could forgive this flaw. Worth the time to find and four stars overal...more

5 likes · like · see review

Jan 23, 2013 Julie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: austria-germany-switzerland, war-conflict, read-2013, mystery-crime-thriller

There is no black or white in war, but the variations of gray are infinite. With the protection of history and hindsight, we can sit at our remove and imagine how our moral compass would guide us through treacherous situations, but fiction – well-crafted fiction – can offer three-dimensional dilemma and nuance that our egos would deny.

David Gillham’s City of Women is just such a work and it is an excellent. Berlin in 1943 is a city of shadows. Nearly all able-bodied men are fighting across vario...more There is no black or white in war, but the variations of gray are infinite. With the protection of history and hindsight, we can sit at our remove and imagine how our moral compass would guide us through treacherous situations, but fiction – well-crafted fiction – can offer three-dimensional dilemma and nuance that our egos would deny.

David Gillham’s City of Women is just such a work and it is an excellent. Berlin in 1943 is a city of shadows. Nearly all able-bodied men are fighting across various fronts; left behind are hungry, cowed, suspicious citizens and their Nazi keepers, the old and infirm, wounded soldiers, and black marketeers. But mostly, Berlin is kept afloat by the wives, mothers, sisters and daughters of soldiers and officers. It is a city of women.

One of these women is the lovely and enigmatic Sigrid Schröder, a stenographer and wife of a combat officer. Sigrid’s war is reduced to the daily grind of her job and the grim existence she shares with her wretched mother-in-law. Scrapping together enough to eat, making do with threadbare clothes, huddling in a bomb shelter, not attracting the attention of her apartment building’s informers or Nazis patrolling the streets, would seem to leave Sigrid with no time or energy for moral quandaries. But there are empty moments, split open by boredom, loneliness and desperation. How Sigrid fills them drives the plot of this atypical wartime thriller.

Gillham juggles many elements. His skill at maintaining a complicated narrative with many characters, while remaining true to history, is tremendous. He adds new elements to our understanding of German citizens’ attitudes and behaviors during the war while crafting the hold-your-breath suspense of a literary thriller. His portrait of Berlin is pitch-perfect – the hopelessness and the viciousness of a city living in fear are claustrophobic and terrifying.

Gillham’s characters are intriguing, sympathetic and nuanced. The moments of tenderness and betrayal leave the reader uncertain of whom to trust, demonstrating the inconsistencies and unpredictability of human behavior that are true even in the best of circumstances. In the worst of times, who among us wouldn’t do what we needed in order to survive? Who among us would risk everything to ensure the survival of others?

What holds this back from a 5-star read is the overheated atmosphere. David Gillham’s Berlin might be drab and crumbling, but beneath the patched coats and bomb rubble is a city pulsing with sex. I’m torn here, because it also raises an important question of how women survive, even now, when their political and physical power is so often compromised. Sex becomes a refuge and a weapon. Still, the movie theatre trysts and living room carpet couplings become tedious and make you wonder how Sigrid would have been portrayed by a woman writer.

In addition, this is one of the most poorly proofread books I have encountered in recent memory. That isn’t the author’s fault, but it jars the reader from her world and sends her dashing for her red pen.

A compelling novel that I highly recommend to WWII history enthusiasts and literary thriller fans alike.

(less)

10 likes · like · see review

Feb 16, 2013 Chrissie rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Chrissie by: Lisa Vegan

Shelves: germany, hf, audio, 2013challenge, mystery

This book is perfect for those readers who want an intelligent thought-provoking book filled with action, form the first page to the last. It is filled with twists and turns and dead ends. What you think you understand, well you probably don't. You will by the end. If you love the ride of such an adventure I highly recommend this book.

The central theme, other than simply figuring out what was going on, is: what role would YOU have played if you were a German during WW2? Would YOU have the guts t...more This book is perfect for those readers who want an intelligent thought-provoking book filled with action, form the first page to the last. It is filled with twists and turns and dead ends. What you think you understand, well you probably don't. You will by the end. If you love the ride of such an adventure I highly recommend this book.

