Nightmare in Berlin

Nightmare in Berlin by Hans Fallada
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Firstly I am amused a bit with discovery of H.Fallada last books in English speaking world. I read the last book written by him - Every man dies alone - some 65 years ago (in Polish). Forgive me using a translation of original version of the title, but I find it much better.
Strange thing was, that this book had to wait 60 years for discovery by English speaking world.
I suppose the main obstacle was, that the book was written on suggestion and with great support of Johannes Becher, a devoted communist, Culture Minister in German Democratic Republic - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johanne...
He is presented in Nightmare in Berlin as Granzow.
Secondly... I wondered why Nightmare in Berlin was not translated into Polish around same time as Every man dies alone.
My guess is - because it is not good book, it is nowhere near other books of this author.
One of reviews in German press at the time of publishing reads: "Thinly disguised biography difficult to read with any pleasure".
Hans Fallada himself, in the Introduction, makes some sort of apologies: "A medical report, then, and not a work of art - I am sorry to say".
I read this book with some sort of disbelief - it was not Fallada whom I know, although I have to admit some parts of the book were unmistakably in his style.
I clearly saw 3 streams of the story.
1. Woes over a state of German society. Cruel discovery, that actually all people have been corrupted by 12 years of Nazi rule and that this corruption remained after the end of the war.
There is a lot of long deliberations of general nature and few pitiful cases described in detail.
2. Main character dr Doll's and his young wife Alma's fight for survival. There I find some of Fallada's style.
3. Addiction to morphine - it reminds me the best scenes The Drunkard. Here I can see that Fallada knows what he is writing about.
Additional point - some efforts to please his benefactor - minister Becher and his Soviet principals. In opening chapter Dr Doll and his young wife are full of trust and sympathy towards Soviet liberators.
I strongly doubt if anybody in Germany shared this attitude. Actually Fallada's first wife Anna Ditzen was able to hide the 11-year old Lore from the Soviet soldiers, but she herself was raped and injured severely enough that she had to be hospitalised. And it happened in the same town where H. Fallada lived with his young wife.
Summarizing my personal reception of this book - I read it with some affection towards an old friend, who honestly tells me about his terrible experience. But if it were someone else I would have put this book away after first 2 chapters.


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The Tenth Man

The Tenth Man by Graham Greene
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

France during the II World War. Hostages imprisoned in German jail. Last night there were 3 casualties of French Resistance action so 3 hostages will be shot dead.
They draw lots.
One of death lots is drawn by a quite affluent person. He makes an offer - I will give my whole fortune to the estate of anyone who will take my lot.
There is a candidate, they prepare proper documentation.
The war ends, the man who bought his life does not dare to return to the society. He tries to find some job, but fails and falls into poverty. He gives in to temptation to visit his estate pretending to be a accidental survivor from the hostages prison cell.
At that point I expected quite a lot. It looked me as a favourite territory of Graham Greene - dubious character in strange environment.
And here came total surprise.
Well, kind of disappointment for me although I cannot resist smile .

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The Zookeeper's War

The Zookeeper's War by Steven Conte
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

I was tempted to read this book by its title. There was obvious connection with The Zookeeper's Wife, which I rated quite high. Actually I preferred the movie over the book.
It looks, that reading the book about Warsaw Zoo and knowledge of some facts about its connection with Berlin Zoo completely disqualified Zookeeper's War.

Main character of Zookeeper's War is Alex Frey, a director of Berlin ZOO. He looks with sentiment at the portrait of his Father, who preceded him in this position.
So far, so good, I looked into Wikipedia to check what I remember from Zookeeper's Wife - director of Berlin ZOO during the war was Luck Heck. Yes, his father preceded him in this position.
And then... Mr Heck joined Nazi Party in 1937, but even before this he was enthusiast of National Socialism. He was personal friend of Herman Goring crazy about idea of reconstructing some mythical old German animal species.
As a Director of Berlin Zoo, in 1938, he passed a rule which prohibited Jews from visiting the zoo. On occasion of Hitler's birthday he was appointed a Professor.
During the war he was instrumental in pillaging the Warsaw Zoo, this is a role in which we can see him in Zookeeper's Wife.
More about Heck Luck achievements here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lutz_Heck

I was quite surprised that an Australian author choose as a topic of his book such exotic theme as Berlin Zoo during the II World War. But I cannot comprehend why he did not bother to check the most essential facts.

No wonder I read the book with some dismay and great suspicion.
Well, I got some negative satisfaction - the book is not only based on totally false foundations, it is also terribly boring. Pages and pages of descriptions of city landscapes after carpet bombing.
It looks to me that the only reason for writing this book was to show some intramarital issues, I have to admit there is some sense in it.
I was interested in final chapters - encounter with Red Army.
Disappointment again, generally not convincing and the final episode involving the main character I found simply disgusting.

P.S. The book was awarded a Prime Minister award in 2008.
2008, then Kevin Rudd was our Prime Minister. He was the only one of Australian Prime Ministers known to me, whom I could suspect for reading books. But it looks he accepted carelessly an award for a very dubious project.

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