The Junkers

by Piers Paul Read

Near Fine. Dust Jacket Near Fine. SIGNED!! 1st Edition/ This rare and vintage book is a perfect addition to any bibliophile's collection

Genres: Fiction

314 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1968

About the author

British novelist and non-fiction writer. Educated at the Benedictines' Ampleforth College, and subsequently entered St John's College, University of Cambridge where he received his BA and MA (history). Artist-in-Residence at the Ford Foundation in Berlin (1963-4), Harkness Fellow, Commonwealth Fund, New York (1967-8), member of the Council of the Institute of Contemporary Arts (1971-5), member of the Literature Panel at the Arts Council, (1975-7), and Adjunct Professor of Writing, Columbia University, New York (1980). From 1992-7 he was Chairman of the Catholic Writers' Guild. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature (FRSL).

His most well-known work is the non-fiction Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors (1974), an account of the aftermath of a plane crash in the Andes, later adapted as a film.

Reviews

[Liam Ostermann · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read this novel before the fall of the Berlin Wall, exactly when I can't remember, but even at the time I thought that Mr. Read had failed to come to grips with his subject (read the various GR and other synopsis). I also didn't think him a first raste writer. Time has done nothing to alter that opinion, in fact having read another of his novels 'The Villa Golitsyn' a few years ago, I have lost any interest or respect for Read as a novelist. I haven't read his non fiction and won't.

I could reproduce my earlier review of 'The Villa Golitsyn' because everything I said about that novel applies to 'The Junkers'. Some novelists are of their time and Read is one of them. I would never recommend reading him. Compared to older writers like Francis King or Allan Massie (born 1923 and 1938 respectively so slightly older then Read who was born in 1941) he seems utterly cut-off and adrift from the times he has live in. That lack of connection was cultivated as a way to distinguish himself from and also a greater distinction then any contemporary writers. Unfortunately he wasn't good enough to be alternate to current fashions. Even his Roman Catholicism seems bogus, as if he imagined it automatically placed him with the likes of Graham Greene and Evelyn Waugh. Of course it didn't. He isn't even as good as A.N. Wilson in his campy early anglo-catholic novel 'Who was Oswald Fish'.

What ever is going on in the catholic church you won't find it anything Read has written, nor will you find out anything about human nature. Don't waste time on this drivel.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read's tale of a callow English diplomat and the extended aristocratic family of the German girl he's seeing in post-war Berlin gets only 4/5 stars for his often utilitarian manner of writing. The setting, themes, and ideology of THE JUNKERS are exceptionally fascinating to me but Read's style is often lacking. That said, there is much to be praised here. The protagonist is an unlikeable young man only concerned with acquiring and leaving girlfriends. As he is a representative of the declining British empire, this characterization seems especially apt given a post-colonial reading of our hero. The eponymous family ranges in types from the firstborn SS man, the utterly detached diplomat, and the youngest brother, a religious man who abandons his late war post on the Eastern Front for Soviet Communism. While sexuality is apparently an area of significant interest for Read, he always depicts it in a sterile, clinical manner. He's not concerned with depicting erotic scenes but rather the reasoning or unreason behind the actions of men and women driven by sexual desire or the lack thereof. The political climate of pre-war, WWII, and post-war Germany is of particular interest due to the current [2016 election cycle] state of politics in the USA. While fears of "fascism" or "socialism" from the major candidates are vastly exaggerated, the way people in the novel talk about political aspirations and perceived societal problems seems very similar to the current day.

[BCS · Rating 5 out of 5]

Battered paperback. Told through the lives of two brothers, I think, during the Third Reich. Basically sex and psychology as historical fiction. Goes into the probable re-read box. That box is pretty big.

[Joe · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought of this book as something of a romance novel for men or perhaps an anti-romance novel. A British diplomat is given the task of vetting or rather revetting a right of center German politician in a process that was called de Nazification. As he does, he uncovers the complicated story of this Junker family (Junker was a term that meant land nobility, especially in Northern Germany and Prussia.)

The story is intriguing but ultimately there are no heroes or even likeable characters. The "love story" is more of an "obsession story."

[sch · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the second Piers Paul Read novel I've read. Neither grabbed my imagination.

Waugh said that the difference between a writer and an educated man who can write is an "architectural" quality in the mind. A fully unified or thoroughly integrated novel is a remarkable achievement, and one mustn't be too demanding. I think it's fair to say Read possesses this quality; he arranges a number of characters, themes, and topics into a recognizable whole.

Still, The Junkers is not a fun book to read. There are satisfying moments and several fine dramatic passages. I will not forget Strepper's three crimes, or the abortion, or the anonymous narrator's gradual obsession with Suzi. But always there is a vulgarity about bodies that (for me) taints the author's effects.