Series
Publication
Vintage (1998), Edition: New Ed, 256 pages
Original publication date
1939
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Awards
Description
First published in 1939, this novel obliquely evokes the gathering storm of Berlin before and during the rise to power of the Nazis. Events are seen through the eyes of a series of individuals, whose lives are all about to be ruined.
User reviews
LibraryThing member fist
I liked this book, but I feel like this book benefits from undeserved poignancy. When the Sally Bowles is introduced, one cannot help but imagine a young and effervescent Liza Minnelli. When the first Nazis turn up in street scenes, ones stomach contracts with eerie foreboding. But what if I hadn't
Probably not. The author candidly reveals that these are six fragments which were supposed to be parts of his great Berlin novel - but he never managed to finish that task. A bit more than vignettes, a little bit less than short stories, these fragments don't really satisfy. What most bothered me was the underdeveloped psychology of the characters. Many of them are emotionally stunted and speak in elliptic sentences, but the narrator unfailingly detects their ulterior meanings - it's just a pity that he so rarely shares these findings with the readers, who may be left wondering whether they themselves are too dim to read between the lines, or whether the emperor is wearing any clothes at all and it's just bluff by an author who - maybe - understands the psychology of repressed male homosexuality but little else. And yet, I enjoyed this book: as a story, and as a nicely written historical document on the changing of the times during the 1930s in Berlin. The book was published in 1939, so it doesn't suffer from any teleological views that would already incorporate an inevitable world conflagration. And yet so many signals were already there, and have clearly been described in the background of these stories.
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seen the film Cabaret? What if WWII hadn't broken out a few years after the author left Berlin? Would we all find it just as good a book on purely literary merits?Probably not. The author candidly reveals that these are six fragments which were supposed to be parts of his great Berlin novel - but he never managed to finish that task. A bit more than vignettes, a little bit less than short stories, these fragments don't really satisfy. What most bothered me was the underdeveloped psychology of the characters. Many of them are emotionally stunted and speak in elliptic sentences, but the narrator unfailingly detects their ulterior meanings - it's just a pity that he so rarely shares these findings with the readers, who may be left wondering whether they themselves are too dim to read between the lines, or whether the emperor is wearing any clothes at all and it's just bluff by an author who - maybe - understands the psychology of repressed male homosexuality but little else. And yet, I enjoyed this book: as a story, and as a nicely written historical document on the changing of the times during the 1930s in Berlin. The book was published in 1939, so it doesn't suffer from any teleological views that would already incorporate an inevitable world conflagration. And yet so many signals were already there, and have clearly been described in the background of these stories.
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LibraryThing member soylentgreen23
I have worked as an English language teacher myself, though in Krakow rather than Berlin; I had adventures enough whilst there, but I don't think I possess anything close to Isherwood's ability to distill those experiences into character studies and short stories that seem to reach beyond the
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transience of natural experience. Show Less
LibraryThing member aseikonia
A particularly atmospheric collection set in the 1930s that mirrors Isherwood's own experiences in Berlin during the rise of the Nazis. Desperate and colorful characters inhabit the boarding houses, mansions, bars and resorts of a culture on the verge of chaos.
This passage exemplifies the evocative
"Tonight, for the first time this winter, it is very cold. The dead cold grips the town in utter silence, like the silence of intense midday summer heat. In the cold the town seems actually to contract, to dwindle to a small black dot, scarcely larger than hundreds of other dots, isolated and hard to find, on the enormous European map. Outside, in the night, beyond the last new-built blocks of concrete flats, where the streets end in frozen allotment gardens, are the Prussian plains. You can feel them all round you, tonight, creeping in upon the city, like an immense waste of unhomely ocean -- sprinkled with leafless copses and ice-lakes and tiny villages which are remembered only as the outlandish names of battlefields in half-forgotten wars. Berlin is a skeleton which aches in the cold: it is my own skeleton aching. I feel in my bones the sharp ache of the frost in the girders of the overhead railway, in the iron-work of balconies, in bridges, tramlines, lamp-standards, latrines. The iron throbs and shrinks, the stone and the bricks ache dully, the plaster is numb."
