Reviews

An Underground Life: Memoirs of a Gay Jew in Nazi Berlin by Gad Beck

ash4pomilio's review

5.0

This was a really good book to understand this forgotten point of view throughout all of human history but really during this time period. Just trigger warnings for child SA and using sex for trade. I had to read this for one of my history courses and it worked perfectly for the course.

nogayourbroga's review

emotional funny informative sad slow-paced

4.5

Taking off points for Uncle Paul being a creep, otherwise an informative, darkly amusing, and emotional read about one gay Jewish resistor's experiences in wartime Berlin. Good antifascist pride read!

toomanyfingees's review

5.0

He was half Jewish, gay, and a teenaged Zionist resistance fighter, living in Nazi Berlin- by all accounts, Gad Beck should of never survived World War II. But he did, and his memior is one of the most moving portraits of World War II life I have ever read. The walls and lives of Berlin collapse around him, but Gad Beck writes about being surrounded by friends, family, and lovers that all manage to stand so tall. A must read.

kmannis's review

5.0

This was funny and lighthearted at times. I appreciate Gad’s honesty and the transparency with which he tells his story. There are some troubling parts of his childhood that he does not recognize as troubling,,, which is even more troubling. But, I cannot downgrade my rating or enjoyment of this book because of the wya he makes light of these experiences, even though... they should not be taken lightly??

TW: rape, incest, inappropriate relations

xxstefaniereadsxx's review

dark reflective tense medium-paced

4.0

 I had been looking forward to reading this book for a long time, and I was very pleased to get it for Mother's Day. I didn't realize it was such a short book, so I read though it in basically no time flat. It was a very good read. I was really surprised that the author managed to survive Nazi Germany for several reasons. Resistance fighters often met their end in various ways, not to mention being gay and Jewish. The experiences of the author were very interesting. I cannot imagine going through all that stuff. 

madken's review

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

3.0

chiara_calime's review against another edition

3.0

È un libro che riesce facilmente a catturarti e trasportarti in quel preciso momento storico, fra le strade di Berlino. Il suo grande pregio è proprio quello di restituire un ritratta molto crudo e realistico senza patetismi inutilibe senza fronzoli. Cosa mi fa mettere quindi solo 3 stelline? Ho trovato turto un po' freddo, sono una a cui piace essere scossa emotivamente da un libro e con questo seppur di piacevolissima lettura non sono riuscita mai a emozionarmi davvero.

brettcarl's review

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring sad tense fast-paced

3.25

Unsurprisingly, An Underground Life is a emotional, tense, and heartbreaking read at times, but fortunately, there are also moments of humour, joy and hope which alleviate the understandable emotions we fell when reading about the horrific and sadly true events that Gad Beck, his family, friends, and other victims of the Nazis propaganda, anti-Semitism, and The Holocaust. 
Overall, Beck does a good job at recounting his experiences during one of world history's most horrific and destructive chapter. Beck provides new information and knowledge about the period which at times is shocking and relevatory in understanding exactly how Germany and its citizens embraced fascism and genocide. Furthermore, Beck's candor about his own intimate and highly personal experiences - i.e. His sexual relationships with various men and boys, including his own uncle! - is admirable and illustrate not only what Beck had to do to survive, but signifies how sexuality and gender behaviour was viewed, treated and rationalised during this fraught, horrific period in world history. 
In terms of criticism of Beck's memoir, I do think better editing would have improved the pacing and structure as while there was overall a chronological telling of events, there were many times when not only were certain events and information carelessly and chaotically placed/revealed - both events which had happened at different dates and times, but also information about certain people such as updates and revelations about them felt misplaced and would have been corrected with better editing. Also, I do think that Beck's could have mined his experiences more for more nuance and complexity, such as his morally and ethically challenging and questionable sexual encounters - how did these encounters effect him? Influence him? Change him? Etc. 
Yet, it cannot be overstated how pivotal, vital and necessary Beck's memoir is in not only providing an account of the Nazi's barbarism and inhumanity, and importantly, their ascendence to power proves how dangerous ignorance and bigotry can be, but even more importantly, Gad's memoir is an invaluable account LGBTQ history too, specifically Gad's experiences as a gay boy/man during the period - both good and bad! 

kazoo's review

difficult to read and get into, I'll probably come back to it at a later date

sherbertwells's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny hopeful fast-paced

3.0