The central theme, other than simply figuring out what was going on, is: what role would YOU have played if you were a German during WW2? Would YOU have the guts to work in the Resistance? That is not an easy question. Who do you sacrifice? Don't think valor is loaded all on one side. Whom do you hurt?

I listened to the audiobook narrated by Suzanne Bertish. Her reading was forceful and given the tempo and style of the book this is perfect. I was a bit annoyed as she insisted on pronouncing the words Patent Office ad "pay-tent office".

So why only three stars? I found annoying incongruities that made no sense to me: a man's belt is not large enough tie up a suitcase with. I know this is petty, but why write that? Secondly, the main characters are all aberrant each in their own way. The author has collected quite a group. I cannot name one "ordinary person" among any of the central characters. There is a pronounced fixation on strange sexual behavior. Supposedly all the men are gone from Berlin but one woman still has three lovers. Where does she get all her energy? Food is rationed. The cinema antics aren't all that believable, but titillating for sure. What occurs in the cinema could happen but what are the chances everything would play out in this manner? To put it simply, the characters are a bit hard to believe in, maybe not one at a time, but as a group.

Another major complaint I have is that there is little to explain why the Germans who were silent, who obediently did as they were told, acted as they did. True, if you don't, you lose your job. That IS in the book, but there is no history, no discussion of the fact that after WW1, inflation was rampant in Germany, there were no jobs and that the common man just wanted some food and law and order and JOBS. So although I too despised those who did as they were told and "followed the rules", as all good Germans should do, I would have liked more depth, something that illustrated why these people behaved as they did. That none of this is pointed out makes them look worse than they really were, and I don't like that.

This book is an exciting mystery story. One thing follows another, so you have to hold on tight. Characters surprise you. There is sex, but heck any adult can read this. And you can stop and think what would YOU have done!

May I recommend too other books about German life during the war?

A Woman in Berlin: Eight Weeks in the Conquered City: A Diary and
On Hitler's Mountain: Overcoming the Legacy of a Nazi Childhood (less)

13 likes · like · see review

Apr 21, 2013 J Adams rated it 1 of 5 stars Recommends it for: No one

I have given up on this one! I grew up loving historical fiction that was truly history come alive.. this doesn't even come close. I am surmising the author meant this for a female audience, but that is not how it was described. Honestly, reading about male genitalia and the ease with which Sigrid falls for Egon and then begins having relations with him just turned me off. And the writing is inconsistent, jumping around and making no sense at times, ie: a sentence that says "only when" immediate...more

4 likes · like · see review

Feb 15, 2013 Holly Weiss rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical-fiction, literary-fiction, 2012-release

City of Women chronicles the daily life and hard choices faced by women left in Berlin during WWII while the men are away fighting the war. I found if difficult to relate to or like most of the characters in this book, but their stories were compelling. Then again, I am not currently thrust into extraordinary times as these women were. The writing is sensual and draws you in immediately. The author evoked the city, underground activities and bomb scares well. Lust and secrets are constant player...more

3 likes · like · see review

Jun 22, 2012 Judith rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: nook-net-galley

1943 Berlin becomes the setting for a real tear jerker of a Soap Opera....Sex is everywhere, both the rough sort and the solo...but no one is happy. Sigrid is busy with her dead end job and Life with Mother-in-Law..while hubby is fighting on the Eastern Front. She makes the acquaintance of a little snippet, who works as a Mother's Helper in their Apartment Building...who subsequently involves Sigrid in the Savory business of hiding Jews from the Nazis...Sigrid drowns her sorrows in Sex....first...more

7 likes · like · see review

Oct 04, 2012 Suze rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book is not a fun or light read. It takes place during WWII in Berlin, Germany as the war is coming to an end. The characters are German citizens of all ages and beliefs. However, there aren't many Jewish characters by then as most have been sent to concentration camps or have been "eliminated".

