Name: Deepika Ramesh's review of Alone in Berlin by Hans Fallada
Item: Alone in Berlin
Rating: 5
Author: Deepika Ramesh

Hans Fallada

Inspired by a true story, Hans Fallada's Alone in Berlin is the gripping tale of an ordinary man's determination to defy the tyranny of Nazi rule. This Penguin Classics edition contains an afterword by Geoff Wilkes, as well as facsimiles of the original Gestapo file which inspired the novel.Berlin, 1940, and the city is filled with fear. At the house on 55 Jablonski Strasse, its various occupants try to live under Nazi rule in their different ways: the bullying Hitler loyalists the Persickes, the retired judge Fromm and the unassuming couple Otto and Anna Quangel. Then the Quangels receive the news that their beloved son has been killed fighting in France. Shocked out of their quiet existence, they begin a silent campaign of defiance, and a deadly game of cat and mouse develops between the Quangels and the ambitious Gestapo inspector Escherich. When petty criminals Kluge and Borkhausen also become involved, deception, betrayal and murder ensue, tightening the noose around the Quangels' necks ...If you enjoyed Alone in Berlin, you might like John Steinbeck's The Moon is Down, also available in Penguin Modern Classics.'One of the most extraordinary and compelling novels written about World War II. Ever' Alan Furst'Terrific ... a fast-moving, important and astutely deadpan thriller' Irish Times'An unrivalled and vivid portrait of life in wartime Berlin' Philip Kerr'To read Fallada's testament to the darkest years of the 20th century is to be accompanied by a wise, somber ghost who grips your shoulder and whispers into your ear: "This is how it was. This is what happened"' The New York Times

Alone in Berlin

João Guerreiro

Deepika Ramesh

Read this heartrending novel for the German Lit Month. My blog on the book is here: https://newfracturedlight.wordpress.c...

Alice Hyman

Ayden

I had a lot of thoughts about this book that are now completely overshadowed by the feeling of pointlessness I just don’t understand what was the goal of the book
I learned a lot about what it was like for Germans during world war 2 but not enough to justify the pages in this book

Nimish

Alone in Berlin, when I first saw this novel in the Max Mueller Bhavan library's bookshelf, I assumed it to be a Noir and picked it up without reading the précis. 

As I started reading it, I realised it was more of a pre-war thriller with some Noir elements. Based on true events which happened in Nazi-era Germany, Alone in Berlin manages to create the atmosphere of hopelessness, the fear, the sheer banality of madness during the era of that regime quite successfully. 

The dogged nature of the main protagonists Otto and Anna Quangel to fight the Nazi regime in their own ingenious way, was the exact same method used by Otto and Elise Hampel in real life - which was dropping anonymous postcards all over Berlin to protest against Hitler and his war policies. While in the book these acts are motivated by the death of the Quangels' son, in real life the motivator was the death of Elise's brother. The consequences of the act are a foregone conclusion.

The book takes some time to pick up pace, as till about page number 200 the author is establishing the scene with the multiple characters. The protagonists Otto and Anna Quangel; the useless thieving and cunning Emil Borkhausen and Enno Kluge; paranoid Jewess Frau Rosenthal; empathetic Judge Fromm; the patient and cerebral Inspector Escherich and so on. The book is divided into four main parts. For me, the book really picked up pace, once Inspector Escherisch came onto the scene.

Unlike his superior, Obergrüppenführer Prall, Escherisch is a patient investigator and believes in playing the long game to capture the accused red handed. The tension he faces while performing his duties and the pace at which the Quangels go about their work keeps you engrossed. 

Anything more about the story would be revealing spoilers, even though this is not a whodunnit. 

One of my favourite German movies is 'Das Leben der anderen' which was set in post war Germany and revolves around a Stasi officer initially spying on a theatre director (to frame him) and then doing everything in his power to save him, when the officer realises the system is not being just. The character of Inspector Escherisch reminded me a lot of that Stasi officer, except that Escherisch comes to his senses in a drastically different manner. The conversation between Escherisch and Otto Quangel in the book is hard hitting. And equally mind boggling is the scant regard for human life in the book, be it the Jews or native Germans (who rubbed the regime in any way it deeemed negative) which was a reflection of the time in which it is set. That the book was written just two years after Germany was defeated in World War II, adds a level of authenticity to the narrative.

While the kind of protest undertaken by the Quangels does not leave one with much hope for their eventual fate, the fact that this actually happened in reality makes one realise the extent to which human nature can resist against a powerful regime, despite knowing the fact that there will be no support from society, there will be certain death. Indians will relate to this kind of nature as we have many examples of freedom fighters whose only source of motivation was to see the country free of the British rule. 

The reflection on death by the main characters towards the end of the book, at times gets really dark. The anxieties faced by a prisoner on death row in pre-war Germany, is powerfully elaborated upon. 

Another interesting thing I learned about the book while reading the Afterword, which is in excess of 50 pages, is that Hans Fallada is the pen name of Rudolph Ditzen. And he actually underwent treatment for mental disorders at a sanatorium, multiple times, in his formative years. Ditzen wrote 'Alone in Berlin' in a mere 24 days after he was given the case files of real life couple, Otto and Elise Hampel but he didn't live long enough to see his work being published. 

I can't recommend this book enough. Read the book before its film adaptation comes out next year.

Lea de Sousa

Blown away. If I could give it 6 stars I would. 

WOW. Hans Fallada (Rudolf Ditzen) did a remarkable job showing us how WW2 Germany effected everyone. While reading, thanks to his talent to be extremely descriptive, I felt the fear of the people reading those postcards, the hatred Otto felt towards Hitler - this book makes you feel everything. 

I've read some amazing books about Nazi Germany such as the Book Thief, but nothing can compare to this novel. All I can say is this is a novel that will stick with me and everyone should read it.

Danu Poyner

Possibly the best novel I have ever read.

Laura Dobie

Jorge Cimentada

** spoiler alert **
           This was such a good book! Based on true events of a couple in Berlin who started leaving subversive letters against the Führer during WW2 in Berlin. The story is a bit slow in the first three hundred pages as Fallada is building up the relationship between the characters (something that I enjoyed very much since all chapters are very linear and there's a good connection between each chapter/character) but the remaining three hundred pages or so is just phenomenal. It features the first leads to the author of the letters by the Gestapo and it highlights the moral compass of Otto and Anna Quangel. 

Definitely worth reading!

João Guerreiro &
Alone in Berlin by Hans Fallada

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João Guerreiro &Alone in Berlin by Hans Fallada

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João Guerreiro &
Alone in Berlin by Hans Fallada