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3.88 AVERAGE
3.88 AVERAGE
sad
medium-paced
I found this book somewhat enjoyable. The style of writing was not my cup of tea per se, but the historical context it provides is very shocking and thought provoking. As it is set in Nazi Germany, this novel explores the social climate and pressures of living during this time, the paranoia was intense in this book.
As someone who had previously studied this topic, I found it really insightful and it adds a human element to things I already knew. For people interested in Nazi Germany or who are studying it for History, I would highly recommend this book.
I did find this book somewhat difficult to read, not because it used complex language of syntax, but because at times the narration gets quite busy, introducing a lot of characters and sub plots which ultimately have no relevance to the main story. I do think it retrospect that these ideas add to the overall tone of the book and details on Nazi Germany, it just wasn't what I am used to or would normally choose to read.
The characters all have their virtues and vices, this creating a very realistic world within the book. I think knowing that Irmgard Keun had escaped Nazi Germany herself created depth to the story because as a reader I was aware that this story was also truthful and making me believe even more in the novels realism.
I think that anyone interested in this period of history will find this novel very interesting and thought provoking, it definitely has left me in thought for several days now.
As someone who had previously studied this topic, I found it really insightful and it adds a human element to things I already knew. For people interested in Nazi Germany or who are studying it for History, I would highly recommend this book.
I did find this book somewhat difficult to read, not because it used complex language of syntax, but because at times the narration gets quite busy, introducing a lot of characters and sub plots which ultimately have no relevance to the main story. I do think it retrospect that these ideas add to the overall tone of the book and details on Nazi Germany, it just wasn't what I am used to or would normally choose to read.
The characters all have their virtues and vices, this creating a very realistic world within the book. I think knowing that Irmgard Keun had escaped Nazi Germany herself created depth to the story because as a reader I was aware that this story was also truthful and making me believe even more in the novels realism.
I think that anyone interested in this period of history will find this novel very interesting and thought provoking, it definitely has left me in thought for several days now.
adventurous
funny
hopeful
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Just what I expected from this author. A short little novel that packs so much in. It tells the lives of regular people that are living in Germany during the Nazi party. I liken the narrator Sanna to Nick Carraway of Great Gatsby; as she is mainly recounting the lives of all the people around her. That is until the last and final chapter when her life is the main focus for both her and the reader.
A tiny gem of a book, this is one of those books you just happen to stumble upon by chance and then it won’t let go of you. Recently re-released here in the US, it has a small but loyal following who do their best to get it more wide acclaim and for good reason. Part of the Neversink Library (which I’ve mentioned in prior reviews) this is one of those books that you hold onto and keep for future generations to enjoy even though it may not be a best seller. With a simple storyline and even thinner plot, it is an easy read that somehow manages to invoke the spirit and essence of the time period with few extraneous details. While that may sound like a bad thing, it’s not. Instead, it’s the simplistic nature of this book that gives its beauty and timeless appeal. Recommended to all lover’s of literary fiction and short story aficionados.
challenging
dark
funny
inspiring
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Another win from the Reading Women Challenge. Really appreciate reading challenges pushing me out of my typical reading habits to explore books I wouldn’t otherwise try.
Talk about bravery. Irmgard Keun sued the Gestapo when they banned and burned her books in the thirties. She wrote this book after becoming a literary exile, but she was in the Netherlands when the war broke out and found herself once again under the thumb of the Nazis. Somehow she gained a passport using her middle name and the surname of her ex-husband, then the Telegraph and a German exile printed her obituary, claiming she'd taken her own life when the Nazis invaded. It's not known if the suicide story was planned or if she'd just had a stroke of luck. At any rate, she spent the war in Germany living with her parents.
As for the book, if I'm being honest, it's not great. The plot isn't up to much, but then, the real joy is watching the proceedings grind to a halt so the author's stand-ins can rail against the Nazis for a bit. It's all done in a sort of faux-naïf style, with the teenaged girl narrator talking, for example, about how much Hitler sacrifices himself for the German people by spending his days being photographed.
My favourite is this bit:
Also this bit:
At this point, thank heavens, I’ve managed to get Gerti to come to the Ladies with me.
As for the book, if I'm being honest, it's not great. The plot isn't up to much, but then, the real joy is watching the proceedings grind to a halt so the author's stand-ins can rail against the Nazis for a bit. It's all done in a sort of faux-naïf style, with the teenaged girl narrator talking, for example, about how much Hitler sacrifices himself for the German people by spending his days being photographed.