Those that remain are in hiding from Nazi's and/or Germans who still believe in Hitler's party line. The interesting characters are those who oppose the treatment of Jews and others who don't fit the...more

5 likes · like · see review

Jul 16, 2012 Andrienne rated it 5 of 5 stars

I absolutely loved this book. It was so layered; the characters beautiful, flawed, believable; the scenes unfolding like a brilliant movie (not surprising since the author is an actor and screenwriter). I stayed up until 5 a.m. reading this book--which doesn't happen often--but it is the reason why I read! I love books like this. Sigrid is a great heroine, I rooted for her; Ericha, not so much. Sigrid's lover, Egon, I just kept picturing an awesome Michael Fassbender--ruthless, magnetic and ende...more

19 likes · like · see review

Oct 25, 2012 Nancy Oakes rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical-fiction

I'm afraid I didn't care for this book all that much, but the setting (atmosphere, sense of place & time) was so well evoked that I can't totally write it off.

I know people are really in love with this novel, and once again I'm swimming against the current of public opinion here because it just didn't do that much for me. In my long review I make the point that the author's original intent to

"...write a novel with a completely female cast of characters, because I wanted to explore wartime...more I'm afraid I didn't care for this book all that much, but the setting (atmosphere, sense of place & time) was so well evoked that I can't totally write it off.

I know people are really in love with this novel, and once again I'm swimming against the current of public opinion here because it just didn't do that much for me. In my long review I make the point that the author's original intent to

"...write a novel with a completely female cast of characters, because I wanted to explore wartime from a feminine point of view"

would have made this book more realistic and would have added something to the existing works of historical fiction set during this time period, but I felt that what I got instead was like chick lit set against the backdrop of the Holocaust. Rather than following his instinct, the author decided that his original idea "fell flat" and that he "needed the dramatic tension of the love affairs to keep the plot moving and the suspense tightened." (from an interview at Psychology Today).

Now, I know my opinion sounds kind of harsh, but well,I can't help how I feel. How can there not be real suspense when, at the very least, the novel recounts Berlin in 1943 where people are being watched, or are themselves agents of the watchers or where there are regular bombing raids that create tension and a fear of nothing to go home to when the all clear sounds? Then there are some of the other female characters in this novel whose stories, had they been considered and more developed in terms of the original idea of "wartime from a feminine point of view," would have made for much better reading and may have offered more of a look at what these women might have actually gone through during this time.

I think I'd recommend City of Women to people who like their historical fiction on the lighter side; this one has more of a beachy feel rather than a serious examination of lives where "regiments of husbands, uncles, and brothers have been mobilized and Berlin has become a city of women."(less)

9 likes · like · see review

Sep 08, 2012 Mary rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical-fiction

Set in World War II, this powerful story focuses on Sigrid Schroder and the other women living in the city while all available men (except for SS officers and "criminials") are fighting on the frontlines. The book begins with a slow and steady simmer introducing complex characters with rich histories. The setting is pitch perfect in its believability. Gillham has done a magnificent job in taking the reader back to Berlin in 1943.

This is a tough time for people with a conscience. Sigrid is the go...more

2 likes · like · see review

Jan 10, 2013 Carol Reid rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is a novel about 1943 Berlin, the title referring to the fact that most men are fighting at the front and the city is full of women. Sigrid is an unhappily married woman who becomes caught up in the Resistance, hiding Jews, taking messages, delivering money, taking a Jewish lover. The book was at times tragic, very disturbing, and often inspirational as people risked their lives to do what they thought was right. I listened to this book on CD in the car and it was hard to leave it.

1 like · like · see review

Jun 09, 2013 Claar added it

In het boek De vertrouwelinge woont een jonge vrouw samen met haar bemoeizuchtige schoonmoeder, haar man is aan het front; Berlijn1943.

