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The Undertaking
Shortlisted for the Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction 2014, this is an immensely powerful novel about an ordinary German couple trying to build a life amidst the trauma of World War II.
A soldier on the Russian Front marries a photograph of a woman he has never met. Hundreds of miles away in Berlin, the woman marries a photograph of the soldier. It is a contract of business rather than love. When the newlywed strangers finally meet, however, passion blossoms and they begin to imagine a life together under the bright promise of Nazi Germany. But as the tide of war turns and Allied enemies come ever closer, the couple find themselves facing the terrible consequences of being ordinary people stained with their small share of an extraordinary guilt...
A soldier on the Russian Front marries a photograph of a woman he has never met. Hundreds of miles away in Berlin, the woman marries a photograph of the soldier. It is a contract of business rather than love. When the newlywed strangers finally meet, however, passion blossoms and they begin to imagine a life together under the bright promise of Nazi Germany. But as the tide of war turns and Allied enemies come ever closer, the couple find themselves facing the terrible consequences of being ordinary people stained with their small share of an extraordinary guilt...
304 pages, Paperback
First published February 1, 2014
112 people are currently reading
4881 people want to read
About the author
Audrey Magee
2 books254 followersAudrey Magee worked for twelve years as a journalist and has written for, among others, The Times, The Irish Times, the Observer and Guardian. She studied German and French at University College Dublin and journalism at Dublin City University. She lives in Wicklow with her husband and three daughters. The Undertaking is her first novel.
In her 20s and 30s, she travelled extensively, first as a student, living in Germany and Australia, where she taught English; later as a journalist, covering, among many other issues, the war in Bosnia, child labour in Pakistan and Bangladesh, and the impact of Perestroika on Central Asia. She was Ireland Correspondent of The Times for six years, and wrote extensively about the Troubles in Northern Ireland, the subsequent peace process and the chaos caused by the Omagh bomb.
In her 20s and 30s, she travelled extensively, first as a student, living in Germany and Australia, where she taught English; later as a journalist, covering, among many other issues, the war in Bosnia, child labour in Pakistan and Bangladesh, and the impact of Perestroika on Central Asia. She was Ireland Correspondent of The Times for six years, and wrote extensively about the Troubles in Northern Ireland, the subsequent peace process and the chaos caused by the Omagh bomb.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 606 reviews
June 2, 2023
To state that I "enjoyed" this book would imply a sense of pleasure,but although this was well written, it was a totally disturbing, yet precise account of the war experience. It is viewed from the perspectives of the wife and families at home and the soldiers fighting for life and limb during the height of battles during WW II. Magee has written of the depths and tribulations of the German people. I have known for some time that not all of these people were Nazis, so it was of interest to view how she approached this t
painful topic.
The narrative throughout evoked a sense of cognitive dissonance for me, for I, as a Jewish American, had always regarded this war and those involved in anything relevant to it as an odious chapter in our existence. As I read, I felt that the German army were also victims. The senses that they all shared of invincibility and superiority were put to the test as they plunged onward into Russian territory. It was impossible to read about how ill-prepared they were, especially during the brutal winters, without feeling empathy for them. Magee has vividly expressed the hunger, the cold, the lack of protective shelters, the meager ammunition and the intense desire to return to families. I compare reading some of this to attending a movie, where scenes of brutality, or repulsion, are shown and one temporarily covers the eyes. It was that difficult and realistic to read.
The author has not neglected those at home in her efforts. Most of the populace seemed unaware, or ill-informed of the difficulties their militia were experiencing. The upper class, Gentile people fared rather well. Many even improved their social standing. All of this, of course was due to the fact that many took over the homes, the possessions and the food of the Jewish people who were removed from their society. It was evident that the attitude toward "those people" was that they were undeserving and did not belong. Although this was frequently stated, little was said about what had happened to these ousted Jewish individuals. Magee's characters were able to maintain this semblance of normalcy through much of the war, but clearly suffered with the cold, hunger and lack of refuge as the conflict continued.
There is certainly much more that could be discussed here, but I think that Magee has presented very thorough, thought provoking scrutiny to a painful subject. In fact, I have decided that this merits one of my very rare 5 star ratings.
*******************************************
Of interest for readers of this author, Goodreads has included a compelling video interview with Magee. She has clearly answered many of the questions about her novel.
painful topic.
The narrative throughout evoked a sense of cognitive dissonance for me, for I, as a Jewish American, had always regarded this war and those involved in anything relevant to it as an odious chapter in our existence. As I read, I felt that the German army were also victims. The senses that they all shared of invincibility and superiority were put to the test as they plunged onward into Russian territory. It was impossible to read about how ill-prepared they were, especially during the brutal winters, without feeling empathy for them. Magee has vividly expressed the hunger, the cold, the lack of protective shelters, the meager ammunition and the intense desire to return to families. I compare reading some of this to attending a movie, where scenes of brutality, or repulsion, are shown and one temporarily covers the eyes. It was that difficult and realistic to read.
The author has not neglected those at home in her efforts. Most of the populace seemed unaware, or ill-informed of the difficulties their militia were experiencing. The upper class, Gentile people fared rather well. Many even improved their social standing. All of this, of course was due to the fact that many took over the homes, the possessions and the food of the Jewish people who were removed from their society. It was evident that the attitude toward "those people" was that they were undeserving and did not belong. Although this was frequently stated, little was said about what had happened to these ousted Jewish individuals. Magee's characters were able to maintain this semblance of normalcy through much of the war, but clearly suffered with the cold, hunger and lack of refuge as the conflict continued.
There is certainly much more that could be discussed here, but I think that Magee has presented very thorough, thought provoking scrutiny to a painful subject. In fact, I have decided that this merits one of my very rare 5 star ratings.
*******************************************
Of interest for readers of this author, Goodreads has included a compelling video interview with Magee. She has clearly answered many of the questions about her novel.
July 12, 2014
Men did actually pick and marry woman, just by looking at postcards and choosing. The men received a week long honeymoon furlough, and the woman received the man's pension in the event of his death. I recommend that you listen to the video interview that is included on this novel's homepage, it explains this and much more about the subject of the book.
This novel alternates between Peter, stationed on the Eastern front and Katharina waiting in Berlin. Both staunchly believe that their Germany would win the war, simply because they are German, and convinced they are special. The tone of this novel is somewhat removed, the subject difficult to read, yet it is the authors descriptive prowess that definitively places the reader on the front or back in Berlin.
As they approach Stalingrad the conditions become worse and worse. Peter, a schoolteacher's son and I am sure many other regular men called up to fight for German pride, and none of them are equipped for what they find. The bitter cold, the snow up to their thighs, the frostbite and the lack of food. Eventually Peter will make a decision that will alter many things.
In Berlin, since her father is a staunch believer things actually improve for Katharine and her family but as the Russians and American get closer things change swiftly.
This a very well written novel about ordinary people caught up in extraordinary events. Although at the beginning, both Peter and Katharina and those around them feel pride in their country, slowly we watch as they both, in different places become disillusioned. What people will do and suffer in their attempt to survive. It makes clear that there are no winners in war, regardless of what side one in on. A book about a subject that is at times, hard to read but that is real and deserves to be read.
ARC from publisher.
This novel alternates between Peter, stationed on the Eastern front and Katharina waiting in Berlin. Both staunchly believe that their Germany would win the war, simply because they are German, and convinced they are special. The tone of this novel is somewhat removed, the subject difficult to read, yet it is the authors descriptive prowess that definitively places the reader on the front or back in Berlin.
As they approach Stalingrad the conditions become worse and worse. Peter, a schoolteacher's son and I am sure many other regular men called up to fight for German pride, and none of them are equipped for what they find. The bitter cold, the snow up to their thighs, the frostbite and the lack of food. Eventually Peter will make a decision that will alter many things.
In Berlin, since her father is a staunch believer things actually improve for Katharine and her family but as the Russians and American get closer things change swiftly.
This a very well written novel about ordinary people caught up in extraordinary events. Although at the beginning, both Peter and Katharina and those around them feel pride in their country, slowly we watch as they both, in different places become disillusioned. What people will do and suffer in their attempt to survive. It makes clear that there are no winners in war, regardless of what side one in on. A book about a subject that is at times, hard to read but that is real and deserves to be read.
ARC from publisher.
September 7, 2014
Peter Faber is a German on the Russian Front with winter approaching. He gets legally married to a photo of Katharina (yes, that constituted a legal marriage) so he could get a week of leave and Katharina would get his pension should he die. After meeting and falling in love with the real Katharina, he returns to the front a changed, reenergized man with stronger convictions than ever. The parts of the story where Peter and his comrades are walking, walking, walking to get to Stalingrad are at times hard to take--raping, pillaging, throwing people out of their homes, and not just the Jews, so that the soldiers can partake in some warmth and nourishment. Both are hard to find in Russia in January. And it will only get worse.
