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Bauern, Bonzen und Bomben
Mit epischer Wucht erzählt Fallada in diesem zeitgeschichtlichen Roman, der ihn berühmt machte, vom Kampf des Landvolkes gegen die verhasste Bürokratie in einer norddeutschen Kleinstadt, der sich zum Kampf aller gegen alle ausweitet. Intrige, Geldgier, Ehrgeiz und politische Ränke beherrschen das Feld. Fallada gelang damit ein Miniaturmodell der kranken Republik von Weimar, die sich ihren Henkern selbst auslieferte.
429 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1931
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About the author
Hans Fallada
219 books768 followersHans Fallada, born Rudolf Wilhelm Adolf Ditzen in Greifswald, was one of the most famous German writers of the 20th century. His novel, Little Man, What Now? is generally considered his most famous work and is a classic of German literature. Fallada's pseudonym derives from a combination of characters found in the Grimm fairy tales: The protagonist of Lucky Hans and a horse named Falada in The Goose Girl.
He was the child of a magistrate on his way to becoming a supreme court judge and a mother from a middle-class background, both of whom shared an enthusiasm for music and to a lesser extent, literature. Jenny Williams notes in her biography, More Lives than One that Fallada's father would often read aloud to his children the works authors including Shakespeare and Schiller (Williams, 5).
In 1899 when Fallada was 6, his father relocated the family to Berlin following the first of several promotions he would receive. Fallada had a very difficult time upon first entering school in 1901. As a result, he immersed himself in books, eschewing literature more in line with his age for authors including Flaubert, Dostoyevsky, and Dickens. In 1909 the family relocated to Leipzig following his father's appointment to the Imperial Supreme Court.
A rather severe road accident in 1909 (he was run over by a horse-drawn cart, then kicked in the face by the horse) and the contraction of typhoid in 1910 seem to mark a turning point in Fallada's life and the end of his relatively care-free youth. His adolescent years were characterized by increasing isolation and self-doubt, compounded by the lingering effects of these ailments. In addition, his life-long drug problems were born of the pain-killing medications he was taking as the result of his injuries. These issues manifested themselves in multiple suicide attempts. In 1911 he made a pact with his close friend, Hanns Dietrich, to stage a duel to mask their suicides, feeling that the duel would be seen as more honorable. Because of both boys' inexperience with weapons, it was a bungled affair. Dietrich missed Fallada, but Fallada did not miss Dietrich, killing him. Fallada was so distraught that he picked up Dietrich's gun and shot himself in the chest, but miraculously survived. Nonetheless, the death of his friend ensured his status as an outcast from society. Although he was found innocent of murder by way of insanity, from this point on he would serve multiple stints in mental institutions. At one of these institutions, he was assigned to work in a farmyard, thus beginning his lifelong affinity for farm culture.
While in a sanatorium, Fallada took to translation and poetry, albeit unsuccessfully, before finally breaking ground as a novelist in 1920 with the publication of his first book Young Goedeschal. During this period he also struggled with morphine addiction, and the death of his younger brother in the first World War.
In the wake of the war, Fallada worked several farmhand and other agricultural jobs in order to support himself and finance his growing drug addictions. Before the war, Fallada relied on his father for financial support while writing; after the German defeat he was no longer able, nor willing, to depend on his father's assistance. Shortly after the publication of Anton and Gerda, Fallada reported to prison in Greiswald to serve a 6-month sentence for stealing grain from his employer and selling it to support his drug habit. Less than 3 years later, in 1926, Fallada again found himself imprisoned as a result of a drug and alcohol-fueled string of thefts from employers. In February 1928 he finally emerged free of addiction.
Fallada married Suse Issel in 1929 and maintained a string of respectable jobs in journalism, working for newspapers and eventually for the publisher of his novels, Rowohlt. It is around this time that his novels became noticeably political and started to comment
He was the child of a magistrate on his way to becoming a supreme court judge and a mother from a middle-class background, both of whom shared an enthusiasm for music and to a lesser extent, literature. Jenny Williams notes in her biography, More Lives than One that Fallada's father would often read aloud to his children the works authors including Shakespeare and Schiller (Williams, 5).
In 1899 when Fallada was 6, his father relocated the family to Berlin following the first of several promotions he would receive. Fallada had a very difficult time upon first entering school in 1901. As a result, he immersed himself in books, eschewing literature more in line with his age for authors including Flaubert, Dostoyevsky, and Dickens. In 1909 the family relocated to Leipzig following his father's appointment to the Imperial Supreme Court.
A rather severe road accident in 1909 (he was run over by a horse-drawn cart, then kicked in the face by the horse) and the contraction of typhoid in 1910 seem to mark a turning point in Fallada's life and the end of his relatively care-free youth. His adolescent years were characterized by increasing isolation and self-doubt, compounded by the lingering effects of these ailments. In addition, his life-long drug problems were born of the pain-killing medications he was taking as the result of his injuries. These issues manifested themselves in multiple suicide attempts. In 1911 he made a pact with his close friend, Hanns Dietrich, to stage a duel to mask their suicides, feeling that the duel would be seen as more honorable. Because of both boys' inexperience with weapons, it was a bungled affair. Dietrich missed Fallada, but Fallada did not miss Dietrich, killing him. Fallada was so distraught that he picked up Dietrich's gun and shot himself in the chest, but miraculously survived. Nonetheless, the death of his friend ensured his status as an outcast from society. Although he was found innocent of murder by way of insanity, from this point on he would serve multiple stints in mental institutions. At one of these institutions, he was assigned to work in a farmyard, thus beginning his lifelong affinity for farm culture.
While in a sanatorium, Fallada took to translation and poetry, albeit unsuccessfully, before finally breaking ground as a novelist in 1920 with the publication of his first book Young Goedeschal. During this period he also struggled with morphine addiction, and the death of his younger brother in the first World War.
In the wake of the war, Fallada worked several farmhand and other agricultural jobs in order to support himself and finance his growing drug addictions. Before the war, Fallada relied on his father for financial support while writing; after the German defeat he was no longer able, nor willing, to depend on his father's assistance. Shortly after the publication of Anton and Gerda, Fallada reported to prison in Greiswald to serve a 6-month sentence for stealing grain from his employer and selling it to support his drug habit. Less than 3 years later, in 1926, Fallada again found himself imprisoned as a result of a drug and alcohol-fueled string of thefts from employers. In February 1928 he finally emerged free of addiction.