Sigrid Schröder leeft met moeder Schröder in een appartementencomplex, het blijkt een bolwerk te zijn van deugdzame partijgenoten en kroostrijke gezinnen. Er wordt geroddeld en alles en iedereen wordt nauwlettend in de gaten gehouden. Om aan de dagelijkse sleur te ontsnappen heeft Sigrid behalve haar werk, de uitjes naar de bioscoop. Terwijl ze mijmert over haar...more In het boek De vertrouwelinge woont een jonge vrouw samen met haar bemoeizuchtige schoonmoeder, haar man is aan het front; Berlijn1943.

Sigrid Schröder leeft met moeder Schröder in een appartementencomplex, het blijkt een bolwerk te zijn van deugdzame partijgenoten en kroostrijke gezinnen. Er wordt geroddeld en alles en iedereen wordt nauwlettend in de gaten gehouden. Om aan de dagelijkse sleur te ontsnappen heeft Sigrid behalve haar werk, de uitjes naar de bioscoop. Terwijl ze mijmert over haar verdwenen geliefde Egon gaan filmbeelden aan haar voorbij totdat haar buurmeisje Ericha zich aan haar vastklampt en haar verzoekt te helpen. Dat is het moment dat Sigrid een verregaande beslissing neemt en de wending van het lot haar veel verder de oorlog intrekt dan ze ooit gedacht had.

Haar motieven zijn niet altijd duidelijk, misschien was het medeleven, hang naar avontuur, verveling of misschien hebben de omstandigheden in Berlijn haar ogen geopend. Feit is dat ze zich rücksichtslos in het verzet begeeft zonder goed na te denken over de gevolgen. Ze voelt zich nooit schuldig, ze kent geen schaamtegevoel en heeft geen gewetenswroeging, ze vertrouwt op haar gevoel en verstand, de enige metgezellen die ze toestaat in haar strijd om vervolgden te redden en hun kansen om te overleven te vergroten.

Schrijver David R. Gillman beschrijft de situatie tijdens de Tweede Wereldoorlog in Berlijn van binnenuit. Alleen al door het benoemen van titels, namen of het benadrukken van straattaferelen maakt Gillman de wereld van 1943 in Berlijn aangrijpend zichtbaar.

Soms is er een gevoel van ontzetting als ik lees hoe Gillham de gruweldaden van Hitlers brigades weet te verwoorden. David R. Gillham schrijft over de vervolgden Joden die niet zozeer als machteloos slachtoffer in beeld worden gebracht maar ook als verzettelijke en vindingrijke burgers. Hij geeft ook aan dat de Duitse bevolking niet altijd één natie is geweest die zich achter Hitler heeft geschaard, er zijn net als Sigrid, mensen die hun leven en dat van hun familieleden op het spel hebben gezet.

Met een interessante invalshoek vanuit het hart van Berlijn in 1943 is De vertrouwelinge een meeslepende roman.

Claar van Lieshout 2013-01-03
(less)

like · see review

Mar 23, 2013 Judi/Judith rated it 4 of 5 stars

In Berlin Germany, set against a dark and foreboding background, during the last part of WWII we meet Sigred Shroder, the wife of Kasper who is aNazi officer fighting on the Russian front. While she tries to survive in a city inhabited mostly of women she lives in a world of hatred and suspicion, where people are turning in their neighbors to the Gestapo for unfaithful behavior to the regime, making it impossible for anyone to be trusted or believed. In the midst of this horror she consumed by t...more

1 like · like · see review

Mar 06, 2013 JodiP rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: melissa-s

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. This is such a good book: the story, the research that went into it, the writing. It takes place in 1943, and tell the story of Sigrid, who decides to become involved in hiding Jews and other refugees from the Nazi State. She is amazingly well-developed, yet one feels there is a part of her always shut off, private. Seeing the relationships she has with all the others in book evolve was amazing. I tore through this in a couple days. I will have to read it again, someday. I kept using post-its to...more

2 likes · like · see review

Feb 05, 2013 Mark E. Smith rated it 4 of 5 stars

If you are a student of The Holocaust, you may find this novel more educational than much nonfiction. Of course you know there were Judenrats who, sometimes with the best of intentions, worked with the Nazis to send other Jews to their deaths. But did you know there were Jewish "catchers" who worked with the Gestapo to uncover Jews who were passing or hidden?

