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A review by candacesiegle_greedyreader
Leaving Berlin by Joseph Kanon
5.0
Joseph Kanon gets better and better—this novel offers a terrific atmospheric setting, taut plotting and, finally, a believable female character. Best of all, the main character is in the devil of a fix, one that ties up the perils of the late 1940s in one compromised package.
Alex Meier fled Berlin in the early 1930s, not because he’s Jewish, but because he was a communist. He survives the war but is caught in Senator McCarthy’s net, and because he never applied for US citizenship he is in their sights. He’s divorced and has a son which gives them a powerful hammer to hold over his head. As a celebrated novelist, he will return to what is morphing into East Berlin, get in with the Russians and Germans creating the new socialist paradise, and report his findings to the US. If he refuses, he will be deported and never permitted to return to see his son again.
The Berlin airlift is on, four years after the end of the war the city is still a moonscape of rubble. The Russians are dismantling anything that survived and carting it back to the USSR. Culturally, the city has drawn many of its brightest lights to return; Jews who fled in the ‘30s, as well as a number of American communists who want to help build the new Germany. Alex is a big catch for the Soviets and he has access to inner workings on both sides.
I’ll say no more. The story is gripping and the sense of place is harrowing—the war may be over but there is still a literal and figurative minefield facing survivors. Only fault—it’s too short.
Alex Meier fled Berlin in the early 1930s, not because he’s Jewish, but because he was a communist. He survives the war but is caught in Senator McCarthy’s net, and because he never applied for US citizenship he is in their sights. He’s divorced and has a son which gives them a powerful hammer to hold over his head. As a celebrated novelist, he will return to what is morphing into East Berlin, get in with the Russians and Germans creating the new socialist paradise, and report his findings to the US. If he refuses, he will be deported and never permitted to return to see his son again.
The Berlin airlift is on, four years after the end of the war the city is still a moonscape of rubble. The Russians are dismantling anything that survived and carting it back to the USSR. Culturally, the city has drawn many of its brightest lights to return; Jews who fled in the ‘30s, as well as a number of American communists who want to help build the new Germany. Alex is a big catch for the Soviets and he has access to inner workings on both sides.
I’ll say no more. The story is gripping and the sense of place is harrowing—the war may be over but there is still a literal and figurative minefield facing survivors. Only fault—it’s too short.