A review by katiemmarson
Goodbye to Berlin by Christopher Isherwood

3.0

Doing my literature homework. This was really really good! I found some sections more compelling than others, but the writing is really strong throughout and I was never bored of it. Christopher is a bit of a twat, though at least he’s meant to be. It’s almost hilarious how he’s able to intentionally imbed himself in the working class of Berlin (for the betterment of his novel, of course) and remain so ignorant. I thought it was interesting to hear from this perspective—what does a self-important, rich Englishman who moved to Berlin for vibes completely unaware of the political situation have to say about the state of things? It was interesting following him as he gets wrapped up in his own melodrama while the cloud of what’s happening just sort of hangs over until it all comes to the forefront. And watching him subtly look down on others for the same ignorance he’s showing. It’s a really strong in how it creates dynamics between characters, and each action taken by a character feels true to their character (this should be a relatively low bar maybe the books I’ve been reading lately have just been a bit shite). Not sure what more to say really! Feels like a book I would’ve liked to write an essay on in uni. Very very smart, very moving, very scary.