The situations depicted in this book are mirrored in Israel today. There is the elderly Jewish Holocaust survivor who remembered when Germa...more If you are a student of The Holocaust, you may find this novel more educational than much nonfiction. Of course you know there were Judenrats who, sometimes with the best of intentions, worked with the Nazis to send other Jews to their deaths. But did you know there were Jewish "catchers" who worked with the Gestapo to uncover Jews who were passing or hidden?

The situations depicted in this book are mirrored in Israel today. There is the elderly Jewish Holocaust survivor who remembered when Germans wouldn't rent to Jews and swore that he would never be like that. So he rented rooms to Arab students, only to be forced to evict them when his neighbors denounced him as an Arab-lover and he received death threats. There is the Jewish Holocaust survivor who has risked her life to join humanitarian aid flotillas to Gaza. There are Jews who risk being shot when trying to defend Palestinian homes from being demolished by the Israeli army. There are Jewish women who illegally take Palestinian women on day trips out of besieged Gaza so that they can visit the beach and museums. There are Jewish Israeli teachers who work in a school where Jewish and Palestinian students study together and learn mutual respect. But these few are people who openly stand for human rights. Can they be the only ones?

What if there are Israeli Jews who, in the same way that Sigrid, Ericha, and Old Auntie pretended to be loyal to Hitler while secretly helping Jews, are pretending to be loyal, Arab-hating and Black-hating Israelis, while secretly smuggling food and medicine to Palestinians or hiding Black refugees so that they won't be deported or attacked by lynch mobs? Is it possible that these decent people exist but cannot show themselves? I have to hope so, but only history will eventually reveal the truth.

Many readers have mentioned that Gillham's book made them think. But how much have they thought? I'm still thinking, and I'm almost sorry I didn't give City of Women five stars instead of four, but I too have my prejudices and I favor nonfiction. Therefore the fault is mine, not the author's.

(less)

like · see review

Jan 16, 2013 Denise rated it 3 of 5 stars

First off, I liked this book, and I ended up liking Sigrid for her courage and her honesty. I liked the very German historical aspect of this book with the German phrases and the slang from the homefront.

However, I have some problems with this book too.
1) I find it odd that Sigrid has the same caustic conversations with nearly everyone she encounters from lovers to friends to her mother-in-law. I get that the time era evoked anxiety, but the lack of different kinds of personalities leaves me fru...more

1 like · like · see review

Jan 13, 2013 Shonna Froebel rated it 4 of 5 stars

This novel is set in 1943 in Berlin. Sigrid is a middle class German woman, married to a Kaspar, a man she is no longer sure she loves. Kaspar worked in a bank before he was drafted to the Eastern front. Sigrid became involved with a man she met in the cinema, a man whose story both intrigues her and angers her. He is a Jew, but she hasn't seen him lately. When the girl, Ericha, assigned as mother's help for her downstairs neighbour asks her for an alibi, she becomes interested in Ericha and wha...more

like · see review

Jan 01, 2013 CuteBadger rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

In 1943 Sigrid works as a civil servant in Berlin and lives with her mother-in-law while her husband is serving on the Russian front. One incident in a cinema leads to her becoming part of something which changes her life, but also puts her in great danger.

I really enjoyed this book for a number of reasons. The setting in wartime Berlin, mainly among the community of left-behind women, was not something I've come across in many books I've read. The depiction of rationing and patriotic fervour is...more

like · see review

Dec 26, 2012 Becky rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012, adult, fiction, historical-fiction, worldwarii

3.5 stars.
Berlin is the city of women in 1943--mothers, wives, and girlfriends of men fighting for Germany. These women lead a bleak existence, enduring rationing and incessant bombings by the British and living in fear of the Gestapo. Those who do not bear proper allegiance to the Fatherland are suspect, and there are many who would turn in another to gain favor with the Gestapo.