Meanwhile in Berlin, Katharina and her parents are able to move from destitution to a luxury apartment with jewels and food in abundance, at least for awhile, due to her father's Nazi connections and of course courtesy of the ousted Jews. But their good fortune ends, and by the final chapters it is a wonder how anyone survived. Of course, many do not. Katharina and Peter have promised to get through it all for each other, and that is their undertaking.
If you like a lot of dialog in your books, and I do if done well, this is full of it. It is a short read, but I wouldn't call it easy, as there is a horrible war coming to an end, and war is never easy. An excellent first reads win.
Meanwhile in Berlin, Katharina and her parents are able to move from destitution to a luxury apartment with jewels and food in abundance, at least for awhile, due to her father's Nazi connections and of course courtesy of the ousted Jews. But their good fortune ends, and by the final chapters it is a wonder how anyone survived. Of course, many do not. Katharina and Peter have promised to get through it all for each other, and that is their undertaking.
If you like a lot of dialog in your books, and I do if done well, this is full of it. It is a short read, but I wouldn't call it easy, as there is a horrible war coming to an end, and war is never easy. An excellent first reads win.
March 9, 2015
This is a difficult read - difficult because although it is fiction it speaks the truth and without exaggeration. The theme here is the Second World War seen from the perspective of Germans, ordinary Germans. There are an abundance of books relating the events from the winner's point of view, less from the German point of view, and a book such as this is needed.
I can recommend both On Hitler's Mountain: Overcoming the Legacy of a Nazi Childhood and A Woman in Berlin: Eight Weeks in the Conquered City: A Diary. These are both non-fiction, and I promise they will draw you in just as much as Audrey Magee's book of fiction does.
I respect an author that draws a fictional story that is accurate, that is realistic, that is credible, and doesn't succumb to the pull of sweetening the ending. I found not one detail off. This book focuses on a German marriage contract practice of which I knew nothing about. German soldiers were given 'honeymoon' leave when they married and the woman a pension if her husband should he die on the front. These marriages were arranged through 'marriage bureaus’ between couples who had never met. You chose your spouse from a photo and an elementary description. You chose from a book. The act was finalized without the couple having ever set eyes on each other. Peter, in this story, got a ten day leave from the Russian front. Katharina got that promise of a pension and a way out from her parents' control. But did she? The book switches between Peter's infantry platoon fighting along the Russian front in Poltava and then in Stalingrad and Katharina's experiences at home in Berlin. The time setting is the summer of 1941 through the early fifties.
The war scenes follow eight people, of whom the reader comes to know well. You come to understand their weaknesses and strengths. This is much better than following a large group of characters. The same is true of Katharina - you follow her, her family and the closest acquaintances. Each one becomes a person that you may not like, but still understand who they are and why.
The audiobook is narrated by Suzanne Toren. She is one of my favorite narrators. She speaks slowly and clearly and with a strong voice, but she does not use a different intonation for different male characters. This is not necessary.
I definitely recommend this book. It is fiction, but it tells a real story!
I can recommend both On Hitler's Mountain: Overcoming the Legacy of a Nazi Childhood and A Woman in Berlin: Eight Weeks in the Conquered City: A Diary. These are both non-fiction, and I promise they will draw you in just as much as Audrey Magee's book of fiction does.
I respect an author that draws a fictional story that is accurate, that is realistic, that is credible, and doesn't succumb to the pull of sweetening the ending. I found not one detail off. This book focuses on a German marriage contract practice of which I knew nothing about. German soldiers were given 'honeymoon' leave when they married and the woman a pension if her husband should he die on the front. These marriages were arranged through 'marriage bureaus’ between couples who had never met. You chose your spouse from a photo and an elementary description. You chose from a book. The act was finalized without the couple having ever set eyes on each other. Peter, in this story, got a ten day leave from the Russian front. Katharina got that promise of a pension and a way out from her parents' control. But did she? The book switches between Peter's infantry platoon fighting along the Russian front in Poltava and then in Stalingrad and Katharina's experiences at home in Berlin. The time setting is the summer of 1941 through the early fifties.
The war scenes follow eight people, of whom the reader comes to know well. You come to understand their weaknesses and strengths. This is much better than following a large group of characters. The same is true of Katharina - you follow her, her family and the closest acquaintances. Each one becomes a person that you may not like, but still understand who they are and why.
The audiobook is narrated by Suzanne Toren. She is one of my favorite narrators. She speaks slowly and clearly and with a strong voice, but she does not use a different intonation for different male characters. This is not necessary.
I definitely recommend this book. It is fiction, but it tells a real story!
October 5, 2014
I can't understand how this book made it onto Amazon's Rising Stars list when it's such a pile of drivel. It's about 90% dialogue, and the sentences are rarely longer than ten words. In another author's hands, the subject (a marriage of convenience during WW2 from a German perspective) could've been interesting, moving, eye-opening -- any number of things. This, though. This was awful. I genuinely have no idea why I read it all the way to the end when I found the two main characters so repulsive and unlikeable.
Here's a scene from the end, after Peter gets back from the war and finds out his wife has been raped and had a child. (His initial unsympathetic reaction is along the lines of "Why were you raped? Obviously you didn't try hard enough to hide and/or fight them off. UGH this is too hard for me to deal with!!!") I haven't taken anything out, by the way; this is exactly as it appears in the book:
"What did you expect of me, Katharina?"
"I don't know."
"Did you expect me to want him?"
"He's a good child, Peter."
"He's a Russian bastard."
She walked to the door.
"Are you here for dinner, Peter?"
"You asked me that already."
"I'm asking again."
"I don't know whether I want dinner."
Doesn't it make you want to bang their heads together? Or, alternatively, bang your own head against a wall. And the writing is like this the entire way through the book. HOW has this got so many rave reviews?!
May 20, 2014
This is a must read novel for 2014. The most engaging and readable book I have read this year. It is a work of historical force with contemporary insights into loyalty, nationhood and corruption. It triumphs the human spirit and demonstrates that choices are sometimes beyond our reach. It is a story of love without sentimentality. Of war without victory and survival where so many ceased to live and life was lost without thought or in the pursuit of political dogma.
The book is the story of two people who are married for gain but find love. Commit to each other with promises to remain true and return/wait for each other after the 2nd world war ends. She in Berlin until the Russians overrun the capital to claim the ultimate victory. He on the Eastern front until surrounded and defeated at Stalingrad.
In between the story flits effortlessly between the two as events place undue pressures on their commitment. It is heavy on dialogue and light on description but even so in the wonderfully drawn characters you inhabit these places and this time. Peter is a good soldier, Katharina a dutiful wife and daughter but events take these human players out of normal behaviour and the author challenges her readers at every turn. There is little time for empathy or space to pass judgement but one hopes love will endure.
This is an outstanding first novel, well researched and revealing in terms of the insights and reflections on the blackness of the human soul. These are the lives of ordinary people with hopes and dreams like you and I. This is an extraordinary book that gives a voice to a historical conflict and leaves you breathless but thankful you perhaps have more choice and control over your own life and the lives of those you care about.
Please read this book.
The book is the story of two people who are married for gain but find love. Commit to each other with promises to remain true and return/wait for each other after the 2nd world war ends. She in Berlin until the Russians overrun the capital to claim the ultimate victory. He on the Eastern front until surrounded and defeated at Stalingrad.
In between the story flits effortlessly between the two as events place undue pressures on their commitment. It is heavy on dialogue and light on description but even so in the wonderfully drawn characters you inhabit these places and this time. Peter is a good soldier, Katharina a dutiful wife and daughter but events take these human players out of normal behaviour and the author challenges her readers at every turn. There is little time for empathy or space to pass judgement but one hopes love will endure.
This is an outstanding first novel, well researched and revealing in terms of the insights and reflections on the blackness of the human soul. These are the lives of ordinary people with hopes and dreams like you and I. This is an extraordinary book that gives a voice to a historical conflict and leaves you breathless but thankful you perhaps have more choice and control over your own life and the lives of those you care about.
Please read this book.
Read
January 3, 2023I knew after I read The Colony that I would read everything Audrey Magee has written. This, The Undertaking, is her debut novel. It's a page-turner, yet a hard read. There are no good guys, no good women, though some are worse than others. It's Germany - and Germans - in World War II. There are true believers, yes, but everyone is onboard; there's just a matter of degree. Dispatching Jews and taking their possessions, their homes, is a given way of life. But mostly, at the individual level, everyone is acting in their own self-interest.