Fallada married Suse Issel in 1929 and maintained a string of respectable jobs in journalism, working for newspapers and eventually for the publisher of his novels, Rowohlt. It is around this time that his novels became noticeably political and started to comment
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 50 reviews
October 10, 2020
2,5 ⭐️
Tam 25 gün boyunca elimde süründü bu kitap. Eğer Fallada’ nın bütün külliyatını okuma isteğinde değilseniz ya da 1930’lar Alman edebiyatına özel bir ilginiz yoksa bu kitabı direkt es geçin. Takip etmekte zorlanacağınız kadar çok karakter, bir türlü sizi çekmeyen -sıkıcı- bir konunun içine sıkışmış durumda. Fallada İkinci Dünya Savaşı öncesindeki Almanya’nın siyasi ve toplumsal durumunu, artan öfke, korku ve baskıyı anlatmayı planlamış ancak bunu o kadar sıkıcı ve o kadar düz bir şekilde yapmış ki hiçbir şekilde konuya dahil olup bu ağırlığı hissedemiyorsunuz. Hikayenin temeli, köylü devrimi vb konular güzel ancak ilerlememiş maalesef. Fallada’nın buna benzer bir kitabını okumayı istiyorsanız Küçük Adam Ne Oldu Sana okuyun, çok daha keyifli ve akıcı bir okuma olur.
Tam 25 gün boyunca elimde süründü bu kitap. Eğer Fallada’ nın bütün külliyatını okuma isteğinde değilseniz ya da 1930’lar Alman edebiyatına özel bir ilginiz yoksa bu kitabı direkt es geçin. Takip etmekte zorlanacağınız kadar çok karakter, bir türlü sizi çekmeyen -sıkıcı- bir konunun içine sıkışmış durumda. Fallada İkinci Dünya Savaşı öncesindeki Almanya’nın siyasi ve toplumsal durumunu, artan öfke, korku ve baskıyı anlatmayı planlamış ancak bunu o kadar sıkıcı ve o kadar düz bir şekilde yapmış ki hiçbir şekilde konuya dahil olup bu ağırlığı hissedemiyorsunuz. Hikayenin temeli, köylü devrimi vb konular güzel ancak ilerlememiş maalesef. Fallada’nın buna benzer bir kitabını okumayı istiyorsanız Küçük Adam Ne Oldu Sana okuyun, çok daha keyifli ve akıcı bir okuma olur.
July 23, 2017
I have a thing for German fiction. Especially those stories that take place in the 1920s and 1930s. I have read many great books of this era. I am happy to say "A Small Circus" is one of the best. I'd give it six stars if I could. A short description. A small town in Germany circa 1928. The life of the town is disrupted by a demonstration of local farmers that goes wrong. That doesn't sound like much but trust me it is. I've read other Fallada books (my other favourite is Every Man Dies Alone) but this one stands out for having so many tightly drawn characters. If this was a movie it would be an epic.
April 25, 2013
This was Fallada’s first major work, submitted to the publisher in 1930. Had I not read two of Fallada’s later excellent works (Every Man Dies Alone and Little Man What Now?) I would not have bought this confusing, ponderous, bloated, provincial novel. If it had not been for the Dramatis Personae included by the translator Michael Hoffman, I would not have gotten far in this almost six hundred page book. The Dramatis Personae lists some seventy characters who contribute to swell the narrative until it reaches a long anticipated but unimpressive conclusion—about twenty of them with major roles, another twenty-five with major supportive roles, the remaining twenty-five with minor contributing roles. The interweaving plot unfolds painfully for the unfortunate reader. I would rate this book one star as far as the reading “pleasure” it provides.
However, as a study of rural and small town German life in the late 1920s, it is an excellent work describing the divisive nature of the social fabric and deserves four stars for that aspect. There are hostilities between rural and urban populations, peasants and business people, civil servants and journalists, and local and national authorities. The fractionalization of society is compounded by at least twenty contending political parties. The greed, the administrative ineptness and the colossal burden of the reparation payments doomed the Weimar Republic. The Nazi Party arose as a fiercely nationalistic movement which--unfortunately as fate would have it--was seized on as a solution by a major portion of the German population.
The style of writing deserves comment. About two thirds of the book consists of dialogue, often between numbers of interacting characters. Many readers will find the magnitude of this quirky literal idiosyncrasy disruptive and distracting. Others may enjoy the substratum of personal motives the dialogue discloses. Readers have to stay alert and constantly remind themselves of who the characters are. It can be a cerebral challenge.
There is strong character development and exposure of the following roles: Hermann Stuff, the do-everything schemer and conservative editor of a small newspaper, The Chronicle; Max Tredup, co-emplyee of Stuff, a bungling aspiring co-conspirator of more than one faction; “Fatty” or “Red” Gareis, the autocratic socialist Mayor of Altholm, who makes the decision that affects the main plot and influences most subplots of this novel; Frerksen, Gareis’ assistant, his Police Commander who becomes ostracized by the farmers for his brutal handling of their “peaceful” demonstration; Franz Manzow, city council member, businessman, would-be conciliator and sexual predator of little girls; Franz Reimers, leader of the farmers’ Bauernschaft movement and staunch Headman of Gramzow; Albin Banz, dirt farmer and victim of the violence perpetrated by Frerksen, becomes a mentally deranged murderer; and Georg Henning, travelling salesman, ardent chief activist and flag-bearer for the peasant farmers. This is an impressive cast for readers who enjoy a plethora of idiosyncratic characters. But does it make enjoyable reading? For me: NOT, but three stars for this aspect of the novel.
Overall I can only rate this work two stars because of its frustration factors. I think this book's ponderousness is an exception among Fallada's works. I have two more of his books unread on the shelf and I believe I will enjoy them.
However, as a study of rural and small town German life in the late 1920s, it is an excellent work describing the divisive nature of the social fabric and deserves four stars for that aspect. There are hostilities between rural and urban populations, peasants and business people, civil servants and journalists, and local and national authorities. The fractionalization of society is compounded by at least twenty contending political parties. The greed, the administrative ineptness and the colossal burden of the reparation payments doomed the Weimar Republic. The Nazi Party arose as a fiercely nationalistic movement which--unfortunately as fate would have it--was seized on as a solution by a major portion of the German population.
The style of writing deserves comment. About two thirds of the book consists of dialogue, often between numbers of interacting characters. Many readers will find the magnitude of this quirky literal idiosyncrasy disruptive and distracting. Others may enjoy the substratum of personal motives the dialogue discloses. Readers have to stay alert and constantly remind themselves of who the characters are. It can be a cerebral challenge.
There is strong character development and exposure of the following roles: Hermann Stuff, the do-everything schemer and conservative editor of a small newspaper, The Chronicle; Max Tredup, co-emplyee of Stuff, a bungling aspiring co-conspirator of more than one faction; “Fatty” or “Red” Gareis, the autocratic socialist Mayor of Altholm, who makes the decision that affects the main plot and influences most subplots of this novel; Frerksen, Gareis’ assistant, his Police Commander who becomes ostracized by the farmers for his brutal handling of their “peaceful” demonstration; Franz Manzow, city council member, businessman, would-be conciliator and sexual predator of little girls; Franz Reimers, leader of the farmers’ Bauernschaft movement and staunch Headman of Gramzow; Albin Banz, dirt farmer and victim of the violence perpetrated by Frerksen, becomes a mentally deranged murderer; and Georg Henning, travelling salesman, ardent chief activist and flag-bearer for the peasant farmers. This is an impressive cast for readers who enjoy a plethora of idiosyncratic characters. But does it make enjoyable reading? For me: NOT, but three stars for this aspect of the novel.
