Status
Available
Call number
Collection
Publication
London : Bantam Press, 2012.
Description
Berlin 1920 Two babies are born. Two brothers. United and indivisible, sharing everything. Twins in all but blood. As Germany marches into its Nazi Armageddon, the ties of family, friendship and love are tested to the very limits of endurance. And the brothers are faced with an unimaginable choice....Which one of them will survive? Ben Elton's most personal novel to date,Two Brothers transports the reader to the time of history's darkest hour.
User reviews
LibraryThing member PennyAnne
This book tells the story of two brothers born in Berlin at the beginning of the Nazi rise to power. On the whole I didn't think the book was very well written (the dialogue particularly bothered me as it did not sound authentic to the period or the culture being represented) and I was amused by
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the number of so-called "surprise" twists, But having said that, I must also admit that I could not put this book down - it was compelling and eminently readable in a fluffy, holiday-mode sort of way (strange thing to say about a WWII novel I know!). A very easy, light read, interesting characters and interesting details about how the Nazis slowly demolished the lives of not just the Jews but very many other groups and individuals in Germany and beyond. Show Less
LibraryThing member tommi180744
For those familiar with Mr Elton's comedic, musical and other tomes TWO BROTHERS is not like any of those. This is an entirely alternative Ben Elton with a strong sense of History, Family and Faith intertwining in a really interesting story. The narrative is lively, at times vivid, or vulgar and
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often passionate in portions about religion, politics, relationships and the bond between humans whether by blood or association. It covers the lives of the Jewish Stengel Family, only there's a twist with the 2 siblings, and their acquaintances during the inter-war years in Germany through to 1956 interspersed with chapters on England, London especially - - however, the second war in Europe is very largely absent and dealt with by summary details - - the 2 brothers and their love affair with a beautiful Jewish girl and a less attractive non-jew German female are the core of the story. Elton tells a tangled web of a romance tale constantly at risk in the roaring twenties and the nazi era (warning: If you are a History boff then Elton's rehearsing of the incremental Nazi assault on the Jews can be irritating). However, it does keep you guessing as to who does what to whom and how they each will end up. It is an intriguing tale, but not too taxing for the plane or train journey or as a bedtime read. The ending is a surprise (well, was to me), but at the same time that was where I felt less than satisified by the author's hasty wrap-up after so much earlier detail and build-up of the characters. Show Less
LibraryThing member sscarllet
Its hard for me to articulate what I felt about this book. I felt drawn to the characters and wished that I could reach into the pages and help them out. Ben Elton must have done his research because I couldn't pick out any historical inaccuracies about the NAZI era - just perhaps not really
If you enjoy historical fiction this is a must read.
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probables. But then, what good is a fiction book if there isn't a story of some improbability. If you enjoy historical fiction this is a must read.
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LibraryThing member jan.fleming
Berlin 1920
Two babies are born.
Two brothers. United and indivisible, sharing everything. Twins in all but blood.
As Germany marches into its Nazi Armageddon, the ties of family, friendship and love are tested to the very limits of endurance. And the brothers are faced with an unimaginable
Ben Elton's poignant novel that parallels the birth and rise of the Nazi Party with the birth and lives of the two brothers. I found the early chapters describing the decadence of the 1920s Weimar republic jazz clubs and their creativity and tolerance all the more interesting because of the horrors to come.
An air of incredulity sums both the reader and characters experience of the rise of the Nazi party to power, the systematic persecution of the Jewish population and the German peoples willingness to tolerate, accept and endorse this monstrous treatment.
Well constructed, beautifully realised and important novel
Two babies are born.
Two brothers. United and indivisible, sharing everything. Twins in all but blood.
As Germany marches into its Nazi Armageddon, the ties of family, friendship and love are tested to the very limits of endurance. And the brothers are faced with an unimaginable
Show More
choice....Which one of them will survive? Ben Elton's poignant novel that parallels the birth and rise of the Nazi Party with the birth and lives of the two brothers. I found the early chapters describing the decadence of the 1920s Weimar republic jazz clubs and their creativity and tolerance all the more interesting because of the horrors to come.
An air of incredulity sums both the reader and characters experience of the rise of the Nazi party to power, the systematic persecution of the Jewish population and the German peoples willingness to tolerate, accept and endorse this monstrous treatment.
Well constructed, beautifully realised and important novel
Show Less
LibraryThing member smik
TWO BROTHERS is on the edge of crime fiction, but there is plenty of mystery. In 1956 Russian born British citizen John Stone, living and working in London in the Foreign Office as a translator, receives a letter from East Germany from his sister in law, whom he has thought of as dead for the past
The setting gives Elton the opportunity to explore the past, to go back to the rise of Hitler, and the establishment of anti-Semitism as German government policy. So in a sense this is a historical novel, which gives a glimpse of what it was like to be a Jew in Berlin from the 1930s onwards.
Elton based this novel on the stories of his two uncles who fought on opposing sides in World War II.
This is a longer novel, but well worth the investment of time.
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decade. MI5 is also interested in why he has received this letter. Do the Stasi in East Germany want to set him up as a spy, and who is the woman who has contacted him?The setting gives Elton the opportunity to explore the past, to go back to the rise of Hitler, and the establishment of anti-Semitism as German government policy. So in a sense this is a historical novel, which gives a glimpse of what it was like to be a Jew in Berlin from the 1930s onwards.
