Reviews with content warning for Antisemitism - Goodbye to Berlin

Reviews tagging 'Antisemitism'

Goodbye to Berlin by Christopher Isherwood

30 reviews

k_arnold's review against another edition

5.0

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Content Warnings

avoticat's review against another edition

3.75

emotional informative reflective relaxing slow-paced

This is not my usual type of book, but I did enjoy reading it. It feels oddly reflective of the current period we find ourselves in.
It's also incredibly interesting that Isherwood apparently denounced this book later, stating that he hasn't really understood the situation and people he was writing about. But I think the fact that the narrative is couched in the outsider perspective is to its benefits, particularly the fact that the narrator is so dismissive, which to me seems to reflect the foreigner 's attitude towards Germany during this time.
That being said, I'm not overly keen on narratives that are largely disconnect series of events with no overall throughline. It's not as dreadful to me as the Beats, but it gives a similar sensation of fatigue.
It is WILD to me that Cabaret came out of this!

Content Warnings

vrbjir's review against another edition

5.0

slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Content Warnings

book_artiste's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous dark funny informative lighthearted fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Really fun style of writing, some of it felt like poetry. Very camp and exaggerated characters existing against the backdrop of a Germany slowly descending into a Nazi regime. Great contrast and character interactions.

Content Warnings

maiahhtratchh's review against another edition

4.5

challenging reflective tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Content Warnings

elenavarg's review against another edition

4.0

challenging dark emotional funny informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

A queer classic I had never
heard of before (because I’m
bad with classics), 100% picked it up because I got momentarily obsessed with Cabaret the Musical. Couldn’t believe my luck when ai found one (!) copy of the book in my local book store.

It’s truly hard to tell how much of the novel is autobiographical… But Isherwood’s writing —whether he is the author or the character—is witty, funny and sometimes downright mean. He is very self-depracating, which I appreciated, but sometimes his writing about the Nazis had the distictive flavour of the benefit of hindsight and condescention. The latter truly shines through in ”The Nowaks” chapter, which was my least favorite.

I was surprised how funny the writing was, even while in the background the whole country of Germany is in extreme turmoil. I could’ve read about the toxic friendship between Christopher and Sally Bowles for the whole book! I really understand why the musical chose Sally as one of it’s protagonists, but I cannot fathom why they would make the relationship between Sally and Christopher anything romantic…

The book was obviously written at a different time… Even if the writing was great and the stories captivating, the story is full of racist, sexist and anti-semitic language. It is also distinctively fatphobic, which I wasn’t expecting.

Content Warnings