The story revolves around Sigrid, a pretty young woman who works at a patent office and returns home nightly to her d...more

like · see review

Dec 20, 2012 Jenny rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-in-2012

Taken from my blog at www.takemeawayreading.com

ity of Women tells the story of the women left behind in the city of Berlin in 1943 when the majority of the men are off to join the war efforts. Sigrid Schroder lives with her meddling and critical mother-in-law while her husband, Kaspar, has gone off to war. But even before he left, Sigrid had been having an affair with a man who she now thinks about more than her husband. This is scandalous enough as it is, but her illicit lover also happens to b...more Taken from my blog at www.takemeawayreading.com

ity of Women tells the story of the women left behind in the city of Berlin in 1943 when the majority of the men are off to join the war efforts. Sigrid Schroder lives with her meddling and critical mother-in-law while her husband, Kaspar, has gone off to war. But even before he left, Sigrid had been having an affair with a man who she now thinks about more than her husband. This is scandalous enough as it is, but her illicit lover also happens to be Jewish.

Sigrid is a good German citizen, though she isn't always quite sure what is true and not regarding Germany's place in the war. But then when she's at the cinema one day, her favorite place to spend time, she is thrown into a scandalous situation by the young girl who nannies the children downstairs from Sigrid. The mysterious antics of this young girl irritate and anger the fairly proper Sigrid but ultimately leads her to the biggest realizations she has about what is really happening in the world.

Sigrid later becomes faced with the decision to shelter Jews and others who need to hide. She's horrified at the thought of defying the rules as well as the missions of the city's men but also horrified at what she slowly realizes is happening to these people when they are found by the Gestapo... especially when it becomes personal and she believes she may be hiding the family of her secret lover.

I loved this book. The writing was beautiful and engaging and really created a sensuous atmosphere that I immersed myself in every time I opened the book. It was about community, friendships, betrayals, daily life and its sensualities, moral arguments from personal and political viewpoints, and danger. It demonstrated the strength and courage of some of these women but also the cattiness of many of the women. It's about women living in a really difficult time and place and having to make some very difficult decisions. City of Women is up there with one of the best of the year for me so far. (less)

like · see review

Dec 05, 2012 Julia Reed rated it 3 of 5 stars

City of Wmen is a fairly diverting novel about the women left behind in Berlin at the end of World War II. The infamous Rape of Berlin doesn't factor here, the book mostly takes place at the height of, not the end of the war. Still, there are signs, even in fortressed Berlin, that things are perhaps not going the way the newsreels are saying. The line between strategic retreat and loss is a thin one, after all.

The main character, Sigrid, is the wife of a German soldier, left behind with thousan...more City of Wmen is a fairly diverting novel about the women left behind in Berlin at the end of World War II. The infamous Rape of Berlin doesn't factor here, the book mostly takes place at the height of, not the end of the war. Still, there are signs, even in fortressed Berlin, that things are perhaps not going the way the newsreels are saying. The line between strategic retreat and loss is a thin one, after all.

The main character, Sigrid, is the wife of a German soldier, left behind with thousands of other Good German Women. Trapped at home with her bitter mother-in-law, Sigrid's not eagerly anticipating the return of her husband, their marriage has long been cool, and before his departure she was actively having an affair with a Jewish man who was living under the radar in Berlin. Wen her lover, Egon, resurfaces, Sigrid begins to question how a Jewish man could live in relative freedom in the heartland of the Nazis, and the answers about Egon's way of life are ugly, to say the least (this novel will add the term "Jew catcher" to your vocabulary). And then there's the strange girl who has moved in downstairs, the one with the secret life helping Jews escape the city, who draws Sigrid in to her mission. They're not helped by the fervent Nazi wife who moves in upstairs, nor by the return of Sigrid's husband from the front. As if the bombs falling every night weren't danger enough.