This passage exemplifies the evocative
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writing style: "Tonight, for the first time this winter, it is very cold. The dead cold grips the town in utter silence, like the silence of intense midday summer heat. In the cold the town seems actually to contract, to dwindle to a small black dot, scarcely larger than hundreds of other dots, isolated and hard to find, on the enormous European map. Outside, in the night, beyond the last new-built blocks of concrete flats, where the streets end in frozen allotment gardens, are the Prussian plains. You can feel them all round you, tonight, creeping in upon the city, like an immense waste of unhomely ocean -- sprinkled with leafless copses and ice-lakes and tiny villages which are remembered only as the outlandish names of battlefields in half-forgotten wars. Berlin is a skeleton which aches in the cold: it is my own skeleton aching. I feel in my bones the sharp ache of the frost in the girders of the overhead railway, in the iron-work of balconies, in bridges, tramlines, lamp-standards, latrines. The iron throbs and shrinks, the stone and the bricks ache dully, the plaster is numb."
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LibraryThing member veracite
Creepy in it's historical position, you want to be there because he writes so clearly but then something happens and you remember where he is and you don't.
LibraryThing member Booksbyrotten
It helps sometimes to have a To-Be-Read (TBR) list handy as you go book hunting in a library. Just go to the relevant shelves, pick out your book and, zip zap zoom, you are done. I have taken to making a TBR list based on recommendations by people.
I picked the first two books on my list, Goodbye
I have just finished reading Goodbye to Berlin.
It is an account of the author’s stay in Berlin for a period of time. It was an exciting time, just before Hitler came to power and launched his full scaled pogrom against the Jews.
While we do not get a political commentary on the times, we do get sketches of people who go about their lives, not having any idea about the storm that is headed their way.
The novel is divided into several chapters, A Berlin Diary (Autumn 1930), Sally Bowles, On Rugen Island (Summer 1931), The Nowaks, The Landauers, and finally again, A Berlin Diary (Winter 1932-3)
A Berlin diary is an account of Isherwood's life in Berlin. He profiles his stay in a boarding house there. He writes about Frl. Schroeder, his sweet and caring landlady, his fellow lodgers and their everyday happenings.
The piece de resistance here is undoubtably Sally Bowles. I was struck by the similarity between her and Holly Golightly. I found out from wikipedia that Sally Bowles was indeed the inspiration for Holly. Capote and Isherwood met in New York and happened to talk about this small time night club performer who was a complete degenerate. Unlike Holly, Sally did not get a glamourous 'face' to play her, hence she remained unknown.
On Reugen Islands examines Otto, a handsome spoiled young man who puts himself out for favors. Holidaying in the Reugen Islands, Isherwood runs into Peter and the young man he has 'befriended', Otto Nowak. The relationship between Peter and Otto soon runs into rough weather, and Isherwood gets a ringside view to their fights. The Nowaks is a sequel to the previous story. Here Isherwood goes to live with the Nowaks as he has fallen on hard times. Here we get to look at the sad, poor life that Otto's family leads.
The Landauers is about a rich Jewish family that Isherwood gets introduced to. He soon strikes up a special friendship with their daughter, Natalia, who is a pretty, curious, intelligent young schoolgirl. Isherwood seems to waver on the brink of a relationship with her.
The final chapter is again about his previous landlady and life in the boarding house. Things are getting sinister now, Hitler is almost upon them. He sees life changing around him and he prepares to leave.
The stories are not told in a usual 'fictional' style. They read more like memoirs, and often seem like pointless sketches. But later, you realise that that these are an important record of those times, some
what like snapshots that drop out of an old family album, reminding you of past family events.
I picked the first two books on my list, Goodbye
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to Berlin by Christopher Isherwood and The Jewel in the Crown by Paul Scott, a few days ago.I have just finished reading Goodbye to Berlin.
It is an account of the author’s stay in Berlin for a period of time. It was an exciting time, just before Hitler came to power and launched his full scaled pogrom against the Jews.
While we do not get a political commentary on the times, we do get sketches of people who go about their lives, not having any idea about the storm that is headed their way.