That's how Peter Faber, a soldier at the Eastern Front, and Katherina, a young woman in Berlin, get together. They've never met but agree to marry: he, so he can get a week's leave from the horror; she, so she gets his pension if he's killed. You can't get more self-interest than that.
Still, you think there might be a love story there, somewhere at the core of this novel. But Audrey Magee doesn't work that way.
There is no redemption here. That would only have cheapened what we need to know.
That's how Peter Faber, a soldier at the Eastern Front, and Katherina, a young woman in Berlin, get together. They've never met but agree to marry: he, so he can get a week's leave from the horror; she, so she gets his pension if he's killed. You can't get more self-interest than that.
Still, you think there might be a love story there, somewhere at the core of this novel. But Audrey Magee doesn't work that way.
There is no redemption here. That would only have cheapened what we need to know.
March 3, 2014
What a compelling, wonderful novel, very very bleak, put I couldn't put it down, read in a day, best novel I've read for a while
May 30, 2018
Kinda bewildered by all the gushing reviews for this. It's like 80% dialog, which would be impressive except...
If the only way you are going to reveal your characters is through their speech, then their speech better be revealing. In this book, every character speaks in short, choppy, declarative sentences with identical structure, tone, and vocabulary. The only way to tell who is speaking is based on the character names awkwardly and repeatedly appended to the end of these sentences, so frequently as to be jarring and unnatural. It makes every character, no matter what words they are saying, sound like they are having really passive-aggressive arguments with each other.
The lives of ordinary German people during World War II are a fertile subject for an English speaking audience. In particular this book deals with the home front and the Battle of Stalingrad, the single bloodiest battle in the history of warfare, two potentially very rich topics. Thing is, all the book has to say is "war isn't fun," which... yeah, true. So, is anything added to our understanding of humanity that justifies this wad of paper?
On the home front side, we follow a presumably Nazi family through their lives as hangers-on to an apparently more important Nazi. They are given a new apartment (from which the previous, Jewish occupants had been "evicted") and eat a lot of cake. I can't tell you what they think of any of this, except that they like the cake, because these characters have no interior lives at all. They love the wife of the more important Nazi and are honored to visit her; they don't want to see her because she's creepy; why isn't she inviting them to her parties anymore because it's boring hanging out here with a Russian slave. Speaking of the Russian slave, none of the characters question her. She shows up, Katharina's like, "oh good, Mom's been a drag lately" - is Magee saying that your average German was so into Hitler's message that he or she unblinkingly accepted whatever happened to occur in their lives? That the Nazis, even those without any real conviction, were just as mechanically evil as they are portrayed by Hollywood? I'm genuinely asking, because there's no way to tell from the book. Even if the characters aren't self-reflective, the book should have something to say about them. Instead, stuff just happens.
And speaking of stuff:
I can't tell what the author expects me to think of any of this. The reader is given no reason to care what happens to the relationship between Katharina and Peter because their connection is superficial and undeveloped. If there was more evidence of the characters' thoughts and feelings, maybe it would be a nuanced portrayal; after all, real people are not always consistent. The reader has to play a guessing game of figuring out how to link Katharina's speech back to a complete internal psyche. There are some theories that can work, but not really enough support in the text for any of them.
So, no deeper understanding of the German home front - how's the active warfare side of things? First the soldiers march, with no real organization or leadership. I get the idea that the German army was near to starvation from the very beginning of Operation Barbarossa, which I don't think was the case. Magee rushes to show how much army life sucks, but it's not organically developed at all - there's no reason for it without the foreknowledge that "war is bad" but if we already have accepted that then... there's no point in reading this. Based on her depiction of the Battle of Stalingrad, being in the Axis army during battle was like going to a really terrible sleep-away camp. The soldiers sleep whenever they want, eat whenever they want, fight wherever they like. I can't tell you who was the commander of our point-of-view character (such as he is - he's indistinguishable from the other soldiers except that sometimes he hates communists and sometimes he doesn't understand why the Reich hates communists, whereas the other soldiers just talk about their mothers) because once in Stalingrad no one gives anyone an order, ever. Based on this book, Germans in Stalingrad napped with their friends and did some shooting at whatever things they wanted to. It's one of the worst depictions of a battle I've ever read, a failure on both the micro and macro levels: it doesn't offer any understanding of what it was like being an individual soldier fighting in the battle, nor was it at all clear what the tactical aims or methods of the battle were.
The story doesn't end either, just stops. I was wondering how the author would handle but she doesn't handle it; she just skips it.
It's a really intriguing premise with no execution.
As a final point, the only German word in this book is "Fuhrer." Political parties are not named and English army ranks are used. Can't tell if this was intentional (I don't know what purpose it would serve) but combined with the fuzzy depictions of the German army, combat, and life in the capital city of a country engaged in total war, it makes the book seem severely under-researched.
ETA: Having learned more about it, I am even more frustrated:
If the only way you are going to reveal your characters is through their speech, then their speech better be revealing. In this book, every character speaks in short, choppy, declarative sentences with identical structure, tone, and vocabulary. The only way to tell who is speaking is based on the character names awkwardly and repeatedly appended to the end of these sentences, so frequently as to be jarring and unnatural. It makes every character, no matter what words they are saying, sound like they are having really passive-aggressive arguments with each other.
The lives of ordinary German people during World War II are a fertile subject for an English speaking audience. In particular this book deals with the home front and the Battle of Stalingrad, the single bloodiest battle in the history of warfare, two potentially very rich topics. Thing is, all the book has to say is "war isn't fun," which... yeah, true. So, is anything added to our understanding of humanity that justifies this wad of paper?
On the home front side, we follow a presumably Nazi family through their lives as hangers-on to an apparently more important Nazi. They are given a new apartment (from which the previous, Jewish occupants had been "evicted") and eat a lot of cake. I can't tell you what they think of any of this, except that they like the cake, because these characters have no interior lives at all. They love the wife of the more important Nazi and are honored to visit her; they don't want to see her because she's creepy; why isn't she inviting them to her parties anymore because it's boring hanging out here with a Russian slave. Speaking of the Russian slave, none of the characters question her. She shows up, Katharina's like, "oh good, Mom's been a drag lately" - is Magee saying that your average German was so into Hitler's message that he or she unblinkingly accepted whatever happened to occur in their lives? That the Nazis, even those without any real conviction, were just as mechanically evil as they are portrayed by Hollywood? I'm genuinely asking, because there's no way to tell from the book. Even if the characters aren't self-reflective, the book should have something to say about them. Instead, stuff just happens.
And speaking of stuff:
I can't tell what the author expects me to think of any of this. The reader is given no reason to care what happens to the relationship between Katharina and Peter because their connection is superficial and undeveloped. If there was more evidence of the characters' thoughts and feelings, maybe it would be a nuanced portrayal; after all, real people are not always consistent. The reader has to play a guessing game of figuring out how to link Katharina's speech back to a complete internal psyche. There are some theories that can work, but not really enough support in the text for any of them.
So, no deeper understanding of the German home front - how's the active warfare side of things? First the soldiers march, with no real organization or leadership. I get the idea that the German army was near to starvation from the very beginning of Operation Barbarossa, which I don't think was the case. Magee rushes to show how much army life sucks, but it's not organically developed at all - there's no reason for it without the foreknowledge that "war is bad" but if we already have accepted that then... there's no point in reading this. Based on her depiction of the Battle of Stalingrad, being in the Axis army during battle was like going to a really terrible sleep-away camp. The soldiers sleep whenever they want, eat whenever they want, fight wherever they like. I can't tell you who was the commander of our point-of-view character (such as he is - he's indistinguishable from the other soldiers except that sometimes he hates communists and sometimes he doesn't understand why the Reich hates communists, whereas the other soldiers just talk about their mothers) because once in Stalingrad no one gives anyone an order, ever. Based on this book, Germans in Stalingrad napped with their friends and did some shooting at whatever things they wanted to. It's one of the worst depictions of a battle I've ever read, a failure on both the micro and macro levels: it doesn't offer any understanding of what it was like being an individual soldier fighting in the battle, nor was it at all clear what the tactical aims or methods of the battle were.
The story doesn't end either, just stops. I was wondering how the author would handle but she doesn't handle it; she just skips it.
It's a really intriguing premise with no execution.
As a final point, the only German word in this book is "Fuhrer." Political parties are not named and English army ranks are used. Can't tell if this was intentional (I don't know what purpose it would serve) but combined with the fuzzy depictions of the German army, combat, and life in the capital city of a country engaged in total war, it makes the book seem severely under-researched.
