Sign in with Facebook
Loading...
396th out of 3,221 books
—
13,998 voters
The Good German
by
Joseph Kanon (Goodreads Author)
With World War II finally ending, Jake Geismar, former Berlin correspondent for CBS, has wangled one of the coveted press slots for the Potsdam Conference. His assignment: a series of articles on the Allied occupation. His personal agenda: to find Lena, the German mistress he left behind at the outbreak of the war.
When Jake stumbles on a murder -- an American soldier was
...morePaperback, 482 pages
Published
October 31st 2006
by Picador
(first published 2001)
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
3,000)
All I want to say is PLEASE read this book before you see the movie. In fact, don't watch the movie after you read it as well. If you enjoy WWII fiction that reads like fiction, then you will love this book. But the movie (like most movies based on a book) is HORRIBLE. I couldn't put this book down!
5 likes · like · see review
view all 4 comments
The Good German is a thrilling historical mystery, with a gripping underlying psychological exploration. Kanon presents the struggle for German rocket scientists, Americans versus Russians, with both sides desperate to enhance their own post-war technology and neither concerned about the Nazi past and practices of the men they are seeking. It is hard to find the moral high ground.
The main characters are well-presented and well-developed over the course of the novel. Secondary characters are plen...more
The main characters are well-presented and well-developed over the course of the novel. Secondary characters are plen...more
Not my favorite. It’s very plot-heavy, and I’m a character-development lover. I love the descriptions of Berlin and I wish I’d had a map to trace where he was at every move. That said, he knew far too much of Berlin far too well. The city is much bigger than Kanon makes it out to be. I do like the way in which he tackles guilt, remorse, and Vergangenheitsbewaltigung.
Although I couldn't get the movie actors out of my mind while reading the book; George Clooney, Cate Blanchett, I really enjoyed this novel set in 1945 Berlin. Evokes much thought about who were really the bad people in Germany during the war. Plot was a little twisted and confusing, but the love story conquers all.
Aug 13, 2011
Jeff
added it
I picked this book up recently for all the wrong reasons: it's got heft so it reminds me of a Vintage novel; it's a paperback so I can take it anywhere; it was on sale; and it's got George Clooney on the cover. So i figure I should just start reading it now ...
Wow It was a long book! I think i know what happened but towards the end i couldnt tell who knew what and when. Interestingly i think i would have believed the love story angle when the book came out but i thought it was pretty trite now....more
Wow It was a long book! I think i know what happened but towards the end i couldnt tell who knew what and when. Interestingly i think i would have believed the love story angle when the book came out but i thought it was pretty trite now....more
Sep 03, 2007
Diane
added it
The Bestselling author of Los Alamos and Alibi returns to 1945. Hitler has been defeated and Berlin is divided into zones of occupation. Jake Geismar, an Americsn correspondent who spent time in the city before the war, has returned to write about the Allied triumph while persuing a more personal quest: his search for Lena, the married woman he left behind. The Good German is a story of espionage, love, and murder, and extraordinary re-creation of a city devastated by war, and a thriller that as...more
If Tom Clancy and Casablanca had a love child, it'd be this book, and it's a great read. More action and faced-paced suspense than Casablanca, more emotional depth than Clancy. But at the same time, it has both their drawbacks as well -- too many characters with interchangeable Russian and German names, and it depends on the reader having a healthy knowledge of the history of WWII in order to understand the story.
Still, I enjoyed the mystery and intrigue in the story, and Kanon's portrayal of p...more
Still, I enjoyed the mystery and intrigue in the story, and Kanon's portrayal of p...more
I had read a Joseph Kanon book previously, Los Alamos, and found this one in the house over the July 4th weekend when I had run out of library books and my Kindle was charging. I had enjoyed Los Alamos so I gave this one a try. It's a good old-fashioned murder mystery set at the end of WWII. I didn't realize until logging in to Goodreads that it had been made into a movie...while the entire time I read the book I imagined it would make a great script for a movie! It has all the intrigue of a goo...more
Лето 1945 года. Берлин лежит в руинах, а победители делят трофеи. Жуткая нищета и бесконечная погоня за недобитыми нацистами соседствуют на этих улицах с кровавым угаром пьяных триумфаторов и прожженой хитростью дельцов черного рынка. Американский журналист Джейк Гейсмар командирован сюда исключительно для того, чтобы освещать для своей газеты Потсдамскую конференцию, но на самом деле его волнуют сейчас совершенно другие вещи. Он хочет найти среди этих пыльных развалин ту женщину, которую любил...more
A journalist, ejected from Berlin in 1941, returns immediately after the German surrender in 1945, ostensibly to cover the Potsdam conference but in truth to find his lost lover. The unexplained death of an American soldier arouses his interest and complicates his situation.
