Alone in Berlin in Around the World in 80 Books

Dec 26, 2021 Stil de scriitor rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

O carte inegalabila. Singur în Berlin apare și sub denumirea de Fiecare moare singur, așa că dacă ajungeți la acea carte, să știți că este una și aceeași. Deși are un număr generos de pagini (760), nu pot spune că am citit-o greu. Scrisă într-un stil franc, sincer și direct, cartea m-a impresionat de la primele pagini. Nu este o carte veselă, ci mai degrabă un șir nesfârșit de tragedii. Dar merita fiecare pagina citita.

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Apr 02, 2014 Judy rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

This is a powerful, compelling portrayal of life in Germany under the Nazis. Loosely based on a real case, the story centres on a couple, Otto and Anna Quangel, who decide to voice their opposition to Hitler by writing postcards of protest and leaving them in corridors and staircases for others to pick up.

However, there are also many other memorable and vividly-drawn characters. They range from Enno Kluge, the pitiful, cowardly small-time gambler, to Escherich, the police detective who tries to This is a powerful, compelling portrayal of life in Germany under the Nazis. Loosely based on a real case, the story centres on a couple, Otto and Anna Quangel, who decide to voice their opposition to Hitler by writing postcards of protest and leaving them in corridors and staircases for others to pick up.

However, there are also many other memorable and vividly-drawn characters. They range from Enno Kluge, the pitiful, cowardly small-time gambler, to Escherich, the police detective who tries to keep his hands clean and concentrate on the case as a puzzle - but increasingly is drawn into methods just as cruel and murderous as those of his colleagues. The book alternates between sections concentrating on different characters, blending anger, tragedy and comedy in a way that reminded me of great 19th-century novelists like Dickens.

I hadn't previously read anything by Fallada, but now definitely want to read more. It's hard to believe that he wrote this in just a few weeks, since the writing is of such high quality throughout. I decided to read it in German, despite my knowledge of the language being rather rusty, because the style is so simple and direct, with a lot of colloquial Berlin dialect (easy to read if you know spoken German better than written), which inevitably loses something in translation.

Also, the German text on Kindle is complete, whereas the English translation by Michael Hofmann is based on an earlier edition which had been revised/censored by another writer, Paul Wiegler, to suit the original East German publisher. There is a long afterword and note on the text explaining all this at the end of the German Kindle book. Wiegler's cuts, including the deletion of one whole chapter, seem to have been largely made for political reasons, for instance, removing most of the references to the good characters' involvement with the Nazis, together with any disparaging references to Communists. He also cut many swear words and crude passages, thereby losing quite a bit of black humour.

The book as a whole is full of powerful, memorable scenes, and doesn't idealise anyone, showing the full horror of the Nazi regime as even its opponents are forced to make compromises which destroy others' lives. Several characters are monsters of evil, but even the good people are painted in shades of grey. Otto and Anna themselves are no saints, but flawed human beings - who come to understand their own flaws as they battle in isolation against the regime.

Then there's an apparently kindly judge, Judge Fromm (the name means piety), who goes out on a limb to rescue an elderly Jewish woman, Frau Rosenthal. But this man, a former hanging judge nicknamed "bloody Fromm", then refuses to give her any human sympathy or understanding and in effect becomes her jailer. By contrast, a bullying elderly Nazi functionary, Persicke, who terrorises others, then descends deep into alcoholism and makes himself vulnerable to persecution in turn. The book certainly shows how, in a police state, it's each man for himself, as the original German title suggests.

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May 05, 2010 Telly rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Although I enjoyed this book, it was also extremely exhausting. It is written in the mode of Victor Hugo's "Les Misérables." It, too, expounds on religion, moral philosophy, and justice at traverses its many plots. These plots are precisely what makes the book, at times, frustrating. It is aggravating when you spend your time reading an entire part (there are three parts) of the book only to learn it is a wild goose chase after a scoundrel character about whom it is hardly worth worrying. There ...more

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Mar 20, 2010 Tammy AZ rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This book captures the personal rebellion of a couple after losing their son in WWII. While their actions are small, they could have major consequences if discovered and the read feels the possibility of the discovery. This is not an action book so anyone looking for wartime scenes should look elsewhere. It is a slower, thoughtful novel.

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