What I liked about City of Women was that it felt like a story you could tell about any war, not just World War II. Let us hope the horror of the Nazis is never repeated, but there are some issues and choices that Sigrid faces that I could easily see myself or any woman facing in a similar situation. Do you do what you're supposed to, or what you think is right? Do you turning your neighbor, become a martyr, or just try to survive? And what about the person you're supposed to welcome home with open arms, but who is now a stranger? There's a lot to grapple with, and I found this book did a good job at handling each issue in an honest and deft way.(less)

like · see review

Nov 25, 2012 Pam rated it 5 of 5 stars

City of Women was a Kindle Daily Deal, so I had no real expectations going into it. It turned out to be a wonderful book.
The story takes place in 1943, and The City of Women is Berlin. It is the city of women because the men are all off fighting in the war. The main character is Sigrid Shroder. Her husband, Kaspar is off fighting and like the other women of Berlin, she is just trying to get by.

Sigrid is a complicate character and the struggles that she faces everyday really made me stop and th...more

2 likes · like · see review

Nov 23, 2012 Nancy rated it 3 of 5 stars

What I liked: The point of view of women left in Berlin in 1943. All the Aryan men were gone off to fight a war they wouldn't win. The men who were left were too young to fight, making them boys, or too old. Occasionally, one would come across a man of interesting age but he was usually carrying falsified papers that kept him out of war or prison camps or was Gestapo or some other police.

So in a country of women where the double chromosome is only valued for giving birth to and raising Aryan ch...more What I liked: The point of view of women left in Berlin in 1943. All the Aryan men were gone off to fight a war they wouldn't win. The men who were left were too young to fight, making them boys, or too old. Occasionally, one would come across a man of interesting age but he was usually carrying falsified papers that kept him out of war or prison camps or was Gestapo or some other police.

So in a country of women where the double chromosome is only valued for giving birth to and raising Aryan children, preferably male children, what do the childless women do? This is the story of what some of them do.

What I didn't like: The characters. None of them were terribly endearing. What they said, what they did, their motivations were all disturbing. It's difficult to judge their actions or inaction being Berlin during WWII and I think it was still heroic to save the underdog even when the punishment was torture then death. I just didn't quite understand the main conflict. It was more of the story of one woman whose husband has gone off to war and she occupies her time by working at an office then committing adultery in dark theaters or wherever it can be done outside of her mother in law's eyes. Then she is pulled into an underground network which I thought would surely bring some interest to the story. She thinks she may be harboring her lover's wife and children. But even that conflict doesn't completely bring satisfaction.

I did like the fact that the story is not one more book to shock the reader of the atrocities of WWII and what they did to Jews and political prisoners. There is some shocking detail of Gestapo and concentration camps but it is more of a foreign film with subtitles. The protagonist quietly goes about her business without guilt or shame, growing a conscience when it seems to suit her mood.

It's an interesting book for the simple fact of the point of view. The writing is superb. The characters are unlikeable, though. The story is not terribly engaging. I have no real complaints nor raves. It's a "Meh" book.(less)

2 likes · like · see review

Nov 18, 2012 Emily rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book provokes the same question as The Help: Why should we believe that the heroine, almost uniquely in her society, has the strength and moral authority to work against injustice? The question is answered more satisfactorily in this novel because the plot revolves around exploring the question from different angles. In the civil-rights-era South of The Help, Skeeter is portrayed as being simply more morally developed than her peers. In the 1943 Berlin of City of Women, Sigrid's motives for...more

2 likes · like · see review

Nov 11, 2012 Susan rated it 4 of 5 stars

I've been reading a LOT of different perspectives of World War II over the last couple of years, and it's really fascinating to learn, through fiction, how much of the world really was affected by the war, and to see what that looked like in many different places. This book takes place in Berlin during WWII, and it just grabbed me and wouldn't let me go. I loved it!

