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A review by ladymirkwood
Stasiland: Stories from Behind the Berlin Wall by Anna Funder
2.0
I have always been fascinated by the idea of life in the GDR, so I chose this book hoping for some greater insight to life in East Germany during this time. Sadly, this book disappointed on many levels.
Anna Funder is an Australian who lived and worked in East Berlin some six or so years after the Wall fell.
She used this time as an opportunity to interview Ex-Stasi members and their victims in order to understand their lives, and bring out the truth that the West apparently wanted to ignore. The stories she uncovers are by turns shocking and affecting, and the bravery of some of those people is truly humbling.
However, these stories are set against some very contrived writing about clouds, drunkards, and her 'feelings'. One gets the feeling Funder tries to imbue the mundane with a sense of divinity and purpose that does not really exist. She does, as previous reviewers state, talk far too much about herself, the condition of her lino flooring, and other such trivial observations, you wonder what other more interesting stories were lost in editing so we could hear Funders' rambling.
All in all I think the people in this book could have been served better . Their stories are astonishing, and I feel Funder would have made a better book had she listened more, analyzed a little less, and stopped obsessing over linoleum.
(Readers who seek to know more about life under a repressive Socialist regime would be better off reading 'Nothing to Envy' by Barbara Demick.)
Anna Funder is an Australian who lived and worked in East Berlin some six or so years after the Wall fell.
She used this time as an opportunity to interview Ex-Stasi members and their victims in order to understand their lives, and bring out the truth that the West apparently wanted to ignore. The stories she uncovers are by turns shocking and affecting, and the bravery of some of those people is truly humbling.
However, these stories are set against some very contrived writing about clouds, drunkards, and her 'feelings'. One gets the feeling Funder tries to imbue the mundane with a sense of divinity and purpose that does not really exist. She does, as previous reviewers state, talk far too much about herself, the condition of her lino flooring, and other such trivial observations, you wonder what other more interesting stories were lost in editing so we could hear Funders' rambling.
All in all I think the people in this book could have been served better . Their stories are astonishing, and I feel Funder would have made a better book had she listened more, analyzed a little less, and stopped obsessing over linoleum.
(Readers who seek to know more about life under a repressive Socialist regime would be better off reading 'Nothing to Envy' by Barbara Demick.)