Overall I can only rate this work two stars because of its frustration factors. I think this book's ponderousness is an exception among Fallada's works. I have two more of his books unread on the shelf and I believe I will enjoy them.
May 24, 2020
Hans Fallada'nın Türkçe'ye çevrilmiş ilk romanı.
Küçük insanların hikayesini naif bir dille anlatan Fallada çok sevilesi bir yazar. Okuması ise kolay değil. Özellikle bu kitabında Fallada herkesin ilgisini çekmeyebilecek bir konuyu 850 sayfa boyunca işliyor. Çok fazla karakter bulunan kitapta temelde üç ana karakter var.
Belediye Başkanı Gareis
İlan dağıtıcısı gazete çalışanı Tredup
Günü Gününe gazetesi baş yazarı Stuff
Bu üçü dışında onlarca karakter girip çıkıyor ama asıl konu onların üzerinde dönüyor.
Fallada'ya başlamak için uygun diyemem ama güzel bir kitap.
Küçük insanların hikayesini naif bir dille anlatan Fallada çok sevilesi bir yazar. Okuması ise kolay değil. Özellikle bu kitabında Fallada herkesin ilgisini çekmeyebilecek bir konuyu 850 sayfa boyunca işliyor. Çok fazla karakter bulunan kitapta temelde üç ana karakter var.
Belediye Başkanı Gareis
İlan dağıtıcısı gazete çalışanı Tredup
Günü Gününe gazetesi baş yazarı Stuff
Bu üçü dışında onlarca karakter girip çıkıyor ama asıl konu onların üzerinde dönüyor.
Fallada'ya başlamak için uygun diyemem ama güzel bir kitap.
June 21, 2024
1920’lerin sonunda Almanya’nın küçük bir şehri Altholm’da geçiyor hikaye. Sosyal Demokratlar iktidarda, belediye yönetimi de onlarda. Köylüler ‘kızıllara yakın’ oldukları gerekçesiyle Sosyal Demokratlara düşman, onlar da Köylüler’in sağcı olduğu görüşünde. Komünistler de Sosyal Demokratlardan şikayetçi. Çok tanıdık bir ortam; Sosyal Demokratlar kimseye yaranamıyor :))) Bildik bir diğer durum da kendi içlerindeki çekişme ve ayrılıklar. Ekonomik durum oldukça kötü, halkın büyük bir kısmı yaşamakta zorluk çekiyor. İş adamları ve kodamanlar için ise işler yolunda. Nazilerin ayak sesleri duyulmaya başlamış; ekonomik ve siyasi istikrarsızlık onların iktidarı için gerekli koşulları oluşturmaya başlıyor. Antisemitizm yükselişte. Basın da kamplara ayrılmış toplumun bir yansıması gibi; onlar da ‘taraf’ olarak hareket ediyor. Ama geri planda çok da farklı değiller.
Artan vergiler köylülerin mal varlıklarını hacizle kaybetmelerine sebep olduğundan köylüler kendi aralarında örgütlenmeye başlıyorlar. Köylü önderlerinden biri hapse atılınca planlanan protesto yürüyüşüne Belediye Başkanı Gareis engel olmazken kendi partisinin Eyalet Başkanı yürüyüşü engellemek için harekete geçiyor ve şehre olayları provoke edecek kişiler yolluyor. Köylüler içinde de gerilimi yükseltebilecek sözde önderler mevcut. Bu durum polisin beceriksizliğiyle birleşince de şiddetle sonuçlanan bir gün yaşanıyor Altholm’da. Köylüler uğradıkları şiddet sebebiyle şehri boykota başlıyorlar- boykot köylü önderleri tarafından yönetiliyor ve aslında çoğu köylü durumdan mutlu değil. Boykottan şehir esnafı ve insanları zarar görüyor. Kitap bu hikayenin ortaya çıkışı, ilerlemesi ve en sonunda da mahkeme ile sona eriyor.
Kitap tam bir curcuna. İngilizce adı The Small Circus. Şehirde kurulan sirki çağrıştırırken aslında yaşanan siyasi duruma göndermede bulunuyor. Bence kitabın orijinal isminden daha yaratıcı. Kolay okunuyor fakat üçüncü bölüme kadar sürükleyici gelmedi bana. Bazen gereksiz uzatıldığını düşündüm, bazen de aslında tüm detayların hikaye içinde gerekli olduğunu fark ettim. Hikayede çok fazla karakter var fakat şaşırtıcı olan iyi, dürüst, idealist, karakter sahibi diyebileceğimiz bir karakterin olmaması. Hepsi grinin farklı tonlarında geziniyorlar; çoğu sorunlu, komplocu ve çıkarcı. Günü gününe gazetesinde çalışan Max Tredup’un otobiyografik özellikler taşıdığı belirtiliyor. En bahtsız karakterlerden biri Tredup. Oyunu diğerleri gibi oynamaya çalışıyor ama başarısız oluyor. I. Dünya Savaşı sonrası ve Nazi iktidarının hemen öncesinde Almanya’nın panaromasını anlatması açısından başarılı bir roman.
Artan vergiler köylülerin mal varlıklarını hacizle kaybetmelerine sebep olduğundan köylüler kendi aralarında örgütlenmeye başlıyorlar. Köylü önderlerinden biri hapse atılınca planlanan protesto yürüyüşüne Belediye Başkanı Gareis engel olmazken kendi partisinin Eyalet Başkanı yürüyüşü engellemek için harekete geçiyor ve şehre olayları provoke edecek kişiler yolluyor. Köylüler içinde de gerilimi yükseltebilecek sözde önderler mevcut. Bu durum polisin beceriksizliğiyle birleşince de şiddetle sonuçlanan bir gün yaşanıyor Altholm’da. Köylüler uğradıkları şiddet sebebiyle şehri boykota başlıyorlar- boykot köylü önderleri tarafından yönetiliyor ve aslında çoğu köylü durumdan mutlu değil. Boykottan şehir esnafı ve insanları zarar görüyor. Kitap bu hikayenin ortaya çıkışı, ilerlemesi ve en sonunda da mahkeme ile sona eriyor.