ETA: Having learned more about it, I am even more frustrated:
December 28, 2014
Not another World War II novel! Audrey Magee decided to take a different approach, to show the horror in the mundane within a part of the war we don't often talk about - the eastern front. (I get that phrase, horror in the mundane, from an author interview I watched in YouTube.)
The novel starts with a woman in Berlin marrying a soldier on the front, where they each marry each other's photo in a symbolic gesture so the man can take honeymoon leave. He's exhausted and lice-ridden when he meets his wife and her family for the first time. When he goes back, the story splits and remains split into his story on the front and her story in Berlin. It starts around 1941 and goes all the way up to the Soviets invading the city.
It is easy to understand the horrors in war for the soldiers - hunger, frostbite, lice, not to mention killing and maiming, the usual. And the holocaust is in the background of this novel, but isn't central to the story as many WWII novels have done.
What is worse is the world of Berlin. The nonchalance at which Katharina's family brings home art and jewelry and furs, upgrades into a home formerly owned by Jewish people, and indulges in desserts baked by the Führer's personal pastry chef, is horrifying when you consider the surrounding events. Sure, there are bombs, but life isn't so bad for the families of the men who have helped remove the Jews from the city. For the majority of the novel, they are living as the winners, the clear champions, the superior race. How much this bothered me didn't sink in as I was reading it. It almost felt like nothing was happening. Magee chooses not to be explicit about everything, she wants the reader to think and realize it. I think the power of the novel is not obvious at first.
This is the author's first novel, and her background is journalism, where she covered the conflicts in Bosnia and Ireland. Her interview made it clear that she sees these types of mundane horror as part of a larger problem with humanity, not something that only the Germans had during the Nazi era.
Another novel I've read recently that looked at the war through the eyes of the people living in Berlin was City of Women.
Discussed on Episode 6 of the Reading Envy podcast!
The novel starts with a woman in Berlin marrying a soldier on the front, where they each marry each other's photo in a symbolic gesture so the man can take honeymoon leave. He's exhausted and lice-ridden when he meets his wife and her family for the first time. When he goes back, the story splits and remains split into his story on the front and her story in Berlin. It starts around 1941 and goes all the way up to the Soviets invading the city.
It is easy to understand the horrors in war for the soldiers - hunger, frostbite, lice, not to mention killing and maiming, the usual. And the holocaust is in the background of this novel, but isn't central to the story as many WWII novels have done.
What is worse is the world of Berlin. The nonchalance at which Katharina's family brings home art and jewelry and furs, upgrades into a home formerly owned by Jewish people, and indulges in desserts baked by the Führer's personal pastry chef, is horrifying when you consider the surrounding events. Sure, there are bombs, but life isn't so bad for the families of the men who have helped remove the Jews from the city. For the majority of the novel, they are living as the winners, the clear champions, the superior race. How much this bothered me didn't sink in as I was reading it. It almost felt like nothing was happening. Magee chooses not to be explicit about everything, she wants the reader to think and realize it. I think the power of the novel is not obvious at first.
This is the author's first novel, and her background is journalism, where she covered the conflicts in Bosnia and Ireland. Her interview made it clear that she sees these types of mundane horror as part of a larger problem with humanity, not something that only the Germans had during the Nazi era.
Another novel I've read recently that looked at the war through the eyes of the people living in Berlin was City of Women.
Discussed on Episode 6 of the Reading Envy podcast!
March 31, 2014
With the photograph of a woman he had never met crudely attached to a nearby post, German soldier Peter Faber was married by the unit chaplain, while simultaneously in Berlin, Katharina Spinell was married as well – both to each other. Peter had chosen to be married to Katharina to receive honeymoon leave as he was desperate to get away from the fighting, while she knew she would receive his pension should he die in the war. A marriage of convenience, but one which would lead to a vast and extreme change in circumstances for both Peter and Katharina, and also her father and mother who were staunch German supporters.
Surprisingly, the young couple fell in love in the short time Peter was on leave, and Katharina promised to wait for him to return. They knew it would only be a few short months, as Germany was a force to be reckoned with – no one would win this war except Germany. But that was not to be; the horrors of war were kept at bay for Peter by thoughts of Katharina and his return to her one day. Then as they pushed on to Stalingrad in the depths of winter, Peter received word that he was to become a father – his delight was intense, his joy once again kept him focussed – but for Peter and his comrades, war became hell on earth…
In Berlin Katharina and her increasingly delusional parents suffered their own horrors with her brother, their son Johannes and his return from the front. As the days turned to years and still the war hadn’t been won, Katharina wondered if everything would ever return to normal – but what was “normal”… did anyone even know anymore?
Debut author Audrey Magee has done a skilful job of blending the dark history of a horrific war with the human side of those left at home. I felt completely involved with the main characters and felt empathy for some, while for others I felt disgust at their attitude – for example, the treatment of Jews which they felt was their right. The story is tense, gripping and engaging and kept me completely engrossed until the very last page. I have no hesitation in highly recommending this novel to all lovers of historical fiction.
With thanks to The Reading Room and the publisher for my copy to read and review. 4.5★s
Surprisingly, the young couple fell in love in the short time Peter was on leave, and Katharina promised to wait for him to return. They knew it would only be a few short months, as Germany was a force to be reckoned with – no one would win this war except Germany. But that was not to be; the horrors of war were kept at bay for Peter by thoughts of Katharina and his return to her one day. Then as they pushed on to Stalingrad in the depths of winter, Peter received word that he was to become a father – his delight was intense, his joy once again kept him focussed – but for Peter and his comrades, war became hell on earth…
In Berlin Katharina and her increasingly delusional parents suffered their own horrors with her brother, their son Johannes and his return from the front. As the days turned to years and still the war hadn’t been won, Katharina wondered if everything would ever return to normal – but what was “normal”… did anyone even know anymore?
Debut author Audrey Magee has done a skilful job of blending the dark history of a horrific war with the human side of those left at home. I felt completely involved with the main characters and felt empathy for some, while for others I felt disgust at their attitude – for example, the treatment of Jews which they felt was their right. The story is tense, gripping and engaging and kept me completely engrossed until the very last page. I have no hesitation in highly recommending this novel to all lovers of historical fiction.
With thanks to The Reading Room and the publisher for my copy to read and review. 4.5★s
June 12, 2022
Set during WWII in Berlin and on the Russian Front, this devastating story is told completely without melodrama or theatrics. It begins with the marriage of a young German soldier to a woman he has never met. He simply wants a honeymoon leave as a respite from the war. She wants a path to escape from her life with her parents, if her husband survives the war. If he doesn't survive, she expects to receive a widow's pension. Improbably, they find that they actually like each other and they bond over their loyalty to Germany and support of the war. It is the ordinariness of these people and the other characters in the book that makes the story so chilling. These people are not crazy or evil. They are doctors, teachers and shop keepers and capable of acts so cold and horrific that they are difficult to fathom.
It's shocking how casually the German civilians and soldiers accept discrimination, cruelty and violence. Their firm belief in their leaders, and in their own superiority, selfishness, twisted values and entitlement, rationalizes all of their hideous acts. Only when the war dragged on and began to go badly for the Germans did they begin to doubt the omnipotence of their leaders. However, even then there was no repentance or acknowledgement of their own role in their downfall.
There were many times in this book when I felt empathy for the soldiers and civilians and their hardship, but at the next moment they would do or say something so unfeeling and hateful that I thought they deserved all of their suffering and more.
I had a slight problem with the dialogue in the book. People don't generally refer to others by name when they address them and this habit of the author made much of the dialogue feel unnatural. However, overall this was a very well written and thought provoking book and I liked it very much.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.
It's shocking how casually the German civilians and soldiers accept discrimination, cruelty and violence. Their firm belief in their leaders, and in their own superiority, selfishness, twisted values and entitlement, rationalizes all of their hideous acts. Only when the war dragged on and began to go badly for the Germans did they begin to doubt the omnipotence of their leaders. However, even then there was no repentance or acknowledgement of their own role in their downfall.
There were many times in this book when I felt empathy for the soldiers and civilians and their hardship, but at the next moment they would do or say something so unfeeling and hateful that I thought they deserved all of their suffering and more.
I had a slight problem with the dialogue in the book. People don't generally refer to others by name when they address them and this habit of the author made much of the dialogue feel unnatural. However, overall this was a very well written and thought provoking book and I liked it very much.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.
March 12, 2019
Nazi Germany is the setting for this timely reminder of the inhumanity of warfare, both on the home front and at the eastern front in Russia. Moral degradation permeates all strata of society from the top down, as nationalism at its worst takes hold. The horror is amplified by the neutral tone of the writing, which spares us no atrocity, in its chilling detachment.
