The Berlin Stories: The Last of Mr. Norris and Goodbye to Berlin (New Directions Book)
by Christopher Isherwood
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 741)
The collecting of short stories/ charachter reflections by an aspiring writer, ex-pat, English teacher is a familiar account of adaptation and cross-cultural investigation although is set in one of the most fecund periods in modern history.
A chronicle of Berlin in 1932- 34 and the precursory atmosphere that would lead into the offical sanctioning of genocide which was the establishment of Nazi Germany.The works are diary excerpts and accounts of interactions with accquaintances published retro...more
A chronicle of Berlin in 1932- 34 and the precursory atmosphere that would lead into the offical sanctioning of genocide which was the establishment of Nazi Germany.The works are diary excerpts and accounts of interactions with accquaintances published retro...more
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Read in July, 2007
Isherwood's own thoughtful, gentle, fallible nature, which the reader understands and idnetifies with immediately, stands in haunting contrast to the ominous changes taking place in Berlin during his stay there (1930-1934). For me, at least, the novel brings home--in a deeply personal way--how uncertain the political outcomes were as late as 1932; and then, how swiftly and crushingly the tides shifted. It also gives names and personalities to people--Nazis, communists, politcal know-nothings, an...more
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Read in January, 2002
These stories of prewar Berlin were so finely wrought that I couldn't put them down. Largely through the device of his autobiographical protagonist, Isherwood tells about the people who inhabit his rooming house and through them sketches all the stresses and tensions of the end of the Weimar Republic. Part of this work became the basis for the musical "Cabaret"
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Read in January, 2005
It's very easy to like these novels, unless of course you're a fundamentalist of some religious extreme or other. The stories are simple and fun, the characters are real enough and sympathetic enough for the reader to identify with and the writing is always smooth, humorous and readable.
The stories (or at least one of them) are well-known thanks to Bob Fosse's inspired directing of Michael York, Joel Grey and Liza Minelli in Cabaret. However the real star here is actually Berlin itself - a ...more
The stories (or at least one of them) are well-known thanks to Bob Fosse's inspired directing of Michael York, Joel Grey and Liza Minelli in Cabaret. However the real star here is actually Berlin itself - a ...more
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Read in January, 2003
I wanted to read the book about what the real story was behind the movie Cabaret. Also, in the process learned more about the intriguing man that was Christopher Isherwood.
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Read in September, 2008
Berlin seems to be the place for cool artistic people to go to and they love to talk and make art about it. It’s everywhere. Several people have talked about it with me during the last couple of weeks since I started reading the Berlin Stories. They describe the city with that glamorous grittiness that Christopher Isherwood writes about. It made the reading even more interesting to me as it seemed like Isherwood had managed to capture something of Berlin that still holds true seventy years aft...more
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Read in August, 2007
I liked these stories, but I just kept feeling like there was nothing much to them. They all take place in Germany in the 1930s...before everything goes to shit, but people know who Hitler is. Berlin was also supposed to be a mecca of risque behavior and sexual experimentation/freedom during this era. Given the charged political situation and the background of shadiness, I expected this book to provide a little more commentary or scandal...instead it reads mostly like observational autobigraphic...more
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Have you ever had a book recommended to you only to find it was even better than your friend had told you? Well, this was my most recent Ah ha - yes, YES moment. I would have sworn that I had read these stories before, but I cannot accept that notion. "Brain, you let me down." Reading these was a completely new experience. I quite literally couldn't stop reading these and I am going to nag, pummel and harangue everybody who hasn't read The Berlin Stories to do so - NO...more
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6 comments
a bittersweet portrayal of berlin and its denizens in the waning days of the weimar republic, seen through the eyes of a very observant & 'eventually' very queer englishman. (very english.) i was going to give this book a mere (!) four stars. then at the end of one of the stories (The Nowaks) he did that thing that great writers do where he makes you smile & cry at the same time, thus earning the additional star.
"I am a camera with its shutter open, quite passive, recording, not...more
"I am a camera with its shutter open, quite passive, recording, not...more
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Read in October, 2008
THE BERLIN STORIES reflects Christopher Isherwood’s time spent living in Berlin between 1929-1933. The first half is his novel “The Last of Mr. Norris”, and the second half is “Goodbye to Berlin”.
Written in first-person narrative, the stories are a thinly veiled account of his interactions with other Berliners.
The stories are somewhat interesting, but even though the characters are initially painted vividly, no character stayed around long enough for me to develop any compassion f...more
Written in first-person narrative, the stories are a thinly veiled account of his interactions with other Berliners.
The stories are somewhat interesting, but even though the characters are initially painted vividly, no character stayed around long enough for me to develop any compassion f...more
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Read in January, 2002
Berlin between the wars...yep desperate times and desperate living. Christopher Isherwood is excellent and conveying the blase attitude many people had during this time. A country ravaged by war, economy still in the shambles. Some characters are just phonies, some are out for money a any cost, some are out for companionship at any cost. Not really a happy book, but I think Isherwood wrote about (and experienced) people who were in a setting that was perfect to see what happens to people and...more
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This was one of the starting points for my interest in life in Weimar Berlin. Isherwood's perspective is that of an outsider like many of the most famous accounts of Weimar life in English, but it is quirky and insightful none the less.
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Quite possibly my favourite book. It's no secret that I'm a sucker for Weimer (and pre-Weimer) Berlin, and as one who has lived abroad for large chunks of my life thus far I can wholly relate to the characters Isherwood brings to life. It will not be everyone's cup of tea - it can, at times, be slow and vague, yet jump from event to event but these very attributes contribute to it's authenticity. A must read for anyone interested in this time period.
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Read in January, 1999
recommends it for:
Everyone
This is one of those books that resides on my shelf in complete tatters, held together by a tenuous variety of tapes be they packing or scotch. I love this book. It will never be packed away with the half of my books that lay in my basement marked "read, but to return to some day." I have read it over and over again. It is good for any situation
Depressed? Read Berlin Stories
On the beach? Read Berlin Stories
On the train? Read Berlin Stories
Is anything happening? Read Berlin Sto...more
Depressed? Read Berlin Stories
On the beach? Read Berlin Stories
On the train? Read Berlin Stories
Is anything happening? Read Berlin Sto...more
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Read in August, 2007
I read this after being moved by seeing the musical Cabaret, which is based on Goodbye to Berlin. It's a really interesting look at the decadence of Weimar Germany and its decline into Nazism. Isherwood is a dry writer, and even though the stories were based on his true experiences as an English teacher in Berlin, he takes the position almost of an outside observer instead of a participant in the surreal environment in which he finds himself. Read this if only for the strange characters that h...more
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