The novel is divided into several chapters, A Berlin Diary (Autumn 1930), Sally Bowles, On Rugen Island (Summer 1931), The Nowaks, The Landauers, and finally again, A Berlin Diary (Winter 1932-3)
A Berlin diary is an account of Isherwood's life in Berlin. He profiles his stay in a boarding house there. He writes about Frl. Schroeder, his sweet and caring landlady, his fellow lodgers and their everyday happenings.
The piece de resistance here is undoubtably Sally Bowles. I was struck by the similarity between her and Holly Golightly. I found out from wikipedia that Sally Bowles was indeed the inspiration for Holly. Capote and Isherwood met in New York and happened to talk about this small time night club performer who was a complete degenerate. Unlike Holly, Sally did not get a glamourous 'face' to play her, hence she remained unknown.
On Reugen Islands examines Otto, a handsome spoiled young man who puts himself out for favors. Holidaying in the Reugen Islands, Isherwood runs into Peter and the young man he has 'befriended', Otto Nowak. The relationship between Peter and Otto soon runs into rough weather, and Isherwood gets a ringside view to their fights. The Nowaks is a sequel to the previous story. Here Isherwood goes to live with the Nowaks as he has fallen on hard times. Here we get to look at the sad, poor life that Otto's family leads.
The Landauers is about a rich Jewish family that Isherwood gets introduced to. He soon strikes up a special friendship with their daughter, Natalia, who is a pretty, curious, intelligent young schoolgirl. Isherwood seems to waver on the brink of a relationship with her.
The final chapter is again about his previous landlady and life in the boarding house. Things are getting sinister now, Hitler is almost upon them. He sees life changing around him and he prepares to leave.
The stories are not told in a usual 'fictional' style. They read more like memoirs, and often seem like pointless sketches. But later, you realise that that these are an important record of those times, some
what like snapshots that drop out of an old family album, reminding you of past family events.
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LibraryThing member varielle
This is the memoir of English author Christopher Isherwood while a struggling, down on his luck writer in early 1930s Berlin. By virtue of being a 'gentleman' he makes acquaintance with a number of high flyers, but due to his poverty he rubbed shoulders with the lowest of the low as well. During
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this disturbing period of rising Nazism, he depicted ordinary Berliners making their way in the world. Surprisingly there was a wide diversity of opinion about what direction Germany was going, with many were not that fond of the Fuhrer and his bully boys. Isherwood's slice of life vignettes touch on everything from healthcare, education, food, culture and, of course, politics. Pre-war Germany was not the homogenized mass of Fascists that the west often believes. The story of this vanished world was first published in 1945. Show Less
LibraryThing member allyshaw
I read this on my recent trip to Berlin-- a vivid snapshot of fascinating and very human people about to be cast into hell. The ghost of Isherwood's Berlin is still very present in the city-- it seemed to me the place had a vibrant will of its own and has survived the perverse inventions of 20th
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century history to become itself once again. Show Less
LibraryThing member emmakendon
It is what it is - and what makes it bearable is Isherwood being your calm companion.
LibraryThing member Tilda.Tilds
The characters feel exaggerated but it's an interesting read and I enjoyed Isherwood's style. Whipped through it in a day and it was a nice relaxing book with no real central conflict. The observations of pre-WWII Berlin don't centre around politics in the way I'd hoped but the look at Germany from
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an English perspective was still interesting. Show Less
LibraryThing member missizicks
These are stories about life in the demi-monde of Berlin in the early years of Nazi rule.
I thought the book would be sleazier, but it's actually very touching. These are people who don't want to accept the mundanity of conventional life. They want to test their boundaries, live differently, and
The final essay draws the arc of Nazi ascension to its zenith. Throughout the book, the fascists are slowly creeping towards their annexation of the heart of Berlin society. The people whom Isherwood knows are mostly the people that the Nazis want to exterminate. The public brutality of the system increases suddenly and is assimilated by ordinary people who live in fear of being brutalised themselves. As Isherwood says, it is depressing.