Reviewed for Whichbook.net
Reviewed for Whichbook.net
March 10, 2019
Nominated for the Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction in 2014.
Berlin's Festival of Lights, 70 years after this novel's events.
I now officially need something cheerful to read next. I'm sure there's a fascinating story to explain why Audrey Magee, an Irish author, chose to write about the miseries of ordinary German citizens during WWII. Her heroine, Katharina, has experiences on the homefront that mirror many a London blitz story except for the . Magee writes beautifully, and she's especially interested in showing how her characters choose to face their dwindling options.
Berlin's Festival of Lights, 70 years after this novel's events.
I now officially need something cheerful to read next. I'm sure there's a fascinating story to explain why Audrey Magee, an Irish author, chose to write about the miseries of ordinary German citizens during WWII. Her heroine, Katharina, has experiences on the homefront that mirror many a London blitz story except for the . Magee writes beautifully, and she's especially interested in showing how her characters choose to face their dwindling options.
May 4, 2014
The Undertaking is an impressive novel, and quite gripping. I found it very hard to stop reading at points. It tells the story of a young German couple who meet and marry during the 2nd WW (or rather marry and then meet—this is an arranged marriage scenario, whereby she gets status as wife of a “hero”, and he gets leave from the Russian front). The novel traces their separate histories through the later stages of the war and its aftermath, with a brief postscript set some time in the early 1950s.
What makes this novel interesting—the use of Germans of Nazi sympathies, active or passive, as the main focalizing figures—is also what makes it disturbing. It’s a very difficult trick to pull off. We tend instinctively as a default to empathize with the figures in novels in whose subjectivity we are given most of a stake. This leaves us in a distinctly uncomfortable place when these figures turn out to be as morally compromised as they as here.
Audrey Magee exploits this tension cleverly. The husband-wife protagonists suffer so horribly that we find it hard not to sympathize with them, yet we learn enough of their complicity in the still more horrendous suffering of others to make this sympathy feel tainted. The extreme sparseness of Magee’s style comes into play here. We see the husband of the couple actively engaging in atrocities against Jews in Berlin and civilians in Russia, and the wife blithely profiting from some of the same atrocities. Yet all this is passed over very swiftly and leaves no resonance in the novel, at least on an obvious narrative level—no remorse, no retrospection. Most of these incidents are liquidated in the space of a sentence. It’s an effective device, de-emphasizing, almost “disappearing” elements in the novel that will be key to most readers’ response.
Far the strongest segments of The Undertaking are those that follow the husband, Peter Faber, on the German campaigns in Russia in 1941-42, culminating in the horrendous debacle of Stalingrad. It isn’t apparent initially how strong this narrative thread will prove. The emphasis in the war story is on Faber’s immediate context, the squad of men with whom he fights. These are deliberately, I think, underrealized—none are in any way “characters”, and there is nothing by way of physical description to help you distinguish them. The bleak steppe landscapes through which they trudge are also utterly colorless, at least in this portrayal.
Because of this minimalist staging and the relatively uneventful initial stages of the campaign, you barely notice the buildup, but Magee is in fact preparing for the sustained segment set in Stalingrad, which is the dark heart of the book, and genuinely harrowing. I read this segment in one session, and I don’t think I’ll ever be able to face going back to read it again, but it’s an extraordinary passage, dreamlike, or nightmare-like, in its rhythms, hellish in its details.
Compared with this, the sections back with the wife, Katharina, in Berlin, were almost certain to be an anti-climax, and they are. Some things are well handled here—Katharina’s relationship with her dislikable parents, the moving episode of her traumatized brother’s brief return from Russia. And the Berlin thread certainly has an important role in the novel’s political message, underlining the distance between the comfortable strategic center of the Nazi project and the unalleviated brutality of the front.
There are things that are slightly crude in the Berlin segments, however. The sinister Dr Weinart seems a little overdone. I found myself wondering whether his role as “bad Nazi” in the novel is intended to make the lower level complicity of Katharina and her ilk more acceptable. And the motif of food that runs through the novel, eminently justifiable in the Russian segments, becomes a little heavy-handed at moments here. Did Dr Weinart’s seductive chocolate cakes really need to be made by “one of the Führer’s bakers” to make their point?
The weakness of the Berlin segments is exacerbated towards the end of the novel. The whole last segment felt a bit rushed, and, having been quite emotionally involved in the novel half way through, I finished the book rather shrugging my shoulders. The aftermath of the war in Berlin is brilliantly dealt with in A Woman in Berlin.. Perhaps Magee didn’t want to compete on this territory, or perhaps she had simply run out of steam.
Despite these criticisms, I would certainly recommend The Undertaking. It’s the strongest first novel I have read since I started recording my reading on this site, and makes an interesting contrast with first novels written by writers coming out of creative writing programs (The Kept, Burial Rites). Magee’s background is as a journalist, and I found myself wondering whether the strengths of the novel derived from that experience. She certainly knows how to tell a story, and I found her tough, sinewy, spare style appealing as a contrast with the more conventionally “writerly” Burial Rites.
What makes this novel interesting—the use of Germans of Nazi sympathies, active or passive, as the main focalizing figures—is also what makes it disturbing. It’s a very difficult trick to pull off. We tend instinctively as a default to empathize with the figures in novels in whose subjectivity we are given most of a stake. This leaves us in a distinctly uncomfortable place when these figures turn out to be as morally compromised as they as here.
Audrey Magee exploits this tension cleverly. The husband-wife protagonists suffer so horribly that we find it hard not to sympathize with them, yet we learn enough of their complicity in the still more horrendous suffering of others to make this sympathy feel tainted. The extreme sparseness of Magee’s style comes into play here. We see the husband of the couple actively engaging in atrocities against Jews in Berlin and civilians in Russia, and the wife blithely profiting from some of the same atrocities. Yet all this is passed over very swiftly and leaves no resonance in the novel, at least on an obvious narrative level—no remorse, no retrospection. Most of these incidents are liquidated in the space of a sentence. It’s an effective device, de-emphasizing, almost “disappearing” elements in the novel that will be key to most readers’ response.
Far the strongest segments of The Undertaking are those that follow the husband, Peter Faber, on the German campaigns in Russia in 1941-42, culminating in the horrendous debacle of Stalingrad. It isn’t apparent initially how strong this narrative thread will prove. The emphasis in the war story is on Faber’s immediate context, the squad of men with whom he fights. These are deliberately, I think, underrealized—none are in any way “characters”, and there is nothing by way of physical description to help you distinguish them. The bleak steppe landscapes through which they trudge are also utterly colorless, at least in this portrayal.
Because of this minimalist staging and the relatively uneventful initial stages of the campaign, you barely notice the buildup, but Magee is in fact preparing for the sustained segment set in Stalingrad, which is the dark heart of the book, and genuinely harrowing. I read this segment in one session, and I don’t think I’ll ever be able to face going back to read it again, but it’s an extraordinary passage, dreamlike, or nightmare-like, in its rhythms, hellish in its details.
Compared with this, the sections back with the wife, Katharina, in Berlin, were almost certain to be an anti-climax, and they are. Some things are well handled here—Katharina’s relationship with her dislikable parents, the moving episode of her traumatized brother’s brief return from Russia. And the Berlin thread certainly has an important role in the novel’s political message, underlining the distance between the comfortable strategic center of the Nazi project and the unalleviated brutality of the front.
There are things that are slightly crude in the Berlin segments, however. The sinister Dr Weinart seems a little overdone. I found myself wondering whether his role as “bad Nazi” in the novel is intended to make the lower level complicity of Katharina and her ilk more acceptable. And the motif of food that runs through the novel, eminently justifiable in the Russian segments, becomes a little heavy-handed at moments here. Did Dr Weinart’s seductive chocolate cakes really need to be made by “one of the Führer’s bakers” to make their point?
The weakness of the Berlin segments is exacerbated towards the end of the novel. The whole last segment felt a bit rushed, and, having been quite emotionally involved in the novel half way through, I finished the book rather shrugging my shoulders. The aftermath of the war in Berlin is brilliantly dealt with in A Woman in Berlin.. Perhaps Magee didn’t want to compete on this territory, or perhaps she had simply run out of steam.
Despite these criticisms, I would certainly recommend The Undertaking. It’s the strongest first novel I have read since I started recording my reading on this site, and makes an interesting contrast with first novels written by writers coming out of creative writing programs (The Kept, Burial Rites). Magee’s background is as a journalist, and I found myself wondering whether the strengths of the novel derived from that experience. She certainly knows how to tell a story, and I found her tough, sinewy, spare style appealing as a contrast with the more conventionally “writerly” Burial Rites.
