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wonder_kinder's review against another edition
4.0
a good espionage story only made better by the fact that Fritz Kolbe was a real man, a real spy, and played such an important role in WWII.
wombat_88's review against another edition
dark
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
sbbarnes's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
"The Honest Spy" follows the espionage career of Fritz Kolbe, a German diplomat who spends the later years of World War II smuggling confidential information to the Americans. Kolbe narrates his choices during the war to two journalists post-war, a modern thread set between the story proper.
Kolbe is characterized throughout as a decent man. He was never a member of the Nazi party or even slightly convinced by them. The only moment of doubt he has is when his best friend dies as a result of information he leaked. His driving motivation is love for a married nurse from the Charité called Marlene. She appears to be largely fictional, although Kolbe did marry a nurse from the Charité after the war.
All told the bare bones of the narrative are compelling enough and Fritz's moral backbone is comforting to read about. So is his kinship with the young female photographer who understands how important his love story and the mundane details of his love life during the war are. Something I really loved was the contrast between how Fritz spends all day feeding the journalists and offering them drink after drink in contrast to the sections during the war when food is scarce, alcohol is stolen and the only good meals Fritz has are in Bern.
Something I struggle with though is that this is such a German WWII story. The framing of Fritz's motivations is ideological; he is no Nazi and he never has been. He is disgusted by everything they stand for and believes Germanness is a far more cosmopolitan trait related to composers, literature, history of better men. He continually complains of the Nazis' senseless speeches and poor oration etc. This is ultimately an extremely comforting story for a German audience because it shows us not all Germans were convinced and there was civil resistance. While noble of course, I did feel slightly let down that not more attention was given to things like the Russian secret operative's astute commentary that Fritz's station in South Africa and his daughter's safe haven there are ultimately results of colonialism. Equally, there is a glut of this kind of story—the lone good German who didn't believe the party line—and very few stories humanizing Jewish, Sinti, Roma, LGBTQ+ etc. victims of the Holocaust and telling their stories of resistance. This book barely remembers these people exist in more than the abstract, which makes sense given Kolbe had little contact - but I believe he would have had more than zero contact.
Kolbe is characterized throughout as a decent man. He was never a member of the Nazi party or even slightly convinced by them. The only moment of doubt he has is when his best friend dies as a result of information he leaked. His driving motivation is love for a married nurse from the Charité called Marlene. She appears to be largely fictional, although Kolbe did marry a nurse from the Charité after the war.
All told the bare bones of the narrative are compelling enough and Fritz's moral backbone is comforting to read about. So is his kinship with the young female photographer who understands how important his love story and the mundane details of his love life during the war are. Something I really loved was the contrast between how Fritz spends all day feeding the journalists and offering them drink after drink in contrast to the sections during the war when food is scarce, alcohol is stolen and the only good meals Fritz has are in Bern.
Something I struggle with though is that this is such a German WWII story. The framing of Fritz's motivations is ideological; he is no Nazi and he never has been. He is disgusted by everything they stand for and believes Germanness is a far more cosmopolitan trait related to composers, literature, history of better men. He continually complains of the Nazis' senseless speeches and poor oration etc. This is ultimately an extremely comforting story for a German audience because it shows us not all Germans were convinced and there was civil resistance. While noble of course, I did feel slightly let down that not more attention was given to things like the Russian secret operative's astute commentary that Fritz's station in South Africa and his daughter's safe haven there are ultimately results of colonialism. Equally, there is a glut of this kind of story—the lone good German who didn't believe the party line—and very few stories humanizing Jewish, Sinti, Roma, LGBTQ+ etc. victims of the Holocaust and telling their stories of resistance. This book barely remembers these people exist in more than the abstract, which makes sense given Kolbe had little contact - but I believe he would have had more than zero contact.
halfcentreader's review against another edition
2.0
I learned something new by reading this book.. Fritz Kolbe.
cyclinggirlj's review against another edition
4.0
A book I couldn't put down. Exciting, frightening, engaging and insightful. It is a fictionalized version of a true story. I am now inspired to read a biography on Fritz Kolbe. It shows how one man's choices had a large impact in the war. It is very well written and portrays how difficult it is to do the right thing. Even when we know and feel what that is, most are too political and finally, too self-serving to follow through. A really great read! I highly recommend it!
dws405's review against another edition
4.0
Don't you love books that linger after you finish reading them? This book did it for me. It is an translation of the book that was written in German. Because the original audience for this were Germans, it discusses the concept of what it is means to be a traitor.