Kitap tam bir curcuna. İngilizce adı The Small Circus. Şehirde kurulan sirki çağrıştırırken aslında yaşanan siyasi duruma göndermede bulunuyor. Bence kitabın orijinal isminden daha yaratıcı. Kolay okunuyor fakat üçüncü bölüme kadar sürükleyici gelmedi bana. Bazen gereksiz uzatıldığını düşündüm, bazen de aslında tüm detayların hikaye içinde gerekli olduğunu fark ettim. Hikayede çok fazla karakter var fakat şaşırtıcı olan iyi, dürüst, idealist, karakter sahibi diyebileceğimiz bir karakterin olmaması. Hepsi grinin farklı tonlarında geziniyorlar; çoğu sorunlu, komplocu ve çıkarcı. Günü gününe gazetesinde çalışan Max Tredup’un otobiyografik özellikler taşıdığı belirtiliyor. En bahtsız karakterlerden biri Tredup. Oyunu diğerleri gibi oynamaya çalışıyor ama başarısız oluyor. I. Dünya Savaşı sonrası ve Nazi iktidarının hemen öncesinde Almanya’nın panaromasını anlatması açısından başarılı bir roman.
December 19, 2021
I like this author. I disliked this book intensely.
A satire on small town Germany between the wars, I could not get into the machinations about secret orders, flags, farmers and socialists.
A satire on small town Germany between the wars, I could not get into the machinations about secret orders, flags, farmers and socialists.
November 18, 2013
This novel was hell to read. Fallada's writing style, dialogue-led, featuring dozens of characters, results in a distracting text that frequently confuses and gets in the way of the plot. So many things about this book irritated me almost to the point of abandoning it - the use of present tense throughout, the cringeworthy and awkward colloquialisms (more a translation issue) that really grated, such as "proper night's kip", "probs" and "none of my beeswax". The plot itself is drawn out and confused. Letters are stolen and published to great uproar, but it is often not clearly explained what information they contain and why they are so important. People suddenly get irate at each other for reasons that are never really apparent. It' some thing writing a novel full of intrigue and duplicitous characters, but when your novel contains over seventy main characters, it all gets a bit bewildering. I think I only knew what was actually going on approximately 60% of the time.
Still, this book evades a one-star rating, because for all it's faults, it was quite a fascinating portrayal of Weimar society, really bringing to life a time that I only learned about in history class. Interestingly, there's a lot I recognised in that society: political disaffection, clashes between police and protestors, a split proletariat at each other's throats, and a deep, simmering righteous anger that never gets a satisfying outlet. The dark comedy was for me underscored by the spectre of the country that Germany was to become just a few years later. It was for this that I persisted, and I'm glad I stuck it out to the end. I hear from reviewers and a friend that Fallada's later novels are much better, so I will try 'Alone in Berlin' one time.
Still, this book evades a one-star rating, because for all it's faults, it was quite a fascinating portrayal of Weimar society, really bringing to life a time that I only learned about in history class. Interestingly, there's a lot I recognised in that society: political disaffection, clashes between police and protestors, a split proletariat at each other's throats, and a deep, simmering righteous anger that never gets a satisfying outlet. The dark comedy was for me underscored by the spectre of the country that Germany was to become just a few years later. It was for this that I persisted, and I'm glad I stuck it out to the end. I hear from reviewers and a friend that Fallada's later novels are much better, so I will try 'Alone in Berlin' one time.
October 16, 2015
Great book (fiction, what a find, of a proliferate writer of his time. A cast of characters of a smallish town in Germany before the Nazis' took over. Allow yourself time in the beginning of the book, for the characters to manifest themselves into the thick of a screwy time in the late 1920's in North-eastern Germany...
NOTE: (Translated from German to English(not American English) but very readable.
NOTE: (Translated from German to English(not American English) but very readable.
July 31, 2012
A piercing and caustic mosaic of greed and treachery at the heart of the Weimar Republic, lambasting both the left and the right, and predicting Germany's transformation into National Socialist nightmare, A Small Circus is a pretty impressive debut novel and deserves to be considered a classic of world literature. All of the characters are corrupt. Much schnapps and beer is drunk while duplicities and double-crosses are nursed and hatched. Everybody in one way or another gets their just desserts (except for the wife of Tredup, a conniving advertising manager, photographer and aspiring editor; she just gets liberally shat upon for no good reason). A farmer's uprising (based on real events in the town of Neumünster, called Altholm in the novel) which turns in to a clash between peasants and police leads to a judicial nightmare and a whirligig of reprisals and dire repercussions. A letter, pace the old psychoanalytic epigram, always arrives at its destination. The way information is circulated and compromised in a relatively small community is perfectly depicted. Various narrative elisions are filled in by information being arrived at circuitously before we know anything about it. How information is exercised, controlled, and made to sneak in through the back door is the real subject of the book. What is ultimately on display is a small corner of a dying republic and the locally symptomatological manifestation of a national infirmity.
April 16, 2022
Perhaps not quite the masterwork that Every Man Dies Alone or Little Man, What Now? is, this is still a remarkable achievement--a stunningly in-depth, detailed depiction of the political and social machinations before, after and during a farmers' march in a small German city 85 years ago: huge cast of characters, reporters, politicians, police, farmers, businessmen. An amazing look at the chaos in Germany just before the Nazi takeover.
November 7, 2016
Political satire of the highest caliber. In its treatment of small town rivalries and cynical opportunistic journalism, the book is on par with, if not superior to, Hammett's Red Harvest/Kurosawa's Yojimbo and Wilder's Ace In The Hole.
November 22, 2024
Genelde ağır olduğu kabul edilse de bence şahane roman.
Yirmilerde, Almanya'nın küçük bir kasabasında; bir belediye başkanı, bir gazeteci ve sosyal statüsünü yükseltebilmek için her şeyi yapmaya hazır bir ilan toplayıcısı ana karakterler. Ancak esasında romanın temel karakteri bir yığın olmaktan öteye geçip örgütlenerek toplumdaki ağırlığını kanıtlamaya çalışan köylüler.
Nazilerin iktidarı ele almasından önce ve henüz toplumda 'kızıllar' gibi radikal bir grup olarak tanımlandıkları dönemde; siyasetin, bürokrasinin ve ekonominin sıkışmışlığı berrak biçimde romanın temel dayanakları.
Fallada'dan okuduğum ilk romandı, beklediğimden çok daha sağlam çıktı.
Yirmilerde, Almanya'nın küçük bir kasabasında; bir belediye başkanı, bir gazeteci ve sosyal statüsünü yükseltebilmek için her şeyi yapmaya hazır bir ilan toplayıcısı ana karakterler. Ancak esasında romanın temel karakteri bir yığın olmaktan öteye geçip örgütlenerek toplumdaki ağırlığını kanıtlamaya çalışan köylüler.
Nazilerin iktidarı ele almasından önce ve henüz toplumda 'kızıllar' gibi radikal bir grup olarak tanımlandıkları dönemde; siyasetin, bürokrasinin ve ekonominin sıkışmışlığı berrak biçimde romanın temel dayanakları.
Fallada'dan okuduğum ilk romandı, beklediğimden çok daha sağlam çıktı.