I thought the book would be sleazier, but it's actually very touching. These are people who don't want to accept the mundanity of conventional life. They want to test their boundaries, live differently, and
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know they can say they experienced life. There is an edge of sadness to all their stories. The desperation of wanting to be different but lacking the financial resources to do it properly. The falling in and out of relationships, never knowing what it is they want, never finding the thing that is lacking.The final essay draws the arc of Nazi ascension to its zenith. Throughout the book, the fascists are slowly creeping towards their annexation of the heart of Berlin society. The people whom Isherwood knows are mostly the people that the Nazis want to exterminate. The public brutality of the system increases suddenly and is assimilated by ordinary people who live in fear of being brutalised themselves. As Isherwood says, it is depressing.
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LibraryThing member leslie.98
Engaging collection of connected short stories showing life in 1930-32 Berlin from the perspective of a relatively poor Englishman. The section on Sally Bowles was of course familiar to me from the musical Cabaret though I got a slightly different impression of her character from the
Isherwood's writing is engaging and I look forward to reading another of his books.
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book.Isherwood's writing is engaging and I look forward to reading another of his books.
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LibraryThing member tommi180744
Lost my original 1970 copy. A very well written life & times in free thinking, some (not me) say decadent early 1930s Berlin & beginning of its despairing descent in to a ghastly, rigidly Nazi capital city. Various characters come & go as Isherwood recounts life among typical Berliners of all
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classes & from the various increasingly disastrous political divisions: Very late on a Nazi female assures her drunk Nazi lover, "There will be blood, the Leader promised.." The book ends in 1933-34 & I doubt she, Isherwood, or his Berliner acquaintances among Jews, Christians , Communists & even Nazis had any idea just how much blood. Show Less
LibraryThing member KarenDuff
This is a very quick read, that is it's only redeeming feature. I loathed every character in it.
LibraryThing member Paul-the-well-read
Goodbye to Berlin is the product of a masterful writer, capable of beautiful, lyrical descriptions of settings and moods, and insightful into the character and personalities of the book’s characters.
While the book offers up a series of short stories, each offering capable of standing on its own,
Isherwood’s construction and sequencing of the stories is masterful as well. He begins with a story developing the setting and context, proceeds to the story of Sally Bowles wherein he focuses on the character of Sally, a beautiful, sad young woman who sleeps with men to earn money and whose innocence and guileless combines with her lack of intelligence to create an almost comical parody of a person.
Later in the book, this same ignorant woman has given herself entirely over to sex, sexuality and kinkiest and has become not immoral, but amoral.
In the background is the shouldering rise of the Nazi party which comes full grown in last of the stories.
Good writing make good books and this volume certainly rises to the occasion.
While the book offers up a series of short stories, each offering capable of standing on its own,
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the whole forms as a sort of loosely constructed novel where characters developed in one story wander into others in the book, and many are brought together is the book’s last story.Isherwood’s construction and sequencing of the stories is masterful as well. He begins with a story developing the setting and context, proceeds to the story of Sally Bowles wherein he focuses on the character of Sally, a beautiful, sad young woman who sleeps with men to earn money and whose innocence and guileless combines with her lack of intelligence to create an almost comical parody of a person.
Later in the book, this same ignorant woman has given herself entirely over to sex, sexuality and kinkiest and has become not immoral, but amoral.
In the background is the shouldering rise of the Nazi party which comes full grown in last of the stories.
Good writing make good books and this volume certainly rises to the occasion.
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LibraryThing member infjsarah
A reading group book. Not for me. I got to end of story 3 and lost the will to live. So it was a DNF for me.
LibraryThing member annbury
For me, the key interest in this book is the time and place in which it is set -- Berlin as it slid into Nazi rule. The book is made up of two novellas, "Mr. Norris Changes Trains", and "Goodbye to Berlin". In both, Isherwood himself is a central character. I much preferred the sketches in "Goodbye
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to Berlin": the characters are vividly drawn, and the sense of foreboding is powerful. Show Less
Language
Original language
English
ISBN
0749390549 / 9780749390549
Physical description
256 p.; 5.08 inches
Pages
256