My favourite is this bit:
Spoiler
The café’s getting emptier now, but it is no quieter. The fat, cheerful proprietor with his beer belly is standing beside us. “Evening, ladies and gentlemen, see you soon, good night, Heil Hitler,” he says to his customers as they go out, adding, to Heini, “Well, never know who you may be speaking to, do you, or what they happen to like?”
“The Stürmer, new edition just out, the Stinging Nettle and the Illustrated Observer for sale.”
Oh lord, I was hoping we could go home at last, and here comes the man who sells the Stürmer, the character Heini likes to engage in conversation, asking him ideological questions about World Outlook. The Stürmer man is about forty, fair and pale and tired, and bursting with zeal. He beavers away investigating all sort of Jewish secrets; he’s always discovering something new.
Breslauer doesn’t like it when Heini calls the Stürmer man over, he is sliding back and forth on his seat in his uneasiness, and his eyes flicker. “Calm down, Breslauer,” says Heini, “don’t you worry, the man has wonderfully well-developed instincts, his blood speaks loud and clear. Anyone can see you’re Jewish—anyone except our friend from the Stürmer.”
Blue clouds of smoke fill the air, almost enough to smother you. The proprietor is switching off lights at the back of the café, the waiters are beginning to empty ashtrays and bang them down again on the tables in a busy, unwelcoming way. Toni tenderly wraps his guitar in black oilcloth and finishes the end of his drink.
The Stürmer man has found out something new about Jews and Freemasons, to the effect that our five and ten pfennig coins have a sinister connection with Judaism and thus with Freemasonry. The fact is that the stalks of the ears of corn on the backs of those coins form a kind of Star of David. I can never understand the Stürmer man’s explanations. He says he can now divulge that he is on the track of a shocking conspiracy. “Amazing,” says Heini, “I’d never have thought of a thing like that. What an intelligent person you are, what a very intelligent person!”
The Stürmer man is delighted. He looks at Heini and our whole party with as much love and gratitude as if he were ready to risk his life rescuing every one of us from a burning house. “Oh, I’m only a very simple, uneducated man, ladies and gentlemen, but I’ve educated myself out of the Stürmer, you see. But for the Stürmer I’d never have known about the terrible dangers threatening our magnificent Aryan destiny. I’d have been blind to the whole Jewish question. I will say this, though, it’s in my nature to have a deeply inquiring mind. I get it from my stars. I hope you won’t think me immodest when I tell you I was born under Leo.” And the Stürmer man falls silent.
“Good heavens!” says Heini. “Why, then you share a birth month with this gentleman.” And he indicates Breslauer.
“I knew it,” says the Stürmer man. “I felt it at once—I sensed it! Give me your hand, sir.” Breslauer shakes hands, looking embarrassed. The Stürmer man is all emotional. “I can tell, just from the look of you, that you have a deeply inquiring mind too,” he says. “You will understand me. When two Leos meet, anywhere in the world, they’re like brothers. I’ll tell you something, before. Do you mind if I sit down for a minute, ladies and gentlemen?”
The Stürmer man sits down beside Breslauer and offers to buy him a beer—“No, really, I insist!”
So Breslauer and the Stürmer man raise their glasses and drink to those born under the sign of the Lion.
Manderscheid says good night and leaves without anyone’s noticing.
The proprietor puts out more lights.
Algin is resting his pale, tired face in his hands, cradling it. His dark eyes are fixed with thinking, looking inward.
Lovingly, carefully, the Stürmer man takes a long, narrow packet wrapped in white tissue paper out of his heavy briefcase. Lovingly, carefully, he removes several small, red rubber bands. He solemnly undoes the tissue paper. I can’t wait to see what’s inside.
The Stürmer man is holding a bare little twig, which might be off a jasmine or lilac bush, holding it cautiously and tenderly as a mother would hold her sleeping baby. And he hands the twig to Breslauer with tender, solemn caution, as you might lay the most precious thing in your life in your best friend’s safe hands. “Thank you,” breathes Breslauer, holding the twig reverently, not sure what to do with it.
