By Anna Funder
Paperback: 228 pages
Publisher: HarperCollins Books, 2002
Subject Headings:
·
Communism
·
East Berlin
·
Berlin Wall
Appeal:
Nonfiction, Post WWII Germany, Communism in East Germany
In 1989, the Berlin Wall fell and the city was reunited. Anna Funder, an Australian writer, brings to life in this novel some of the stories from behind the Wall. She tells the lives of real East Berlin citizens, and also the stories from ex-Stasi operatives and their work. Some of the stories include Miriam, who at sixteen tried to escape into West Berlin; Frau Paul, who was separated from her baby by the Wall; and the soldiers and officers who handled everything from surveillance, painted the line that would divide a city, and espionage. Every story draws the reader in and paints a more complete picture of what happened before, during and after the Berlin Wall. This novel won the Samuel Johnson Prize for nonfiction in the United Kingdoms.
Similar Authors and Works:
3 Relevant Non-Fiction Works and Authors
Night by Elie Wiesel
A short but intense story of survival of Elie Wiesel during his time as a Jew in Germany’s concentration camps.
The Berlin Wall: A World Divided, 1961-1989 by Frederick Taylor
The book weaves together the story of the Berlin Wall’s rise and fall from archives and personal accounts.
The Ghosts of Berlin: Confronting German History in the Urban Landscape by Brian Ladd
Brian Ladd examines the fusion of architecture, national identity, and history of the city of Berlin.
3 Relevant Fiction Works and Authors
Garden of Beasts Jeffery Deaver
Set in
1936, Paul Schumann is a mob hitman who finds himself less work and eventually
gets himself caught. Army Intelligence offer him and alternative, go to jail or
travel to Berlin and take out a high ranking official close to Hitler during
the Olympics.
City of Women by David R. Gillham
In 1943
Berlin has become a city of women with all of the men away at the front.
Stasi
Child (Karin Müller #1) by
David Young
Karin
Müller is a Stasi officer who is called in to investigate a body found at the
foot of the Wall. However, this girl looks like she was trying to escape from
the West.
Hello Brandi! This book sounds like quite the read. I have an interest in the Berlin Wall-- how it went from a line on the ground dividing a city to a forcefully protected border between East and West. It would be interesting to hear a little more about other appeals of the book, such as tone and pacing. The other nonfiction works look like they would give interested readers more information about this subject and time period, and the suggested fiction titles look like they would be enjoyed by readers of "Stasiland." Good job!
ReplyDeleteFantastic annotation!
ReplyDeleteFull points!