Have you heard of Fritz Kolbe, alias George Wood? He was a low level official in the German government that provide key information to the Americans, via Allen Dulles. In many German's views he was a traitor. But was he? Is it a traitor to try to end the carnage that was being created by the Nazi Party? I admire him.....he never joined the Nazi Party...he would never say Heil Hitlter; instead he would respond by saying 'Hi Hitler'.
Have you heard of Fritz Kolbe, alias George Wood? He was a low level official in the German government that provide key information to the Americans, via Allen Dulles. In many German's views he was a traitor. But was he? Is it a traitor to try to end the carnage that was being created by the Nazi Party? I admire him.....he never joined the Nazi Party...he would never say Heil Hitlter; instead he would respond by saying 'Hi Hitler'.
anitad's review against another edition
4.0
I read this book to fulfil the goal read a book on history. it was a bit confusing because it kept switching between present and past veiw, but it was a good story, not great, but really good. supposedly it was based on a real person. i got a copy for free with our prime membership.
sackofbeans's review against another edition
2.0
My decision for reading this one was a little convoluted. I went to go watch the roll-out of the Delta IV Heavy rocket which was soon to launch and carry the Parker Solar Probe to the sun. It was a big rocket.
I got to the neighboring launchpad a couple of hours early, as it made little sense to drive the long distance home and back, so I had some time to kill. But I did not bring a book with me. But I had my Kindle! And lots of ebooks I've downloaded over the years! Oh, wait, no, I had purchased a ton of ebooks but only downloaded... four. And there ain't Wi-Fi out at the launch pads.
The Honest Spy was the most interesting, un-read, fictional (I make sure I alternate between reading fiction and non-fiction so I don't get burned out on reading) book available on my Kindle at the time. And I'm not entirely for sure where it came from, I'm going to guess it was a Kindle First Reads or whatever, one of those optional free books you can download every month as an Amazon Prime Member. They let you pick from four books that all sound kind of "meh" so you go with the one that sounds the least dull, because hey, it's free.
So this is a review of a not-the-most-dull book a person can read when they have no other options because they didn't think ahead. Expect great things!
I'm going to spoil the twist ending revealed in the afterward: this book was based on a real person who actually existed. If I knew that from the beginning maybe I would have enjoyed it more, that's my own fault, but I try not to know too much about a book before going into it so I likely only glanced at the description.
But I kept finding myself removed from the story because of how silly cliche American Hollywood it felt at times.
The main character Fritz loves his home country of Germany. But oh man he hates Nazis and what they're doing to it! His boss calls and yells at him that he needs to leave his daughter behind in Africa so he can go be a spy and take down the Nazis. He works his way up through the Nazi ranks, finds some British Intelligence folks who don't want to pay him any attention, finds some AMERICAN YEAH BUDDY Intelligence folks who tell him he's the best there ever was and really appreciate him giving them all sorts of neat details like where the Nazis plan on attacking, what they're dong to the Jews, and where Hitler lives and works and plays. Fritz puts his life in danger regularly FOR FREE because Nazis suck.
Fritz also gets away with never joining the Nazi party or having a picture of Hitler on his office wall, which I would think a few other Nazis would make a bigger deal about but they only kind of tease Fritz about it.
My favorite... I don't know if it was an intentional joke, but idea carried out throughout the novel was Fritz refused to say "Heil Hitler", and instead would respond to anyone yelling it to him with his own defiant "Hi Hitler!"
I'd like to think the other characters that heard this felt a little confused and awkward. "Does he not know? Surely he must know it's heil not hi. After all, I'm not Hitler. Maybe he has a speech impediment? No, he can't, the Gestapo would have thrown him over a ledge by now if he did. He's high up with the Nazis so... maybe I just misheard him. Let me cough and shuffle my feet and walk away with my head down and pretend this whole thing never happened."
There's a big romantic subplot where Fritz is in love with a woman already married to a Nazi sympathizer. I wasn't sold on it.