Elton based this novel on the stories of his two uncles who fought on opposing sides in World War II.
This is a longer novel, but well worth the investment of time.
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LibraryThing member Amzzz
Quite a compelling and haunting read. I actually stayed up for a couple of hours to get through the final 200 pages or so. Disappointed by the ending as it seemed a bit forced but otherwise another great work by Ben Elton.
LibraryThing member gbelik
This is a gripping story of two brothers born in 1920's Berlin and so growing up with the rise of Nazism. It is rather heavily plotted and I dont want to anticipate any of the plot developments ahead of time. Its a great story and, as it turns out, inforned by some of the author's family's
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experiences. Show Less
LibraryThing member linda.a.
The time is 1920 in Berlin and Frieda and Wolfgang Stengel are expecting twins but one of the babies dies during Frieda’s labour. However, the single mother of a baby boy dies during childbirth and when it is suggested to Frieda that she could adopt the child she immediately agrees, certain that
Switching between Germany in the 1920s, 30s and 40s and London in the mid-1950s this is the story of how a family was affected by the rise of Hitler and the events which led to the Holocaust. Based loosely on events which occurred in his own family, Ben Elton uses his characters to highlight the treatment of Jews under the Nazi regime. There is nothing new in the facts he presents but there were times when I felt that his character development suffered because it felt to me that, at times, his characters became “lost” beneath the weight of history as well as a litany of clichés and stereotypes. The inclusion of significant historical moments, often described in great detail, at times took the focus off the fictional story, to the detriment of the overall development of the novel. As a result I found that not only did it make for rather tedious reading but, at times, the repetition detracted from the horrors of that shameful period in history.
I also found the focus on Paulus’ and Otto’s romantic obsession (which began when they were six years old!) with the rather disagreeable Dagmar, a childhood friend from a very wealthy Jewish family, to be both irritating and barely credible. Both of these factors meant that, for me, the book was over-long. A good editor should have encouraged the author to recognise that “less is more” and to cull his story by at least two hundred pages!
Another irritation throughout the book was the use of language, particularly slang, idiom and swearing which felt inauthentic to the period and which therefore didn’t evoke for me any sense of the Germany of the time. I feel that I should have cared much more consistently about the fate of all the characters but I found it increasingly hard to do so! There are certainly some thought-provoking themes which emerge from the book so it’s a shame that they are overlaid by rather incontinent verbosity!
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her husband will give his blessing. They tell no one of what they have done, although they agree they will tell their sons, Paulus and Otto, when they are old enough to understand. Consequently, the two boys grow up in a Jewish family, believing they are twins, although one of them was born to a gentile mother. By coincidence, another “birth” on that same day is that of Hitler’s Socialist German Workers’ Party, an organisation which will have an increasing impact on the family, eventually tearing it, and German society apart. Switching between Germany in the 1920s, 30s and 40s and London in the mid-1950s this is the story of how a family was affected by the rise of Hitler and the events which led to the Holocaust. Based loosely on events which occurred in his own family, Ben Elton uses his characters to highlight the treatment of Jews under the Nazi regime. There is nothing new in the facts he presents but there were times when I felt that his character development suffered because it felt to me that, at times, his characters became “lost” beneath the weight of history as well as a litany of clichés and stereotypes. The inclusion of significant historical moments, often described in great detail, at times took the focus off the fictional story, to the detriment of the overall development of the novel. As a result I found that not only did it make for rather tedious reading but, at times, the repetition detracted from the horrors of that shameful period in history.
I also found the focus on Paulus’ and Otto’s romantic obsession (which began when they were six years old!) with the rather disagreeable Dagmar, a childhood friend from a very wealthy Jewish family, to be both irritating and barely credible. Both of these factors meant that, for me, the book was over-long. A good editor should have encouraged the author to recognise that “less is more” and to cull his story by at least two hundred pages!
Another irritation throughout the book was the use of language, particularly slang, idiom and swearing which felt inauthentic to the period and which therefore didn’t evoke for me any sense of the Germany of the time. I feel that I should have cared much more consistently about the fate of all the characters but I found it increasingly hard to do so! There are certainly some thought-provoking themes which emerge from the book so it’s a shame that they are overlaid by rather incontinent verbosity!
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LibraryThing member jannnyg
This book is a family saga set in Germany in the early twentieth century. The storyline follows two brothers raised in a Jewish family from birth to the rise of Hitler and the end of WW2. The setting is Berlin.
The years after Germany was defeated in WW1 are interesting and the descriptions of the
At 520 pages the book is a bit tedious at times, repeating past events. It is a good read nevertheless.
The years after Germany was defeated in WW1 are interesting and the descriptions of the
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Jazz clubs and the night club scene in Berlin effectively set up the rise of Nazism. This is a terrifying portrayal of what it was like to be a German citizen at this time. I have often wondered how the German people were able to be influenced by the Nazi movement. Elton writes the story of the little by little policy changes and the strategic planning of Hitler and his cohort to bring about enormous social change. This is not the usual Holocaust story. It is the telling of the coming of age of two brothers and how they attempted to beat the system.At 520 pages the book is a bit tedious at times, repeating past events. It is a good read nevertheless.
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Language
Physical description
521 p.; 24 cm
ISBN
9780593062050