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September 8, 2022In Erinnerung an "Jeder stirbt für sich allein" hatte ich deutlich mehr erwartet. Statt einer Darstellung der parteipolitischen Verwirrungen am Ende der Weimarer Republik wird viel klein-klein erzählt, die Reflexion auf die großen Zusammenhänge fehlt für mich fast völlig. Ich breche das Buch nach ca. 100 Seiten ab. Keine Bewertung.
November 8, 2025
Unzufriedene Bauern! Die Rechten und die Linken. Presse und Politik. Eigentlich gar nicht schlecht, nur zieht sich das Ganze unheimlich in die Länge.
December 31, 2019
A massive novel with seemingly billions of characters, it nevertheless moves quickly and is dominated by dialogue. Not one of Fallada's masterpieces, but definitely worth reading if you're a fan.
August 4, 2015
There are many reason why the Weimar Republic is one of the most studied and debated periods in the annals of modern German history. As the epoch that followed the fall of the Kaiserreich and preceded the emergence of Hitler, Germany’s brief experiment with democracy was loathed by millions; even those that persisted were never more than a lukewarm combination of moderate Social Democrats, Catholics and petit-bourgeois business leaders. A granite foundation for upholding the rule of law didn’t stand a chance in this era of hyperinflation, austerity and global economic chaos.
The continuing fascination of this age is also one of the reasons why Hans Fallada’s novels have taken on a new importance outside his home country. Though Thomas Mann, Hermann Hesse and most of Germany’s great writers went into exile in the 1930s, Fallada stayed behind while Goebbels’ Ministry of Propaganda and Enlightenment tightened its grip on the arts. Yet the poor English translations of his works were almost as detrimental as the Third Reich’s demand for conformity, and it’s only the last decade that’s seen a surge in new activity from scholars and admirers outraged by Fallada’s lack of universal appreciation amongst the pantheon of literary legends. So where does A Small Circus fit into his back catalogue of re-discovered gems?
First of all, those looking for the quintessential chronicle of the age should read his 1938 novel, Iron Gustav. Nonetheless, A Small Circus should not be dismissed out of hand, either. Yes, it may be one of Fallada’s lesser known works, but his poignant wit, detached sense-of-humour and trademark portrayal of ‘the little man’ are all present here along with his remarkable ability to re-create the absurd Captain of Köpenick-type incidents that once saw a German shoemaker don a military uniform and fool an entire town into following his orders to arrest the local Mayor. (This 1906 event also did the rounds in the English press as a typical example of blind German obedience to men in military uniform.)
On this occasion Fallada’s prized charlatan is a young Berlin salesman who latches onto a small-time peasant march and sees his opportunity for fame and acclamation in provincial Pomerania. But when the demonstration gets out of hand a whole cast of mendacious journalists, conspiratorial politicians, restless businessmen and disorganised farmers clash in a low-stakes recrimination of parochial proportions. Berlin and the crumbling Reichstag of the Weimar Republic might as well be another country to the town’s inhabitants. Theirs is a district where live-changing events threaten but never materialise. Think of Ibsen’s Enemy of the People, where town hall politics consume the self-important chattering classes and doyens of civic society, but go unnoticed in the wider world.
Characters like Mayor Gareis, the alcoholic journalist, Herr Stuff, and the peasant leader, Franz Reimers, are reminiscent of Emile Zola’s finest creations. Yet the large Dramatis Personae may be a bit overwhelming, and the dominance of character dialogue is even more unusual as a method of plot development. But it works. Before you know it you’ve read through 572 pages and experienced the ups and downs of Fallada’s protagonists as if every ego and ambition is your own. That’s an impressive achievement for such an unorthodox approach to a novel.
There’s also a sense that Fallada wrote A Small Circus with a film adaptation in mind. Each chapter transports you to the spectator’s armchair; imagine reading something that invokes the most dramatic moments in classic film. Few authors can do this, especially those that are economical with environmental settings and long on character dialogue. No wonder Fallada’s works are being re-appraised. Could anyone else pull this off?
Of course, it’s impossible to avoid hindsight and historical knowledge when reading anything from this period. Though Hitler and the Nazis get no more than the occasional mention as one of many factions vying for dominance of the German state, it’s too much to say A Small Circus is a far-sighted chronicle of a society breaking apart. Nothing in these pages suggest the Weimar Republic’s demise is inevitable or imminent – that’s something other reviewers have foisted on the book by reading back into history.
What you have here is the gripping town story, where the alehouses are full of cynical hacks and over-taxed farmers; where blackmail, infanticide, paedophilia and wife-beating bubble below the surface; and where Malthusian burdens force families to adapt and survive with admirable fortitude. It doesn’t matter whether this is Germany or Greenland – these tensions are omnipresent in the best literature, and A Small Circus is no exception.
The continuing fascination of this age is also one of the reasons why Hans Fallada’s novels have taken on a new importance outside his home country. Though Thomas Mann, Hermann Hesse and most of Germany’s great writers went into exile in the 1930s, Fallada stayed behind while Goebbels’ Ministry of Propaganda and Enlightenment tightened its grip on the arts. Yet the poor English translations of his works were almost as detrimental as the Third Reich’s demand for conformity, and it’s only the last decade that’s seen a surge in new activity from scholars and admirers outraged by Fallada’s lack of universal appreciation amongst the pantheon of literary legends. So where does A Small Circus fit into his back catalogue of re-discovered gems?
First of all, those looking for the quintessential chronicle of the age should read his 1938 novel, Iron Gustav. Nonetheless, A Small Circus should not be dismissed out of hand, either. Yes, it may be one of Fallada’s lesser known works, but his poignant wit, detached sense-of-humour and trademark portrayal of ‘the little man’ are all present here along with his remarkable ability to re-create the absurd Captain of Köpenick-type incidents that once saw a German shoemaker don a military uniform and fool an entire town into following his orders to arrest the local Mayor. (This 1906 event also did the rounds in the English press as a typical example of blind German obedience to men in military uniform.)
On this occasion Fallada’s prized charlatan is a young Berlin salesman who latches onto a small-time peasant march and sees his opportunity for fame and acclamation in provincial Pomerania. But when the demonstration gets out of hand a whole cast of mendacious journalists, conspiratorial politicians, restless businessmen and disorganised farmers clash in a low-stakes recrimination of parochial proportions. Berlin and the crumbling Reichstag of the Weimar Republic might as well be another country to the town’s inhabitants. Theirs is a district where live-changing events threaten but never materialise. Think of Ibsen’s Enemy of the People, where town hall politics consume the self-important chattering classes and doyens of civic society, but go unnoticed in the wider world.
Characters like Mayor Gareis, the alcoholic journalist, Herr Stuff, and the peasant leader, Franz Reimers, are reminiscent of Emile Zola’s finest creations. Yet the large Dramatis Personae may be a bit overwhelming, and the dominance of character dialogue is even more unusual as a method of plot development. But it works. Before you know it you’ve read through 572 pages and experienced the ups and downs of Fallada’s protagonists as if every ego and ambition is your own. That’s an impressive achievement for such an unorthodox approach to a novel.
