Alone in Berlin

Hans Fallada certainly managed to capture the atmosphere of WWII - the constant fear and paranoia, kindness was only ever treated with suspicion, there was no such thing as trust, and not to mention the sadistic characters - considering the fact that he wrote the book in 24 days. It gives a clearer insight as to how things were in Berlin and is based on a true story. It all seems quite surreal, especially with the photographs of the reports, mug shots and confessions.

I started this book expecting a more detailed account of all the postcards and the thrill of it all which would've made it exciting but instead I found a lot detailed description of the characters, some of whom weren't all that important to the story.

The book was difficult to read at times but I assume that is because of the translation. I certainly enjoyed Eva Kluge's little story. It may have been the only part of the book where kindness and trust were treated normally. To Eva, Kuno was a fresh new start, one that carried hope for a better future. I believe the happiest moment throughout the whole book was the moment Kuno was adopted.

The demise of both Otto and Anna was rather unexpected, as he carries his key to freedom for months but waits too long, and she chooses to throw her's away. It was sad to know that all their hard work had gone to waste.

However, the fact that the book was written in third person narrative was one of it's downfalls. Not only are there many characters thrown at you from the very beginning, but there is no distinction between which character the narrator is talking about. Often the narrator would jump from talking about one character to the next, leaving you confused for quite a while. It was only 100 pages in that I started to get a feel for the writing.

I also think some of the characters and their stories were a waste of time; yes they may have been quite enjoyable, and gave a better understanding to the way that things were, but those stories didn't interfere with the main story in any way.

Overall, I think the actual story about Otto & Anna/Otto & Elise was interesting and the book has left me with a better insight of the lives of regular people in Germany during WWII.