I am suspicious of people who think it's OBVIOUS that they would have been on the "right" side of a historical event. For example, A...more

2 likes · like · see review

Oct 31, 2012 Liz rated it 3 of 5 stars

I was torn about my feelings with this book. On one hand I really enjoyed the time period and the ideas behind this story- a woman in early 1940's Berlin. She is confronted by some serious moral questions and concerns and how can she handle them? This really makes you think about how you would deal with the horror that is going on around you. Do you acknowledge the lines of Jewish people being marched out of the city? Do you avert your eyes to the Gestapo taking your neighbors, friends, co-worke...more

like · see review

Oct 29, 2012 Linda rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction

Sigrid is a young woman, married to a German soldier in 1943 Berlin. Sigrid's life is dull and lifeless while her husband is away. Her mother-in-law, does not like her and makes sure Sigrid knows that she is not good enough for her son, Kaspar, and that Sigrid is to blame for all that is wrong in her life including that her son was called up to be in the Army. As Berlin is bombed by British forces, Sigrid finds her only respite is to attend the theater. There she learns there are many people wit...more

1 like · like · see review

Oct 07, 2012 John rated it 5 of 5 stars

I am a fan of historical fiction, especially those works centered on the World War II years. I found this book to be rather unique as it focused on the City of Berlin, and how the residents, especially the women, were horribly affected by the war. The city is under bombardment by the British, and the citizens are subjected to the unrelenting propaganda of the Nazis.

Against this backdrop, the main character, a young German, decides to risk everything to become involved with a small group of peop...more

3 likes · like · see review

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … 99 100 next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

topics	posts	views	last activity
Blue Moon Book Lo...: February 2013 BOTM - "City of Women" by David R. Gillham	1	6	Jan 31, 2013 06:29pm
Coffee Talk: Cheryl & Shelby& Jenn Read in Nov.	24	13	Nov 26, 2012 08:07am
Egon's family	6	71	Nov 24, 2012 05:40am
Coffee Talk: City of Women	10	20	Oct 21, 2012 07:26pm
What books have you won from goodreads?	1	20	Aug 09, 2012 02:37pm
Book Haven: Win an ARC of City of Women by David R. Gillham	1	4	Aug 01, 2012 09:42am
The Indie Exchang...: Win an ARC of City of Women by David R. Gillham	1	6	Aug 01, 2012 09:41am

combine
Other Editions (11)

More editions...

Genres

Historical Fiction

256 users

History > World War II

41 users

Cultural > Germany

28 users

War

22 users

World War II > Holocaust

18 users

Book Club

15 users

Adult

14 users

Adult Fiction

12 users

Novels

8 users

Literary Fiction

7 users

See top shelves...

Readers also enjoyed similar books

A Hundred Flowers
by Gail Tsukiyama
The Lost Prince
by Selden Edwards
The Age of Desire
by Jennie Fields
American Ghost
by Janis Owens
The Twelve Rooms of the Nile
by Enid Shomer

About David R. Gillham

David R. Gillham was trained as a writer at the University of Southern California, where he moved from screenwriting into fiction. After relocating to New York City, he spent more than a decade in the book business, and now lives with his family in western Massachusetts.

More about David R. Gillham...

Share This Book

Facebook Twitter Your website

Trivia About City of Women

No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »

title link	preview: City of Women
avg rating	preview: City of Women Goodreads rating: 3.85 (3255 ratings)
small image	preview: click here [close]
med image	preview: click here [close]
BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13593526-city-of-women?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1334762390l/13593526.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13593526-city-of-women?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]City of Women by David R. Gillham[/url]

City of Women

Friend Reviews

Lists with This Book

Community Reviews

new topicDiscuss This Book

combineOther Editions (11)

Genres

Readers also enjoyed similar books

About David R. Gillham

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website

Trivia About City of Women

new topic
Discuss This Book

combine
Other Editions (11)