In reading "The Lebensborn Boy" by Roy Havelland, I was irresistibly reminded of "The Spy Who Came in from the Cold" by John Le Carre, and of other Le Carre spy novels that had settings in the cold, bleak, somewhat harsh cityscapes and societies of Eastern Europe, and particularly East Germany, in the era before the fall of the Berlin Wall. Len Deighton makes an incursion into the East Germany of the time, and the countryside adjoining the Wall, in his series starring the British spy Bernard Sampson. In one episode that took place in "Berlin Game," I think, an East German border guard confronts Sampson and says, sneeringly, "Ve know why you are staying at ze Golden Bear, Mr. Sampson," so near the border.
Now, all these authors attempt to convey, with some success, the atmosphere and feel of communist Europe, of the grey and dismal nature of the cities, the fear and caution of the people, and the menacing character of the Wall and the 'death-strip' that so many attempted to cross. But who does it better?
Havelland makes several forays into this territory, notably at the outset of Part III of his book. He speaks with feeling of the houses along the Wall whose windows have been boarded up, and of Hinnerk Siebert approaching with mingled interest and some dread a line of grey, desolate houses that adjoin the 'strip,' abandoned but still not demolished, intact but ruinous.
I wonder: does Havelland portray the bleakness and police-state grimness of Cold War eastern Europe better than other authors, notably Le Carre and Deighton? I believe he does. And, I wonder if other readers will agree, does he succeed to a greater degree because he has actually lived in Germany for a long time, and speaks the language? A home ground advantage, so to speak.
I would be interested to hear the views and reactions of other readers.
Now, all these authors attempt to convey, with some success, the atmosphere and feel of communist Europe, of the grey and dismal nature of the cities, the fear and caution of the people, and the menacing character of the Wall and the 'death-strip' that so many attempted to cross. But who does it better?
Havelland makes several forays into this territory, notably at the outset of Part III of his book. He speaks with feeling of the houses along the Wall whose windows have been boarded up, and of Hinnerk Siebert approaching with mingled interest and some dread a line of grey, desolate houses that adjoin the 'strip,' abandoned but still not demolished, intact but ruinous.
I wonder: does Havelland portray the bleakness and police-state grimness of Cold War eastern Europe better than other authors, notably Le Carre and Deighton? I believe he does. And, I wonder if other readers will agree, does he succeed to a greater degree because he has actually lived in Germany for a long time, and speaks the language? A home ground advantage, so to speak.
I would be interested to hear the views and reactions of other readers.
Frank Raymond.