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lindzlovesreading's review against another edition
4.0
This was a definite down the rabbit hole book. And I was really annoying about reading it. Poor Chef had constant interruptions of his Ray Donovan, did you know, that for every 100 citizens there was two Stasi informants? Did you know when the Wall started to come down, Stasi officers were running over to the West to buy more shredders? There was a lot of pointed pressing of the pause button.
amybaird's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
4.0
lookpook's review against another edition
dark
informative
medium-paced
4.5
Finished as I walked through checkpoint Charlie, full circle moment
claudiusthegod's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
slow-paced
5.0
Really incredibly written and emotional book. Very interesting and easy to read despite it's heavy content.
sytze_'s review against another edition
3.0
"Some people are comfortable talking about their lives, as if they can make sense of the progression of random events that made them what they are."
I know little about the former GDR - only what has been discussed in my history classes and German lessons in secondary school. Before reading this book, I did not think of the GDR as I would think of any other totalitarian state, Nazi Germany or Stalin's USSR. For some reason, the GDR was - in my mind - a quirky, peculiar nation led by a foreign ideology, but in a nostalgic, almost charming way.
This book does away with that image. It tells the horrors of the GDR - Stasiland - from the perspective of both the victims and perpetrators (even though the latter might not see themselves as such). It's a grim reminder how quickly the world can change, and that we should be wary of this.
I know little about the former GDR - only what has been discussed in my history classes and German lessons in secondary school. Before reading this book, I did not think of the GDR as I would think of any other totalitarian state, Nazi Germany or Stalin's USSR. For some reason, the GDR was - in my mind - a quirky, peculiar nation led by a foreign ideology, but in a nostalgic, almost charming way.
This book does away with that image. It tells the horrors of the GDR - Stasiland - from the perspective of both the victims and perpetrators (even though the latter might not see themselves as such). It's a grim reminder how quickly the world can change, and that we should be wary of this.