This book captures the absolute devastation, physical and mental, of postwar Berlin. Similar to Potsdam Station, but with a broader range of characters and motivations. Still, the territory is the same, although the focus i...more
This book captures the absolute devastation, physical and mental, of postwar Berlin. Similar to Potsdam Station, but with a broader range of characters and motivations. Still, the territory is the same, although the focus i...more
Another thoughtful thriller full of moral ambiguity from the author of Los Alamos. Plot was a bit complicated, and I often wished he'd just get on with it, but overall this was well above the average chunk of fiction that's served up. Berlin in the final days of the war - what was it like? How can you comprehend what it was to be a Berliner, left with the wreckage, physical and moral, of the Nazis? The struggle between the Americans and the Russians to pinch the "good Germans", the ones that wou...more
Took a little fiction detour over the weekend with this and thoroughly enjoyed it. Couldn't seem to help myself, it unspooled in my head as a black and white movie with strong Bogie and Becall overtones. It's a mystery, thriller, romance, history lesson, study in morality, and I don't now what else all rolled into one. Set in Berlin immediately at the end of WWII I was hooked by the multiple plot lines - Jake finding Lena and solving the mystery of an American GI found with loads of cash in the...more
With World War II finally ending, Jake Geismar, former Berlin correspondent for CBS, has wangled one of the coveted press slots for the Potsdam Conference. His assignment: a series of articles on the Allied occupation. His personal agenda: to find Lena, the German mistress he left behind at the outbreak of the war.
When Jake stumbles on a murder -- an American soldier washes up on the conference grounds -- he thinks he has found the key that will unlock his Berlin story. What Jake finds instead i...more
When Jake stumbles on a murder -- an American soldier washes up on the conference grounds -- he thinks he has found the key that will unlock his Berlin story. What Jake finds instead i...more
May 05, 2013
Brian
added it
I'm glad I gave Joseph Kanon a second try. Although The Good German suffers, to some extent, the same largess of characters and pithy dialogue I found tedious in Istanbul Passage, the author generously rewards his readers with some powerful insight into the moral ambiguity of post-WWII politics. Set in Berlin during the rapid transition from hot to Cold War, from ally to enemy, from survivor to collaborator, Kanon weaves a truly compelling tale both in terms of riveting action and of heart-rendi...more
I though this was a great mystery, but above that, it really puts the reader in the historical context of what it was like in Germany after the war. It also deals with some of the moral complexities with which both the German and Allied sides were confronted. I found all that really interesting. I was a little disappointed with the ending, though. Kinda felt like an easy wrap-up to a pretty complicated story. Despite that, I would still highly recommend it.
1 like · like · see review
The Good German
Jake Geismar is a journalist who was stationed in Berlin as WWII starts and returns when Berlin falls to look for his German girl friend. It seems to be a hopeless task in a ruined city filled with homeless and displaced persons. He wangles his way into the first meeting of Churchill, Truman and Stalin at Potsdam and while there is witness to the discovery of a dead GI found on the shore of the lake. The GI has a money belt stuffed with military scrip issued by the Russians and Ja...more
Jake Geismar is a journalist who was stationed in Berlin as WWII starts and returns when Berlin falls to look for his German girl friend. It seems to be a hopeless task in a ruined city filled with homeless and displaced persons. He wangles his way into the first meeting of Churchill, Truman and Stalin at Potsdam and while there is witness to the discovery of a dead GI found on the shore of the lake. The GI has a money belt stuffed with military scrip issued by the Russians and Ja...more
Nazi Germany is always a hard subject matter for me to read about, whether it's historical fiction or nonfiction. This book attempts to answer the question of how ordinary Germans could take part in such an atrocity willingly while also being a murder mystery thriller. To me, the book seemed to ask more questions than answer but I don't think anyone could respond satisfactorily to why they helped their government commit genocide. No reason is good enough for killing someone but the author tries...more
Jun 21, 2008
Sheila
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
fans of WWII stories
Recommended to Sheila by:
Joseph Beth Booksellers
I loved this book. It was fast paced, suspenseful, excellent. I couldn't put it down. It's a murder mystery set at the Potsdam Conference after WWII. It involves the US, Britain, and Russia. There is the black market, finding Nazis, escaping from the Russian controlled area of Germany, discovering how far the "good" guys will go to get the scientific brain power of Nazi Germany. A page turner!
1 like · like · see review
This is a really touching book. It offers great insight into the lives of Germans in Berlin after the war, so it serves as educational on that as well as on human nature. I appreciated Jake's heroics more than the actual romance, which I couldn't really get behind. I found it hard to sympathise with Lena, but that's only because I could in no way, shape or form relate to the terrors she'd been through. I thought he had a stronger connection with both Liz and Bernie, but that's just me.