March 8, 2024
Peter birkaç günlüğüne de olsa savaştan uzaklaşmak, Katharina da savaşta bir güvencesi olsun ister. Evlilik bürosunda birbirlerinin fotoğraflarını görürler, uzaktan yetkilendirme ile evlenirler.
İki haftalığına cepheden uzaklaşır Peter, eşini görür ilk kez, Katharina da Peter’in savaşta ölmesi durumunda onun maaşını almayı garantiler.
Yeni düzen beklenmektedir: Mutlak galibiyet, Almanya’nın şanlı zaferi!
.
Koloni’de İrlanda’daki bir adaya götürmüştü Audrey Magee beni, şimdi İkinci Dünya Savaşı’nın ortalarındaki Berlin-Stalingrad hattına savurdu. Kitabın başından empati duygumu son kırıntısına kadar kullanılacağımı biliyordum. Çünkü anlatılan tüm karakterler griydi. Bir karaktere hak verdikten iki-üç sayfa sonra bıçaklanıp, ‘ama bunu yapmamalıydın’ diyordum.
Her iki cepheyi de dinlemiş, insanın içindeki o ‘her koşula rağmen yaşama inadına’ tanık olmuş, buz gibi bir inadı kırmanın imkansızlığını anlamış gibi hissediyorum Yüzleşme’den sonra. Audrey Magee bir umudun bürünebileceği her rengi sığdırıyor Yüzleşme’ye.
Evet ortada bir söz var, o sözün ne pahasına olursa olsun tutulacağını hissediyorsunuz, diğer yandan olasılıklar da gün gibi ortada. Bir savaşın tam ortasındaysanız kazanabilirsiniz de kaybedebilirsiniz de..
.
Gasp, tecavüz, insan onurunu hiçe sayma gibi savaş suçlarına ustalıkla değinmesiyle, savaş psikolojisinin cephe önüne ve arkasına etkilerini göstermesiyle, en çok zaaflarımızdan kırıldığımızı hatırlatması ve bir sözün ağırlığında ezilmenin neye benzediğini düşündürmesiyle etkisinden uzun süre çıkamayacağım bir kitaptı Yüzleşme.
Yine, yeniden okurum hatta..
.
Niran Elçi’nin su gibi çevirisi, Barış Şehri kapak tasarımıyla ~
İki haftalığına cepheden uzaklaşır Peter, eşini görür ilk kez, Katharina da Peter’in savaşta ölmesi durumunda onun maaşını almayı garantiler.
Yeni düzen beklenmektedir: Mutlak galibiyet, Almanya’nın şanlı zaferi!
.
Koloni’de İrlanda’daki bir adaya götürmüştü Audrey Magee beni, şimdi İkinci Dünya Savaşı’nın ortalarındaki Berlin-Stalingrad hattına savurdu. Kitabın başından empati duygumu son kırıntısına kadar kullanılacağımı biliyordum. Çünkü anlatılan tüm karakterler griydi. Bir karaktere hak verdikten iki-üç sayfa sonra bıçaklanıp, ‘ama bunu yapmamalıydın’ diyordum.
Her iki cepheyi de dinlemiş, insanın içindeki o ‘her koşula rağmen yaşama inadına’ tanık olmuş, buz gibi bir inadı kırmanın imkansızlığını anlamış gibi hissediyorum Yüzleşme’den sonra. Audrey Magee bir umudun bürünebileceği her rengi sığdırıyor Yüzleşme’ye.
Evet ortada bir söz var, o sözün ne pahasına olursa olsun tutulacağını hissediyorsunuz, diğer yandan olasılıklar da gün gibi ortada. Bir savaşın tam ortasındaysanız kazanabilirsiniz de kaybedebilirsiniz de..
.
Gasp, tecavüz, insan onurunu hiçe sayma gibi savaş suçlarına ustalıkla değinmesiyle, savaş psikolojisinin cephe önüne ve arkasına etkilerini göstermesiyle, en çok zaaflarımızdan kırıldığımızı hatırlatması ve bir sözün ağırlığında ezilmenin neye benzediğini düşündürmesiyle etkisinden uzun süre çıkamayacağım bir kitaptı Yüzleşme.
Yine, yeniden okurum hatta..
.
Niran Elçi’nin su gibi çevirisi, Barış Şehri kapak tasarımıyla ~
October 4, 2017
I had been looking forward to reading this one for a while now, and now I have I sort of feel "Meh"about this book.
The book is set in World war two in Berlin, and katherina and Peter make a marriage of pure convenience in order for him to get some leave from the front and so Katherina can receive a war pension as his Wife. This is in no sense a love story. The majority of the book is based on Peter's harsh and grim time he had to ensure working on the front. It was fairly interesting to see things from a German perspective, but that said, many of the descriptions felt fairly simplistic and didn't really have any effect on me.
There was no real character development, and this made it immensely difficult for me to relate to or like any of the characters. The plot moved terribly quickly and I found I couldn't really catch my breath. It was too abrupt for me overall.
As I finished the book, I didn't really feel anything afterwards, which is never a good thing when it comes to me and my books. It was mediocre, but definitely not amazing.
The book is set in World war two in Berlin, and katherina and Peter make a marriage of pure convenience in order for him to get some leave from the front and so Katherina can receive a war pension as his Wife. This is in no sense a love story. The majority of the book is based on Peter's harsh and grim time he had to ensure working on the front. It was fairly interesting to see things from a German perspective, but that said, many of the descriptions felt fairly simplistic and didn't really have any effect on me.
There was no real character development, and this made it immensely difficult for me to relate to or like any of the characters. The plot moved terribly quickly and I found I couldn't really catch my breath. It was too abrupt for me overall.
As I finished the book, I didn't really feel anything afterwards, which is never a good thing when it comes to me and my books. It was mediocre, but definitely not amazing.
July 7, 2014
This book was totally depressing, and really didn't do it for me. From the blurb, I thought it would have a bit more to do with the main characters (Peter and Katharina) relationship. But mostly, it was about the war. War life sucks, just all around. It sucks on the front, and it sucks back at home. This book was even more depressing than I was prepared for. Katharina's home life is oppressive, and she seems to be a bit of a stick-in-the-mud anyway. Peter has a bit more spunk to him, but the eastern front is not a good place to be.
My main peeve with this book was the dialog. Nobody had anything to say to each other more than a few words at a time. I think the average sentence length was 4 words or something (see picture for example: http://liza.booklikes.com/post/922943... ). Who talks like this? Plus, there was hardly ever any indication of who was saying what. It's OK if there are just a few lines of exchange, but after a full page of short, 4 word answers back and forth, it was confusing who was saying what. And really, after a while, I didn't really care who was saying it anyway.
The end of the book was no help. Depressing as hell, with an 8 year jump span in time. There wasn't much of a resolution to anything, just sort of fading to black. I know not everyone gets a happy, Hollywood ending, and sometimes life doesn't tie up all the loose ends the way you want, but some sort of resolution would be nice. If you're looking for a war time love story, or a war time story full stop, there are others I'd recommend first.
I received a copy of this book through Goodreads First Reads in exchange for an honest review.
My main peeve with this book was the dialog. Nobody had anything to say to each other more than a few words at a time. I think the average sentence length was 4 words or something (see picture for example: http://liza.booklikes.com/post/922943... ). Who talks like this? Plus, there was hardly ever any indication of who was saying what. It's OK if there are just a few lines of exchange, but after a full page of short, 4 word answers back and forth, it was confusing who was saying what. And really, after a while, I didn't really care who was saying it anyway.
The end of the book was no help. Depressing as hell, with an 8 year jump span in time. There wasn't much of a resolution to anything, just sort of fading to black. I know not everyone gets a happy, Hollywood ending, and sometimes life doesn't tie up all the loose ends the way you want, but some sort of resolution would be nice. If you're looking for a war time love story, or a war time story full stop, there are others I'd recommend first.
I received a copy of this book through Goodreads First Reads in exchange for an honest review.
May 4, 2014
This book is not being published in the US until September. I got with some friends who were in the UK and asked them to purchase and bring the book back to the US.
All the effort was worth it. A great book.
