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“Sometimes, she says, I think what Hans calls the truth doesn’t even exist anymore.”
Is the relationship depicted in this novel an allegory for the way the West German state treated East Germany in the lead up to the Berlin Wall coming down? Perhaps, but it is also a fascinating historical setting, told from the perspective of characters who live in and embrace the socialist state.
I really enjoyed the story and pace of the first third, the middle third dragged on with the seemingly endless examples of Hans’ manipulation, cruelty and pedantry, and Katharina’s submission, although being the late 80’s the power imbalance would have even greater than it would be today. The ending was very good, satisfying without being too neatly tied up.
The book was also interesting and insightful about living through one of the major political upheavals of the 20th century. As outsiders, we were all fascinated by the Wall coming down, watching on television from afar the celebrations and family reunions, but we did not for a minute consider how this would negatively impact so many regular people whose whole livelihood disintegrated within a year.
“Coca-Cola, she’s noticed, is now on sale in the eastern half of Friedrichstrasse station, also in Pankow in the little store where she always shops. Coca-Cola same as in New York or Munich. Coca-Cola has succeeded, where Marxist philosophy has failed, at uniting the proletarians of all nations under its banner. Is this home?”
Is the relationship depicted in this novel an allegory for the way the West German state treated East Germany in the lead up to the Berlin Wall coming down? Perhaps, but it is also a fascinating historical setting, told from the perspective of characters who live in and embrace the socialist state.
I really enjoyed the story and pace of the first third, the middle third dragged on with the seemingly endless examples of Hans’ manipulation, cruelty and pedantry, and Katharina’s submission, although being the late 80’s the power imbalance would have even greater than it would be today. The ending was very good, satisfying without being too neatly tied up.
The book was also interesting and insightful about living through one of the major political upheavals of the 20th century. As outsiders, we were all fascinated by the Wall coming down, watching on television from afar the celebrations and family reunions, but we did not for a minute consider how this would negatively impact so many regular people whose whole livelihood disintegrated within a year.
“Coca-Cola, she’s noticed, is now on sale in the eastern half of Friedrichstrasse station, also in Pankow in the little store where she always shops. Coca-Cola same as in New York or Munich. Coca-Cola has succeeded, where Marxist philosophy has failed, at uniting the proletarians of all nations under its banner. Is this home?”