Anyway, th...more
Anyway, th...more
I enjoyed this book, once I had fought my way through the tangle of people and places that complicated the first few chapters. In this it was remarkably similar to Alibi. The parallels don't stop there - the question is, where do they end? If you liked the one, you'll like the other, and vice versa.
I found the descriptions of post war Berlin compelling, and again as in Alibi, he dealt alot with the grey areas of who is culpable and how much blame can be thrown around when you're looking at recon...more
I found the descriptions of post war Berlin compelling, and again as in Alibi, he dealt alot with the grey areas of who is culpable and how much blame can be thrown around when you're looking at recon...more
Jun 30, 2012
Carolyn
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommended to Carolyn by:
Jim Gysin
Great story, beautifully told. It presents a very sophisticated and nuanced view of German war guilt and the things people did to survive under the Nazis. The descriptions of Berlin in the summer of 1945 are so atmospheric it's like being there. They made me nostalgic: I was there in the summer of 1958 when there was still a lot of war damage. It's probably the most exciting city I've ever been in, maybe because it was still quite dangerous then, with soldiers pointing rifles at anyone who appro...more
1 like · like · see review
I tend to like the WWII/Berlin/espionage novels, and like the others I have read, this novel follows a reporter who solves a mystery involving a cast of international characters. Unlike the others, The Good German delves in to the question of responsibility and how to make reparations for the atrocities committed by Nazis. Kanon presents the question from multiple angles and constantly changes character's own point of view regarding their responsibility and complacency versus an intrinsic need/d...more
I liked this book for the amazing insight it gave me into the post-war Berlin three-country governance system. It was also helpful in understanding what Berlin was like just after the war ended. It is ironic that the book I read after this one was The Garden of Beasts, which is about pre-war Berlin (ca. 1933-?), so I now feel like I know the streets, boulevards, parks, etc. of that city and outlying areas. It was an interesting story of intrigue, including German, Russian and American military a...more
Kanon can just flat out write. It's that simple. But for better or worse, I put off reading this one after being severely disappointed by the movie version. Bad mistake on my part, and I've finally fixed it after getting enough nudges from friends who know how much I like Kanon's previous work. So now that I've read it? Great story, great narrative, great pacing, great setting. Yes, there is a pattern there. Dialogue is about the only area where he doesn't excel, but it's not as if the lines spo...more
"This book gave a great overview as to what Berlin was like immediately after World War II. I never thought about the devastation to the city in the final days. Anyone who is a World War II buff should read. Plus, it has a good mystery imbedded in the book."
I kept reading for so long wanting to like this book. There are two main problems, though. The first is that there's way too much dialogue. Everyone has to explain everything to everyone else. Blah. And then Kanon thinks he's being edgy by writing in a bunch of short sentence fragments. Blah.
The second problem, which is much more eggregious, is that Kanon is as dull as his main character Jake Geismar when it comes to women. A woman is raped and then has an abortion and here's Jake Geismar getti...more
The second problem, which is much more eggregious, is that Kanon is as dull as his main character Jake Geismar when it comes to women. A woman is raped and then has an abortion and here's Jake Geismar getti...more
An American soldier's body is found floating in Berlin shortly before Churchill and company arrive for the 1945 postwar conference. Thousands of occupation marks were being carried by the man who proves not to have drowned but to have been shot. An American journalist long resident in Berlin chances on the story and so begins an engrossing novel, on one level a whodunnit and why, but overall a reflection on many moral issues.
The book is long, the meticulously detailed plotting needs concentratio...more
The book is long, the meticulously detailed plotting needs concentratio...more
A very convoluted plot, hard to keep track of all the characters at first. Part love story, part murder mystery, part espionage. Set in Berlin directly after the war in Europe has ended, and when the city was partioned by the Allies. Jake Geismer returns to Berlin as part of the press corps sent in to cover the aftermath of WWII as war crimes were being brought to trial. His return is personal, as he once lived in Berlin, and he's also looking for a woman with whom he'd had an affair before leav...more
I listened to this one on tape. This is set in Berlin just after the end of WWII. An American journalist arrives in Berlin to cover the occupation and find a woman he got to know when he was stationed in Berlin before the war. He is in Potsdam when a body washes up on shore where a conference is being held. The body is of an American soldier, and his satchel is filled with money. He starts to investigate.This book has some good moments. However, I did not really understand what the conclusion of...more
I had to read this book for a Film Adaptation class at school; with that said, I really enjoyed it. Yes, it was a little plot heavy sometimes, and I felt like I was meeting a new character every other page, but Kanon really does a great job dropping you right into the past. He also examines some truths of WWII; for example, there are no heroes in this book. Jake is called a hero, and is definitely the most moral character, but even he isn't heroic in any outstanding way.
Many of us when we think...more
Many of us when we think...more
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
