Genre: Fiction--Novel
Completed: 2 January 2018
Summary & Review:
During the interwar years of the 1930s, Berlin is a city undergoing tremendous change. The former glory of the Prussian empire is gone, leaving little more than tattered remnants behind, and in its wake is rising a terrible new force. In this atmosphere, Isherwood lives and writes, learning much about dem Deutschen Volke.
Isherwood is undeniably a talented writer and this was an interesting book to read. Naturally, after having lived in Germany for four years, my interest in the country has increased considerably. Plus, the interwar years in Germany are often glossed over, in high school history classes for example, and the student only learns about WWII. Sure, passing mention is given to the Weimar years, mainly in relation to how it brought about the Nazi regime, but details are scarce. I found it fascinating to read these vignettes of everyday German life during those troubled years.
But, what would one of my reviews be without some political gripe?! And I have a biggie with this one! The first five novellas that make up the book are largely apolitical and barely mention Nazis or the political climate in Germany at all. These were what I was referring to in my comments above. The final segment of the book, “A Berlin Diary (Winter 1932-3),” is almost exclusively about the changing political climate and the rise of the Nazis in the city. Isherwood, rightfully so, does a powerfully effective job showing the evil behind the Third Reich. But, the guy is 100% freaking sympathetic to the Communists! Books like this do so much damage because they focus solely on the evils and terrors of fascism and ignore completely those of communism, and that is why today it is wholly socially acceptable to be a communist or socialist, but beyond the pale to be a fascist. Any fair minded person would see the insanity of this as the murders racked up by every. single. communist regime far, far, far surpasses those committed by fascist dictatorships. Isherwood deftly captures the fear and anguish felt by those persecuted by the Nazis, but what of the fear felt by those under communist governments? Berlin suffered under the Nazi yoke for twelve years, but then the city was crushed by the boot heel of Marxism for over four decades! Where is Isherwood’s condemnation of the Soviets and those who rule the DDR with an iron fist every bit as terrible—if not more so—than the Nazis? It is insane to me, absolutely insane, that people find it acceptable to be a communist or socialist. That label should be just as toxic as "Nazi" or "fascist."
Without this last section, or if perhaps Isherwood weren’t so completely blind to the terrors of communism, this book would have scored much higher.
Rating: 5.5
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