Reviews

I don't usually like memoirs, but I picked this up at the library after the NYT reviewed it, and ended up buying a copy so I could finish it after returning the library copy. I think that for me, I liked this in the same way that I liked "The Hangman and his Wife" by Nancy Dougherty. It dips in and out of present and far past and middle past and follows the writer through this very intimate journey in archives, and talking to family, and visiting locations, and having serendipitous encounters that feel like answers but weren't really answers, in a way that felt almost real-time. Definitely worth a library check out if nothing else.

cradman's review

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challenging dark informative reflective

4.25

I appreciated the author’s deep research blended with family stories. It made the history of Germany easier to follow, pegged to Karl’s story. In considering only empirical evidence, we the readers get to decide whether or not his choices were understandable.