There’s also a sense that Fallada wrote A Small Circus with a film adaptation in mind. Each chapter transports you to the spectator’s armchair; imagine reading something that invokes the most dramatic moments in classic film. Few authors can do this, especially those that are economical with environmental settings and long on character dialogue. No wonder Fallada’s works are being re-appraised. Could anyone else pull this off?
Of course, it’s impossible to avoid hindsight and historical knowledge when reading anything from this period. Though Hitler and the Nazis get no more than the occasional mention as one of many factions vying for dominance of the German state, it’s too much to say A Small Circus is a far-sighted chronicle of a society breaking apart. Nothing in these pages suggest the Weimar Republic’s demise is inevitable or imminent – that’s something other reviewers have foisted on the book by reading back into history.
What you have here is the gripping town story, where the alehouses are full of cynical hacks and over-taxed farmers; where blackmail, infanticide, paedophilia and wife-beating bubble below the surface; and where Malthusian burdens force families to adapt and survive with admirable fortitude. It doesn’t matter whether this is Germany or Greenland – these tensions are omnipresent in the best literature, and A Small Circus is no exception.
January 1, 2018
This novel is set in Altholm, Pomerania, Weimar republic (Pomerania is now split between Poland and Germany) in 1929 the title comes from the prologue where as the visiting circus refused to buy as space in the Altholm chronicle calling it a "fish and chip paper", the newspaper publishes a scathing review calling it a small circus.
The rest of the novel, the circus is not i it in a real sense but a metaphorical sense. The narrative structure is a third person and there is no focal point of a character with various characters in the novel being important. There is the mayor Gareis (though the translation of mayor may be a bit disconcerting as there is also the position of Lord Mayor in the small town). The press is a main focal point too with the Altholm Chronicle editor Stuff and advertising manager Tredup also featuring strongly. We then also the farmers, who form the main crux of the events that spiral in the storyline as two Revenue bailiffs go to confiscate oxen from a farmer who had a crazy estimated tax bill levied against the farmer. (Considering how the topic of the novel comes froma Revenue bill, could I claim the time spent reading it as part of a Continual Professional Development time needed for my annual return? *ponders*)
The novel is split into three section, the first entitled "the farmers", the second "the townies" and the last section is called "judgement day". There is really no character that comes out of the novel looking good but this isn't a bad thing. In the portrayal of the characters there is a darki comedic force (I burst out laughing at a couple of things in it)
Fallada was looking at making the going on of the small town in question, based on his own experience as a journalist in the region to be the circus that it was, encapsulating the last days of the Weimar Republic. If it was a new novel now, I'd probably be criticising it for being just based on the benefit of hindsight on the crumblings of the Weimar Republic. Being as it is from around the time it was written, it seems very prescient in the portrayal of the Weimar Republic.
This is not the best book ever written but it is a very good book. Fallada has a great ear for dialogue and this book is very big on dialogue, maybe if Fallada was alive today, he might have been a script writer instead as his novel do tend to be dialogue hevy (though that is only based on reading 2 of his other novels, one which was specifically made for the intention of making a film of it)
The rest of the novel, the circus is not i it in a real sense but a metaphorical sense. The narrative structure is a third person and there is no focal point of a character with various characters in the novel being important. There is the mayor Gareis (though the translation of mayor may be a bit disconcerting as there is also the position of Lord Mayor in the small town). The press is a main focal point too with the Altholm Chronicle editor Stuff and advertising manager Tredup also featuring strongly. We then also the farmers, who form the main crux of the events that spiral in the storyline as two Revenue bailiffs go to confiscate oxen from a farmer who had a crazy estimated tax bill levied against the farmer. (Considering how the topic of the novel comes froma Revenue bill, could I claim the time spent reading it as part of a Continual Professional Development time needed for my annual return? *ponders*)
The novel is split into three section, the first entitled "the farmers", the second "the townies" and the last section is called "judgement day". There is really no character that comes out of the novel looking good but this isn't a bad thing. In the portrayal of the characters there is a darki comedic force (I burst out laughing at a couple of things in it)
Fallada was looking at making the going on of the small town in question, based on his own experience as a journalist in the region to be the circus that it was, encapsulating the last days of the Weimar Republic. If it was a new novel now, I'd probably be criticising it for being just based on the benefit of hindsight on the crumblings of the Weimar Republic. Being as it is from around the time it was written, it seems very prescient in the portrayal of the Weimar Republic.
This is not the best book ever written but it is a very good book. Fallada has a great ear for dialogue and this book is very big on dialogue, maybe if Fallada was alive today, he might have been a script writer instead as his novel do tend to be dialogue hevy (though that is only based on reading 2 of his other novels, one which was specifically made for the intention of making a film of it)
February 14, 2025
Von Hans Fallada wollte ich schon immer mal etwas lesen. Nun endlich habe ich es geschafft. Der Titel macht schon ziemlich neugierig. Was haben die drei miteinander zu tun. Der Roman ist in der Endphase der Weimarer Republik und in der norddeutschen Provinz angesiedelt.
Auslöser der erzählten Handlung ist der Protest der Bauern gegen die Steuerpolitik der ungeliebten (sozial)demokratischen Regierung. Bei einer Demo kommt es zu Gewalttätigkeiten als die Polizei versucht, eine als provokativ empfundene Fahne zu konfiszieren. Woraufhin die Bauern die Stadt, in der ein sozialdemokratischer Bürgermeister der starke Mann ist, boykottieren und die Sache ein Gerichtsfall wird.
Bomben werden geworfen und die Bonzen, die Verwaltung gerät mächtig unter Druck. Brüche werden sichtbar: Stadt steht gegen Land, Linke gegen Rechte, Radikale gegen Gemäßigte, bald sieht jeder nur noch seine Interessen, das geht nicht gut aus. Da ist es nicht verwunderlich, dass das ausgewogene Urteil des Gerichts niemand etwas Gutes sehen will.
Den Roman umweht noch der Expressionismus. Die Sprache und die Dialoge sind knapp aber ausdrucksstark, bekräftigende und ungewöhnliche Ausdrücke prägen den Stil. Aber es ist ein starkes Garn, ein Panorama eröffnet sich auf gesellschaftliche Konflikte und Menschen in Zwangslagen. Man lernt viel über das (Nicht)funktionieren der Gesellschaft, vor allem warum die Weimarer Republik letztendlich scheiterte. Man leidet und freut sich mit den Figuren, die alle sehr gemischte Charaktere sind, Gut und Böse gibt es nicht, nur gute und schlechte Taten. Gestalten die einem am Anfang positiv oder sympathisch erscheinen, erweisen sich am Ende als das Gegenteil. So muss gute Literatur sein. Schade, dass das dritte Reich dieser Art von populären Gesellschaftsromaen ein jähes Ende gesetzt hat.