It may be there was something lost in translation. Perhaps the details about the actual person were scarce enough that a lot of details were made up and so weren't convincing enough. For me, this was a book I had to force myself to get through, happily putting it back down every time I completed a single chapter so I could get on with my life.
I would like to point out that the character of Fritz stands in stark contrast to Howard W. Campbell, Jr, the main character of Kurt Vonnegut's Mother Night, one of my all-time favorite books. Where Mr. Campbell was a spy who mastered the appearance of being a Nazi so much he fooled even himself, Fritz manages to finds ways to stay true to himself and his beliefs. The latter may have actually happened, but the former was a lot more fun to read.
If anything, The Honest Spy has me aware of and wanting to read a biography on the actual Fritz the person.
I got to the neighboring launchpad a couple of hours early, as it made little sense to drive the long distance home and back, so I had some time to kill. But I did not bring a book with me. But I had my Kindle! And lots of ebooks I've downloaded over the years! Oh, wait, no, I had purchased a ton of ebooks but only downloaded... four. And there ain't Wi-Fi out at the launch pads.
The Honest Spy was the most interesting, un-read, fictional (I make sure I alternate between reading fiction and non-fiction so I don't get burned out on reading) book available on my Kindle at the time. And I'm not entirely for sure where it came from, I'm going to guess it was a Kindle First Reads or whatever, one of those optional free books you can download every month as an Amazon Prime Member. They let you pick from four books that all sound kind of "meh" so you go with the one that sounds the least dull, because hey, it's free.
So this is a review of a not-the-most-dull book a person can read when they have no other options because they didn't think ahead. Expect great things!
I'm going to spoil the twist ending revealed in the afterward: this book was based on a real person who actually existed. If I knew that from the beginning maybe I would have enjoyed it more, that's my own fault, but I try not to know too much about a book before going into it so I likely only glanced at the description.
But I kept finding myself removed from the story because of how silly cliche American Hollywood it felt at times.
The main character Fritz loves his home country of Germany. But oh man he hates Nazis and what they're doing to it! His boss calls and yells at him that he needs to leave his daughter behind in Africa so he can go be a spy and take down the Nazis. He works his way up through the Nazi ranks, finds some British Intelligence folks who don't want to pay him any attention, finds some AMERICAN YEAH BUDDY Intelligence folks who tell him he's the best there ever was and really appreciate him giving them all sorts of neat details like where the Nazis plan on attacking, what they're dong to the Jews, and where Hitler lives and works and plays. Fritz puts his life in danger regularly FOR FREE because Nazis suck.
Fritz also gets away with never joining the Nazi party or having a picture of Hitler on his office wall, which I would think a few other Nazis would make a bigger deal about but they only kind of tease Fritz about it.
My favorite... I don't know if it was an intentional joke, but idea carried out throughout the novel was Fritz refused to say "Heil Hitler", and instead would respond to anyone yelling it to him with his own defiant "Hi Hitler!"
I'd like to think the other characters that heard this felt a little confused and awkward. "Does he not know? Surely he must know it's heil not hi. After all, I'm not Hitler. Maybe he has a speech impediment? No, he can't, the Gestapo would have thrown him over a ledge by now if he did. He's high up with the Nazis so... maybe I just misheard him. Let me cough and shuffle my feet and walk away with my head down and pretend this whole thing never happened."
There's a big romantic subplot where Fritz is in love with a woman already married to a Nazi sympathizer. I wasn't sold on it.
It may be there was something lost in translation. Perhaps the details about the actual person were scarce enough that a lot of details were made up and so weren't convincing enough. For me, this was a book I had to force myself to get through, happily putting it back down every time I completed a single chapter so I could get on with my life.
I would like to point out that the character of Fritz stands in stark contrast to Howard W. Campbell, Jr, the main character of Kurt Vonnegut's Mother Night, one of my all-time favorite books. Where Mr. Campbell was a spy who mastered the appearance of being a Nazi so much he fooled even himself, Fritz manages to finds ways to stay true to himself and his beliefs. The latter may have actually happened, but the former was a lot more fun to read.
If anything, The Honest Spy has me aware of and wanting to read a biography on the actual Fritz the person.