Reviews

Return to Berlin by Ellen Feldman

gustavasofia's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

mandylovestoread's review

4.0

Historical fiction is still a relatively new genre for me and I am still finding my feet. When Return to Berlin was sent to me by Simon and Schuster Australia, I decided to give it a go. It was a different take on a war novel, with it taking place after the war has ended. And the main characters were Jewish. It was a heartbreaking and interesting novel of loss, guilt, hate and trauma, but at the same time there was hope and the promise of a new start in a new world. So many aspects of war that I have not read about before, a real eye opener and makes me glad to be living today.

Return to Berlin is about Millie and David, brother and sister who are Jewish and managed to get out of Germany and into the US before the war. The rest of their family were not so lucky. They are no going back to Berlin to assist with the post war efforts, and for Milie, try to find her family, who she hopes have survived the war. They return to a broken country and people, who are trying to find their way in the new reality. Finding loved ones, home and work are all things that they need to focus on and Millie and David along with the US Army are there to help. But they are hiding their own secrets and demons. Can they ever be happy again.

Thank you Simon and Schuster for this book, something I may not have picked up on my own.

erin_rose29's review against another edition

emotional medium-paced

3.5

sarahgaelsbooks's review against another edition

dark informative sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

Return to Berlin offers a look at what life would’ve been like in post-WW2 Berlin and the effects the war and holocaust had on the people. I can’t imagine it would have been an entirely pleasant time, even with the relief from the war’s end. I suppose there were a lot of people who didn’t truly understand what was and had been happening while Hitler was in power. 

 

Within the scene-setting of the book, several things were brought up that I had never thought about before. For example, some of the people liberated from the Concentration Camps had forgotten some of those unspoken ‘rules’ of society. There is a moment that talks about them just ‘relieving’ themselves wherever they are when they need to go. 

 

I won’t lie; a large part of the reason this book is 2 stars and that I actually finished it was because of these historical moments and facts. I’m fascinated by history, and when reading Historical Fiction, I want to learn something from them. 

 

Now on to why Return to Berlin, in my opinion, doesn’t get a higher rating… 

 

I found the story itself rather monotonous. I could not pick up on the changes of tone, the building of tension, or the lighthearted moments. This was essentially to do with the fact that I found some of the dialogue somewhat awkward and unnatural. It meant that I was continuously drawn back out of the story. A saying (for lack of a better way of putting it) says that a writer should leave some things unsaid and allow the reader to create some of those moments themselves - the books we each love tend to do this very well. Return to Berlin could have done with more detail, more information and more description. There was too much left unsaid, and thus, to me, it lost its tone and became monotonous.

...

If you would like to see my complete review of this book then please check out my book blog: https://sarahgael3.wixsite.com/sarahgaelsbooks/post/review-return-to-berlin

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, Racism, and War