“The fact is,” says the Stürmer man, after quite a long silence, “the fact is, I invented it! Only you, another Leo, can really understand. There are such people as diviners. You know about diviners? They go around with a forked stick looking for water underground. Hidden springs. Diviners are the elect, appointed by the stars. The rod in their hands strikes the ground if there is a spring hidden deep below. And then we dig for that pure, Aryan spring, and the well may bring in a good deal of money. Well, now—I have invented this diviner’s rod for recognizing Jews. You see, one can’t always tell who Jews are, straight off. The Stürmer writes that they’re children of the Devil. Now the Devil may take on all sorts of shapes. But I can find him out with my rod! There are some Jews who don’t look as if they are Jews—and there are some Christians who don’t look as if they are Christians. I can find them all out with my rod. I take it in my hand and ride in a tram with it, or walk down the street. I touch people’s backs with my rod, and if it jerks, that person is a Jew.” Sure enough, the twig is beginning to twitch in Breslauer’s hand. “You’re my friend,” the Stürmer man tells him. “You’re another Leo, you alone can understand me. I haven’t told another soul about my invention yet, I’ve got to try it out a bit more first. I unmasked a tram conductor with my twig last week. The twig struck his back when he was punching a ticket for the woman sitting next to me—I’d liked that woman on sight.”“But what happens,” I can’t help asking, “what happens if somebody born under Leo is a Jew?”
“You’re still young,” says the Stürmer man, and he gazes gravely at me for quite a while. “You can’t really understand these things as yet. Signs of the Zodiac do not apply to Jews.”
Also this bit:
Spoiler
I kick Gerti under the table, but still she won’t shut up. She says didn’t the Führer once say all Jews smell of garlic? What she’d like to know is just how many Jews the Führer has actually smelt, that’s all. If you think a person is revolting, well, you don’t keep getting close enough to smell him. The Jews she knows don’t smell, anyway, and as for garlic, she is very fond of eating it herself. This upsets Pielmann no end. If Gerti can talk like that, he says, she is racially contaminated. Kulmbach tries to calm Pielmann down, saying he himself once knew a Jew who was a decent sort of fellow, and then he orders another round of kirsch.At this point, thank heavens, I’ve managed to get Gerti to come to the Ladies with me.
4.5 empowered female anti-Nazis authors out of 5
It’s isn’t often I can categorize a book as being both gorgeously and grotesquely written. Only in Nazi Germany, am I right?
I thoroughly enjoyed the display of moral ambiguity among the characters who, mostly privileged, have up until now had very little to worry about other than themselves. The political grey zone they struggle to stay afloat in, as to appease the government and also their peers, is at times atrocious. Though they spout hateful rhetoric, their internal suffering is evident. The overall sentiment is best described in this passage:
The author’s commentary is powerful, and you can picture Irmgard Keun in her Frankfurt apartment, a sly smile on her face as she inserts her—at the time, unpopular—opinions among some of her gloriously cryptic sentences.
Not only is this a work of stunning metaphorical prose, it is oh, so incredibly witty!
I can’t believe it took me this long to find out who Keun is. I’m going to be reading another one of her novellas, Gilgi, in the upcoming weeks. Pick up After Midnight, folks. You can’t get closer to day-to-day early WWII Germany than this stuff.
”The Führer doesn’t mind taking risks. He can say the word and declare war tomorrow, and kill the lot of us. We’re all in his hands.”
It’s isn’t often I can categorize a book as being both gorgeously and grotesquely written. Only in Nazi Germany, am I right?
I thoroughly enjoyed the display of moral ambiguity among the characters who, mostly privileged, have up until now had very little to worry about other than themselves. The political grey zone they struggle to stay afloat in, as to appease the government and also their peers, is at times atrocious. Though they spout hateful rhetoric, their internal suffering is evident. The overall sentiment is best described in this passage:
“It was fear made me want to be one of them; they were always ganging up on someone, one person at a time, and I didn’t want them ganging up on me. So I went along with them [...]. I felt proud when they laughed at my jokes, but I was ashamed of myself too.”
The author’s commentary is powerful, and you can picture Irmgard Keun in her Frankfurt apartment, a sly smile on her face as she inserts her—at the time, unpopular—opinions among some of her gloriously cryptic sentences.
Not only is this a work of stunning metaphorical prose, it is oh, so incredibly witty!
“But Godenheimer’s had the best and cheapest silver foxes, and buttered Frau Breutwehr up, and called her “Madam” every other sentence. So she bought the silver fox fur. When she wears it, they look like a rich fur taking a poor woman out for a walk.”
I can’t believe it took me this long to find out who Keun is. I’m going to be reading another one of her novellas, Gilgi, in the upcoming weeks. Pick up After Midnight, folks. You can’t get closer to day-to-day early WWII Germany than this stuff.
I really, really love when publishers bring old treasures (also known as a book in this particular case) to new light and new audiences. After Midnight is one of those books. This is a short book about a vivacious girl named Sanna who is living in a quickly changing world. In this sort of novella, Keun gives us a look at not only the world events changing the the course of history at the time but also how regular life still seems to creep in.
I really enjoyed this short story. I had never heard of it before but this is definitely a treasure from the past.
I really enjoyed this short story. I had never heard of it before but this is definitely a treasure from the past.