It is an anti-war story of Katharina and Peter, two Germans living through WW II, Katharina in Berlin surrounded by ardent Nazis who see she gets what she wants if she follows the Party line, and Peter is a soldier on the Russian front, where the weather is hot or freezing, superiors do not care, and civilised warfare has been replaced by a savagery that some welcome, some enjoy and others detest. The book begins in the fall of 1941 when the Third Reich is at its peak, and follows the two through the end of the war and beyond. Life in Germany and at the front is nothing but an effort to survive, occasionally if even for a few minutes longer. The contrasts in their struggles, from the horrors of Stalingrad for Peter to the long lines for goods and advances of Berlin-assigned officers for Katharina at home, actually serve more to link their suffering, the separate experiences combining to symbolise the suffering of everyone during the time of war. These are at times heart-wrenching, and at others gut wrenching. Even though written in a minimalist style, the descriptions by Magee of events and the horrors of war are sufficient to carry her message.
At first, I was displeased with the ending, but after reflection all I could think was "How could it have been otherwise?"
Thanks again to the people who worked to get this book to me from Scotland.
All the effort was worth it. A great book.
It is an anti-war story of Katharina and Peter, two Germans living through WW II, Katharina in Berlin surrounded by ardent Nazis who see she gets what she wants if she follows the Party line, and Peter is a soldier on the Russian front, where the weather is hot or freezing, superiors do not care, and civilised warfare has been replaced by a savagery that some welcome, some enjoy and others detest. The book begins in the fall of 1941 when the Third Reich is at its peak, and follows the two through the end of the war and beyond. Life in Germany and at the front is nothing but an effort to survive, occasionally if even for a few minutes longer. The contrasts in their struggles, from the horrors of Stalingrad for Peter to the long lines for goods and advances of Berlin-assigned officers for Katharina at home, actually serve more to link their suffering, the separate experiences combining to symbolise the suffering of everyone during the time of war. These are at times heart-wrenching, and at others gut wrenching. Even though written in a minimalist style, the descriptions by Magee of events and the horrors of war are sufficient to carry her message.
At first, I was displeased with the ending, but after reflection all I could think was "How could it have been otherwise?"
Thanks again to the people who worked to get this book to me from Scotland.
April 27, 2014
wow... so I'm not sure how comfortable I am saying that I liked this book.... Liked really isn't a word I would use to describe my feelings while reading it, or now I'm done. I couldn't stop reading it, and finished it essentially in one sitting, but at no point was it a happy or comfortable experience. The book focuses on Peter and Katherina who marry despite never having met. He is doing it simply to get some 'honeymoon leave' away from the eastern front; and she simply wants to do her duty and marry a good German soldier, produce German children and if necessary be sure of a widow's pension at the end of the war. The novel cuts between Peter's experiences at the front, which result in his capture by the Russians at Stalingrad; and Katherina's experiences as a Nazi wife and mother back in Berlin, resulting in the death of her child, and her gang rape at the hands of victorious Russian troops. We then see the aftermath of war and the conclusion of the deal they struck when they married. Do not expect a moment's respite in this novel, we have the full horrors of the eastern front as well as having to digest the vile, warped opinions and reasonings of the main characters. This pulls no punches, and noone comes off well by the end of the story. However, it is very well written and manages to encapsulate the horrors brilliantly.
February 4, 2015
Modern novels set in WW2 often fall short for me, but not this one. I especially liked the different perspectives of the soldier at war and his wife at home in Berlin, I thought they both had a great story to tell. I was gripped the whole way through and enjoyed every twist and turn that happened, even the brutal ones, as they felt very well researched and realistic to what actually happened. If you like WW2 literature, this is one I recommend.
August 11, 2022
Video review https://youtu.be/9MAV3Reics8
July 22, 2025
4.5 stars
In a desperate attempt to escape the horrors of the Eastern Front, Peter Faber, an ordinary German soldier, marries Katharina Spinell, a woman he has never met, in a marriage of convenience. In return, he is granted ten days' leave, and she will get his pension should he die in the war. But upon meeting in person, they are both surprised by the passion that quickly binds them together.
Holding on tightly to his memory of Katharina and the picture he carries with him, Peter returns to the front where the army is set to approach Stalingrad. They are tired, underfed, and largely forgotten. But in Berlin, Katharina and her parents begin a quick ascent in Nazi high society because of her father's connections. However, when the tide of war turns, Peter and Katharina find it increasingly hard to hold onto their own dreams for the future of their family.
The Undertaking is a harder novel to read than it seems at first blush. While on the one hand, as a World War II novel, this seems familiar, it's the content and angle of the approach from Magee that makes the terrain difficult to navigate. There is almost no one in this book that is not a Nazi in some iteration — Katharina's delusional and selfish parents are a key delivery point for the excuses of the atrocities of that war perpetrated by ordinary citizens. Their rise in Nazi society comes at the completely acknowledged cost of the Jewish lives they've destroyed, and it's their flippant and disgusting attitude that thankfully keeps them at arm's length. At no point is the regime glossed over. Magee handles this story as deftly as in her much quieter second novel, The Colony, but the reader is never allowed to settle into the rhythms as though it were a more typical WWII book. And for that masterful approach, I am grateful.
In a desperate attempt to escape the horrors of the Eastern Front, Peter Faber, an ordinary German soldier, marries Katharina Spinell, a woman he has never met, in a marriage of convenience. In return, he is granted ten days' leave, and she will get his pension should he die in the war. But upon meeting in person, they are both surprised by the passion that quickly binds them together.
Holding on tightly to his memory of Katharina and the picture he carries with him, Peter returns to the front where the army is set to approach Stalingrad. They are tired, underfed, and largely forgotten. But in Berlin, Katharina and her parents begin a quick ascent in Nazi high society because of her father's connections. However, when the tide of war turns, Peter and Katharina find it increasingly hard to hold onto their own dreams for the future of their family.
The Undertaking is a harder novel to read than it seems at first blush. While on the one hand, as a World War II novel, this seems familiar, it's the content and angle of the approach from Magee that makes the terrain difficult to navigate. There is almost no one in this book that is not a Nazi in some iteration — Katharina's delusional and selfish parents are a key delivery point for the excuses of the atrocities of that war perpetrated by ordinary citizens. Their rise in Nazi society comes at the completely acknowledged cost of the Jewish lives they've destroyed, and it's their flippant and disgusting attitude that thankfully keeps them at arm's length. At no point is the regime glossed over. Magee handles this story as deftly as in her much quieter second novel, The Colony, but the reader is never allowed to settle into the rhythms as though it were a more typical WWII book. And for that masterful approach, I am grateful.
November 7, 2024
"bu filme uyarlanır" romanı. koloni'yi daha derinlikli ve katmanlı bulmuştum.
3,5/5
3,5/5
December 29, 2024
Öncelikle bu kitabı spoiler vermeden nasıl gömebilirim bilmiyorum, deneyeceğim. Koloni romanını çok sevdiğim Audrey Magee beni çok büyük hayal kırıklığına uğrattı. İkinci Dünya Savaşı'nın başlangıcında birbirlerini hiç görmeden ve tanımadan evlenen asker Peter ve bankada çalışan Katharina'nın savaş sürecinde yaşadıklarını okuyoruz. Kitap neredeyse tamamen diyaloglardan oluşuyor. Roman değil de senaryo okuyormuş gibi hissettim. Karakterlerin neyi, neden yaptıklarından ziyade savaşta yaşanan zorlukları, acımasızlıkları ve kötülüğün sıradanlığını görüyoruz. Peter'ın savaşta yaşadığı zorlukları ve Almanya'da kalan Katharina'nın yaşadıklarını eş zamanlı okuyoruz. Kitabın çok meladromik, ajitasyondan zevk alan bir yönü var. Hele o kadar boktan bir sonu var ki "Bu kitabı Türk dizilerinin senaristlerinden biri mi yazdı, bu ne rezillik Audrey Hanım!" diye bağırmak istedim. Hemen yeni kitabıma başlıyorum. 2024'ü bu berbat kitapla sonlandıramam.
March 31, 2014
When I saw The Undertaking on the Baileys Prize long list, I thought, ‘Aha! The book with the nice hat!’ (If you’re a long time reader of my reviews, you will know that my cover interests are piqued by fashion and cosmetics – shallow, but true). But this book deserves to be so much more than a book with a nice hat on the cover – it’s a fantastic story, covering a little known part of World War II that comes alive with Magee’s dialogue, which paints such a detailed image in so few words.
