All That I Am in Around the World in 80 Books

Sep 01, 2011 Daisy rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites-2nd-place, aroundtheworld2012, england, australia, germany, berlin-read-summer-2012, berlin

This is an important story, beautifully written, about selflessness, determination, intimacy, collaboration, separation, exile. Told in two voices, it's an interesting juxtaposition of times in history: Ruth's story with her cousin Dora told from the present day and Toller's story of his relationship with Dora told from New York in 1939.
Knowing all we know now, reading about the tense and frightening days when Hitler was new to power, and about the brave intellectuals and exiles who fought agai This is an important story, beautifully written, about selflessness, determination, intimacy, collaboration, separation, exile. Told in two voices, it's an interesting juxtaposition of times in history: Ruth's story with her cousin Dora told from the present day and Toller's story of his relationship with Dora told from New York in 1939.
Knowing all we know now, reading about the tense and frightening days when Hitler was new to power, and about the brave intellectuals and exiles who fought against his regime, and attempted to warn the world, even before the very worst happened, makes all the more sickening that Hitler ruled at all. The eve of World War II, the politics, the lawfulness and lawlessness, the Independent Social Democrats who became the Socialist Workers Party, a bridge between the Communists and the Social Democrats. This novel is as taut as a thriller, as detailed as a period piece, and as graceful as a love story. Skilled and unforgettable.

When Hitler came to power I was in the bath. A great first line.

His only mode, with everyone, was intimacy. (abt. Toller)

But I must say it has been, in general, a boon not to have been a beautiful woman. Because I was barely looked at, I was free to do the looking. (Ruth: photographer, observer)

Hugo had no special voice for children. When he spoke to you he made you into your best self.

The camera's shutter... made a long, soft, metal sound, the sound of capture and theft.

There's a lot more going on in this novel than the next sample might offer, but on its own, it's wonderful:
I am not a pitiful old woman hanging on to her mind while her body shuts down. I am a woman on her way to eat cake.

I wonder, now, about interrogation chambers: why do they think bright light brings the truth out of people? They should try the seduction of shadows, where you cannot watch your words hit their target.

There were always points at which we had to decide whether the danger someone was in was worth the work they did for the cause. We became responsible for the peril we let each other assume. There should be a syndrome name for this too.

We could grow to swap stories of pedestrian disorientation and bedroom disappointment and taxidermy and I would never, ever be as safe as she.

And it is exactly the businesslike, professional nature of their thousand tendernesses that is the magical thing... (about nurses)

Though it is the hardest thing, to work out one's weight and heft in the world, to whittle down all that I am and give it a value. ...more

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Nov 23, 2011 Jessica rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: germany, between-the-wars, england

Funder shines a light on a hidden corner of history here by bringing to life the stories of German political refugees during Hitler's rise to power. This one's a must-read for anyone who gets nostalgic for the not-entirely-accurate view of the Allied powers as beacons of virtue against the darkness of the Axis - the reality of exile, for those fortunate enough to escape, undercuts that comforting narrative in an eye-opening way. ...more

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