Auslöser der erzählten Handlung ist der Protest der Bauern gegen die Steuerpolitik der ungeliebten (sozial)demokratischen Regierung. Bei einer Demo kommt es zu Gewalttätigkeiten als die Polizei versucht, eine als provokativ empfundene Fahne zu konfiszieren. Woraufhin die Bauern die Stadt, in der ein sozialdemokratischer Bürgermeister der starke Mann ist, boykottieren und die Sache ein Gerichtsfall wird.
Bomben werden geworfen und die Bonzen, die Verwaltung gerät mächtig unter Druck. Brüche werden sichtbar: Stadt steht gegen Land, Linke gegen Rechte, Radikale gegen Gemäßigte, bald sieht jeder nur noch seine Interessen, das geht nicht gut aus. Da ist es nicht verwunderlich, dass das ausgewogene Urteil des Gerichts niemand etwas Gutes sehen will.
Den Roman umweht noch der Expressionismus. Die Sprache und die Dialoge sind knapp aber ausdrucksstark, bekräftigende und ungewöhnliche Ausdrücke prägen den Stil. Aber es ist ein starkes Garn, ein Panorama eröffnet sich auf gesellschaftliche Konflikte und Menschen in Zwangslagen. Man lernt viel über das (Nicht)funktionieren der Gesellschaft, vor allem warum die Weimarer Republik letztendlich scheiterte. Man leidet und freut sich mit den Figuren, die alle sehr gemischte Charaktere sind, Gut und Böse gibt es nicht, nur gute und schlechte Taten. Gestalten die einem am Anfang positiv oder sympathisch erscheinen, erweisen sich am Ende als das Gegenteil. So muss gute Literatur sein. Schade, dass das dritte Reich dieser Art von populären Gesellschaftsromaen ein jähes Ende gesetzt hat.
January 7, 2012
Small town/village existence in Germany of the early 1930s, with all the Country's various political factions mistrusting each other and the back stabbing that results throughout the story among the various characters.
Quite an interesting read considering how long ago this story was actually written.
My thanks to the Author, the Publishing House, and Goodreads for making it possible for me to freely view and review this excellent fictional novel of a Germany before Hitler rose to complete power and started WWII by invading Poland in the quest of world dominance.
Quite an interesting read considering how long ago this story was actually written.
My thanks to the Author, the Publishing House, and Goodreads for making it possible for me to freely view and review this excellent fictional novel of a Germany before Hitler rose to complete power and started WWII by invading Poland in the quest of world dominance.
April 8, 2019
A Small Circus, is an earlier work by Fallada than Everyman Dies Aloneone of my favorite novels of civilian wartime experience and resistance. Published in 1931 as Farmers, Functionaries and Fireworks, it was his first to find any audience, though quickly overshadowed by his 1932 Little Man, Now What? / Kleiner Mann – was nun? The English translator of Small Circus as of Every Man, is the very able Michael Hoffman. Unlike the later novel, however, A Small Circus does not attract or hold our attention as strongly.
Though there is an actual circus, which provides the starting point and metaphor for the themes of petty, vindictive corruption, we never get to it. The editor of one of the town’s newspapers writes a dismissive review of the circus, not having seen it, as retribution for not buying advertising. The larger circus of personalities (almost all male,) in 1929 Pomerania, of Nazis, Social Democrats, and Farmers’ League, push and pull, connive and bully for power. While through the opened flap of the novel we see perhaps the goings-on in three-rings, it is not particularly entertaining, and only slightly revelatory.
... A quick account of the plot would seem to make it interesting, however: 1929 Germany, the Great Depression sweeping the world and particularly upsetting Germany; the species-long quarrel over taxes and their collection; the rising Nazi party and the face-off with communists and social democrats; the peculiarities of small-town Philistines versus agriculture-heavy populations. The major action is a farmers’ league protest march through the town of Altholm, in which a large and symbol-laden flag incites reaction, leading to a small riot and following trial. Quite a mix of ingredients for a heady brew.
Unfortunately not.
For a full review see http://www.allinoneboat.org/a-small-c...
February 10, 2022
This was the first book that Fallada wrote which was successful - the original title 'Farmers, officials and bombs' is a more descriptive title. It is based on a real case that Fallada/Ditzen witnessed when he was editor of a small paper in a country town. The farmers of the Landvolk movement demonstrated and were charged with riot; they responded with a boycott of the town. A modern non German reader will have some difficulty with the political parties of the time and with the huge number of characters - all very convincingly portrayed, but some only present for a brief scene or two.
Ditzen was well placed to understand what was going on. He had worked on country estates as labourer, overseer and estates manager; he worked on the local paper drumming up subscriptions, selling advertising (like Leopold Bloom) and had been imprisoned for theft and hospitalized for drug addiction (the theft was to fund it). This gave him a remarkably wide knowledge of German society and intimate knowledge of the skulduggery of all the parties in the collapsing Weimar republic. The most impressive character, the Mayor has the welfare of the town at heart and has achieved a lot for the people resorts easily to underhand methods to keep himself in power ends up kicked out by his own Social Democrat Party and offered disgrace or a job far away. He takes the job.
The story is an exciting one and the characters compelling which kept me reading despite the difficulties. When it was published the events were current news, now, after the rise of the Nazis, which they help explain, they are distant and take an effort to grasp.
Often a writer's early work is interesting for it's freshness; this has the feel of Fallada finding his real ability - to grasp life as it is being lived and reflect it in fiction.
Ditzen was well placed to understand what was going on. He had worked on country estates as labourer, overseer and estates manager; he worked on the local paper drumming up subscriptions, selling advertising (like Leopold Bloom) and had been imprisoned for theft and hospitalized for drug addiction (the theft was to fund it). This gave him a remarkably wide knowledge of German society and intimate knowledge of the skulduggery of all the parties in the collapsing Weimar republic. The most impressive character, the Mayor has the welfare of the town at heart and has achieved a lot for the people resorts easily to underhand methods to keep himself in power ends up kicked out by his own Social Democrat Party and offered disgrace or a job far away. He takes the job.
The story is an exciting one and the characters compelling which kept me reading despite the difficulties. When it was published the events were current news, now, after the rise of the Nazis, which they help explain, they are distant and take an effort to grasp.
Often a writer's early work is interesting for it's freshness; this has the feel of Fallada finding his real ability - to grasp life as it is being lived and reflect it in fiction.
January 21, 2024
Unless you have an interest in 1920s-30s German politics, this book will bore you. It is tedious and way too long. Perhaps because Fallada reported on the original incident that inspired the novel (the Landvolk farmer's riot in Neumünster in 1929), he felt it necessary to include as much detail as possible. But what this results in is a novel that explicitly narrates every single conversation that occurs between its cast of 70-odd characters. Developments that could be summarised in a sentence or two are instead tediously described in conversation after conversation, most of which take place in the office of the mayor, or the office of the local newspaper. Gradually, the book feels less like a novel and more like the meeting minutes of a local council. This story could have been told in a much punchier, more concise way. The plot in its bare essentials reminded me somewhat of Dostoevsky's Demons, which is infinitely better executed than this book - it is deeper, funnier, more frightening, and more profound, than anything in this book. If the plot of this book interests you, perhaps read that instead.
August 5, 2018
In the last two years I’ve become interested in the years between the World Wars - fiction and nonfiction, especially the Weimar Republic era. The setting, a rural area and not being in Berlin, made me eager to read this book.
First the good: I really liked Fallada’s writing style - rapid-fire storytelling, often driven by quick and energetic dialog that forced me to concentrate to “keep up.” I liked that. The descriptions of the town, its people and their relationships and conflicts were also well-written and engaging. I have a few other Fallada novels on my list, and I will give them a read.
The not-so-good: The first 50% of the book was tight and exciting, with a good building of the coming conflict within the town. But the almost overwhelming number of main and secondary characters (the Dramatis Personae did help!), and the many sub-plots and little intrigues got to be a bit much during the book’s second half. And the conclusion - after so much conniving, chicanery and double-crossing within the community - was a bit of a fizzle, flat and disappointing. At almost 600 pages, it seemed bloated, and maybe 100-150 pages too long.
First the good: I really liked Fallada’s writing style - rapid-fire storytelling, often driven by quick and energetic dialog that forced me to concentrate to “keep up.” I liked that. The descriptions of the town, its people and their relationships and conflicts were also well-written and engaging. I have a few other Fallada novels on my list, and I will give them a read.
The not-so-good: The first 50% of the book was tight and exciting, with a good building of the coming conflict within the town. But the almost overwhelming number of main and secondary characters (the Dramatis Personae did help!), and the many sub-plots and little intrigues got to be a bit much during the book’s second half. And the conclusion - after so much conniving, chicanery and double-crossing within the community - was a bit of a fizzle, flat and disappointing. At almost 600 pages, it seemed bloated, and maybe 100-150 pages too long.
February 15, 2021
A story of a small town in Pomerania in the last days of the post-first-world-war social-democratic Germany. A world of poverty, corruption and exploitation as only Fallada can describe. The major theme is a protest march of farmers frustrated with high taxes imposed on them confiscation of their animals when unable to pay their taxes. Their march broken up by police leads to a trial of some of the protest participants and an attempt to blame everyone but not the real conditions which led to it. An excellent description of various society groups involved in the issue, from the press, government and local officials, farming community and local industrialists and the legal officers. A sad story of how democracy can lead to despotism.
February 21, 2025
A gripping story which seeks to shed light on the social and political upheavals in Germany in the post First World War seen through the narrative of a dispute between local farmers and the local and regional bureaucracies.
The story uses a rich array of characters to illustrate the prevailing attitudes of power and how it was used to maintain the social order in this local farming community. The author carries the story through his clever development of lead characters, providing insights into the social perspectives of the main protagonists.
The authors use of first person perspective was extensive, which ultimately provided a very humane backdrop to the terrible events on which the plot centres.
The author has embellished his reputation in my eyes with this book.
The story uses a rich array of characters to illustrate the prevailing attitudes of power and how it was used to maintain the social order in this local farming community. The author carries the story through his clever development of lead characters, providing insights into the social perspectives of the main protagonists.
The authors use of first person perspective was extensive, which ultimately provided a very humane backdrop to the terrible events on which the plot centres.
The author has embellished his reputation in my eyes with this book.
April 10, 2019
A confusing muddle with no clear authorial voice. The narrative is purely driven by the characters’ interaction with each other given their political standpoints. This would work if there were fewer of them but having to reset yourself by going through the cast list every so often doesn’t aid a smooth read. There is a good book about the Weimar Republic that isn’t a detective thriller waiting to be written - self interest, hedonism, political conflict, violence all to hand. This book has all of these tools & uses them but is so confusing it doesn’t present that overview of the whole that it should.
September 28, 2020
Ich bin ein Bewunderer von Hans Fallada und habe schon viele Romane von ihm gelesen. Aber diese Geschichte war mir persönlich eine regelrechte Qual. Die Handlung ist sehr kompliziert und hat mich überhaupt nicht mitgerissen. Es gibt einen Vielzahl von Charakteren. Ich musste mich ständig fragen, „Wer war denn der wieder?“. Die sogenannte Bauern Revolution der 20er Jahre in Schleswig-Holstein, auf der die Grundlage dieses Romans liegt, fand ich interessant aber als Basis für eine Erzählung von ca. 600 Seiten hat sie mir nicht gereicht, trotzt der von Fallada charakteristischen und wunderbaren Fähigkeit Menschen unheimlich realistisch und facettenreich darzustellen.
October 24, 2023
Just too long, I feel like I wasted a lot of time working my way through utterly boring bits to get to more interesting ones. If this wasn't by one of my favourite authors I wouldn't have ever persisted with it. If you're reading it as a study of history it might be more interesting, but if you expect the usual Fallada style being drawn into the character's world and just want to read it all on one go, this is not the book to read. I feel it wasn't edited well, half the text could be cut without having any impact on the overall story or cutting any important characters out imo.
January 2, 2025
I was excited for this book, as I've read everything else by the author that I could get my hands on. This was among my least favorite. It goes on so long and the political tones are pessimistic. It's Germany in 1929 and there's a class struggle between farmers and townspeople, much political scheming, and shady characters. One of the main characters up and leaves his wife and children. Altogether barely even interesting.
March 19, 2017
Ich bin ein grosser Fallada-Bewunderer, aber das ist der erste Roman, der mir nicht gefallen hat. Es gibt meiner Meinung nach viel zu viele Charaktere, ein Ausmass, dass ich die nahezu nicht auseinanderhalten konnte. Die Geschichte die erzaehlt wird ist leider in meinen Augen ein bisschen langweilig und in der Version, die ich gelesen habe, 654 Seiten, viel zu lang. Was man in diesem fruehren Fallada schon findet sind diese Figuren, die staendig ihr Recht fordern, dabei aber plump und undifferenziert sind. Bekommen die was sie wollen, treten sie nach, bekommen sie es nicht, sind sie weinerlich. Sie sind Prinzipienreiter und ziehen sich auf Regeln, Gesetze und gesellschaftliche Normen zurueck. Dennoch versuchen sie mit aller Macht diese zu durchbrechen. Solche Figuren findet man in diesem Roman, aber auch in anderen Falladas. Ich frage mich, was das ueber das Deutschland der 20er bis 40er Jahre aussagt. Die Figuren scheinen gar keine hoeheren Ideale mehr zu haben, sondern nur noch an sich selbst zu denken. Vielleicht ist das eine Folge der schlechten wirtschaftlichen Lage, Fallada hat es ja selbst mitgemacht.
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