The story is about Peter and Katharina, who have never met but are getting married. He’s on the battlefield; she’s at home in Berlin. It’s a marriage not of love, but of convenience – Peter gets leave from the front line to meet his bride (and presumably consummate the marriage). Katharina gets a widow’s pension if he dies, ensuring her security and possibly an heir for the Motherland. It’s a business deal, but when the two meet, there’s a spark that ignites. Katharina’s mother isn’t particularly enthused by her choice, repeatedly saying she should have married the doctor’s son but her father and his benefactor take to Peter. Soon Peter is helping his father in law and Dr Weinart with some ‘jobs’, which allows him some extra leave. But for the majority of the book, Peter and Katharina are apart. Peter returns to his unit, where he is eventually blockaded in Stalingrad. Katharina fares better, as the family’s apartment is ‘upgraded’ and enjoys benefits from the Weinart family – food and clothes that many don’t have. But when her brother returns from the front for a rest, things change for the worse…
I can’t say that I’ve read many books that deal with the German side of World War II, and at first I felt a little disrespectful to those Australians (and the rest of the Allies) who fought for me so that I can sit here today typing this review. But then I thought that it’s ignorant to be biased and that we’re all humans anyway. The book doesn’t deal with Hitler, the Nazis or the Holocaust directly, just little snippets here and there in the background. It’s more about the day to day life of Katharina, blooming without knowing she’s living in a Jewish family’s apartment and wearing their clothes. She’s charmingly oblivious to the disappearances of others around her and instead, focuses on the benefits – a fur coat! Cake! Peter is becoming increasingly disenchanted with life as a soldier, beginning to question why he’s fighting and why the army isn’t caring for their soldiers as promised. Both Katharina and Peter come to realise the brutality of war later in the novel, when it all stops being a game and they’re forced to grow up – fast.
One of the major strengths of The Undertaking is the dialogue that Magee creates. Much of the story is told in dialogue without the ‘he said/she said’, yet I never had to count back to work out who was talking. That is an amazing feat. What’s also amazing is that so much about not only the characters, but the setting and action is told through short, simple sentences spoken by the characters. This is one of the reasons I think this book is highly worthy of the Baileys Prize shortlist. Another is the ending – I don’t want to reveal the details, because I highly recommend this book for you to read, but it’s perfect. It fits in with what has happened to the characters through the novel and it clearly shows how they have changed. It also defies convention.
It’s hard to believe this is Audrey Magee’s first novel; I can’t wait to see what her next book is like!
http://samstillreading.wordpress.com
The story is about Peter and Katharina, who have never met but are getting married. He’s on the battlefield; she’s at home in Berlin. It’s a marriage not of love, but of convenience – Peter gets leave from the front line to meet his bride (and presumably consummate the marriage). Katharina gets a widow’s pension if he dies, ensuring her security and possibly an heir for the Motherland. It’s a business deal, but when the two meet, there’s a spark that ignites. Katharina’s mother isn’t particularly enthused by her choice, repeatedly saying she should have married the doctor’s son but her father and his benefactor take to Peter. Soon Peter is helping his father in law and Dr Weinart with some ‘jobs’, which allows him some extra leave. But for the majority of the book, Peter and Katharina are apart. Peter returns to his unit, where he is eventually blockaded in Stalingrad. Katharina fares better, as the family’s apartment is ‘upgraded’ and enjoys benefits from the Weinart family – food and clothes that many don’t have. But when her brother returns from the front for a rest, things change for the worse…
I can’t say that I’ve read many books that deal with the German side of World War II, and at first I felt a little disrespectful to those Australians (and the rest of the Allies) who fought for me so that I can sit here today typing this review. But then I thought that it’s ignorant to be biased and that we’re all humans anyway. The book doesn’t deal with Hitler, the Nazis or the Holocaust directly, just little snippets here and there in the background. It’s more about the day to day life of Katharina, blooming without knowing she’s living in a Jewish family’s apartment and wearing their clothes. She’s charmingly oblivious to the disappearances of others around her and instead, focuses on the benefits – a fur coat! Cake! Peter is becoming increasingly disenchanted with life as a soldier, beginning to question why he’s fighting and why the army isn’t caring for their soldiers as promised. Both Katharina and Peter come to realise the brutality of war later in the novel, when it all stops being a game and they’re forced to grow up – fast.
One of the major strengths of The Undertaking is the dialogue that Magee creates. Much of the story is told in dialogue without the ‘he said/she said’, yet I never had to count back to work out who was talking. That is an amazing feat. What’s also amazing is that so much about not only the characters, but the setting and action is told through short, simple sentences spoken by the characters. This is one of the reasons I think this book is highly worthy of the Baileys Prize shortlist. Another is the ending – I don’t want to reveal the details, because I highly recommend this book for you to read, but it’s perfect. It fits in with what has happened to the characters through the novel and it clearly shows how they have changed. It also defies convention.
It’s hard to believe this is Audrey Magee’s first novel; I can’t wait to see what her next book is like!
http://samstillreading.wordpress.com
August 23, 2015
Every now and then a book comes along that gets under your skin and literally knocks you off your size sixes.
“The Undertaking” is such a novel, and it is going to stay with me for a very long time.
The visual on the jacket cover of my copy is perhaps deliberately misleading in creating expectations of a rather more romantic style than the tale conveyed within.
We are apprised on the back of the book that a marriage of convenience is arranged between Katherina and Peter, and we know that the timeframe is smack bang in the midst of the Second World War, but what is extremely unexpected is that from very early on the author holds no bars in using what Helen Dunmore describes as a “disconcertingly deadpan tone of the narrative (which) serves to suggest the moral blankness” of our two protagonists.
Katherina is single-mindedly ruthless in looking after Number One and her unborn child, as her father clearly sets his sights on surviving the conflict by allying himself with the powerful Doctor Weinart in Berlin. Upwardly mobile and dismissive of their former neighbours, Katherina and her parents unrepentantly take over a flat just recently vacated by a deported Jewish family. They attend the lavish dinners held by the doctor and his powerful wife, and enjoy all the perks – and cake – of being on the winning side…while it lasts.
Peter, meanwhile, finds himself fighting on the front line, and endeavouring to survive in a far more literal sense. His destiny leads him to Stalingrad and a rude awakening, as he lives through the brutalities of war, never losing sight of his dream to return to his newly formed family unit.
Shortlisted for last year’s Baileys’s Prize, Audrey Magee’s début work is shocking, hard-hitting and notable for not once urging on the side of caution by attempting to sugar coat the characters peopling her novel. It makes for often uncomfortable reading, for criticise their actions as one may be tempted to do, it is impossible not to ponder how any one of us would/should have reacted under similar, unthinkable situations. Whether or not either protagonist ‘deserves’ our sympathy is up for discussion but one thing is for certain: this book will continue to haunt and stimulate its readers long after the last page has been read. It is a marvellously well written if deeply disturbing read. Highly recommended.
Read full review at literary ramblings etc.
“The Undertaking” is such a novel, and it is going to stay with me for a very long time.
The visual on the jacket cover of my copy is perhaps deliberately misleading in creating expectations of a rather more romantic style than the tale conveyed within.
We are apprised on the back of the book that a marriage of convenience is arranged between Katherina and Peter, and we know that the timeframe is smack bang in the midst of the Second World War, but what is extremely unexpected is that from very early on the author holds no bars in using what Helen Dunmore describes as a “disconcertingly deadpan tone of the narrative (which) serves to suggest the moral blankness” of our two protagonists.
Katherina is single-mindedly ruthless in looking after Number One and her unborn child, as her father clearly sets his sights on surviving the conflict by allying himself with the powerful Doctor Weinart in Berlin. Upwardly mobile and dismissive of their former neighbours, Katherina and her parents unrepentantly take over a flat just recently vacated by a deported Jewish family. They attend the lavish dinners held by the doctor and his powerful wife, and enjoy all the perks – and cake – of being on the winning side…while it lasts.
Peter, meanwhile, finds himself fighting on the front line, and endeavouring to survive in a far more literal sense. His destiny leads him to Stalingrad and a rude awakening, as he lives through the brutalities of war, never losing sight of his dream to return to his newly formed family unit.
Shortlisted for last year’s Baileys’s Prize, Audrey Magee’s début work is shocking, hard-hitting and notable for not once urging on the side of caution by attempting to sugar coat the characters peopling her novel. It makes for often uncomfortable reading, for criticise their actions as one may be tempted to do, it is impossible not to ponder how any one of us would/should have reacted under similar, unthinkable situations. Whether or not either protagonist ‘deserves’ our sympathy is up for discussion but one thing is for certain: this book will continue to haunt and stimulate its readers long after the last page has been read. It is a marvellously well written if deeply disturbing read. Highly recommended.
Read full review at literary ramblings etc.
June 29, 2024
I picked this book up on the strength of Audrey Magee’s The Colony, which I loved. The Undertaking is her debut novel. It provides a different perspective than the typical WWII story. The protagonists, Katharina and Peter Faber, are Germans who marry under unusual circumstances. They come together at the beginning and spend most of the book apart. The narrative shifts between the two characters – Katharina in Berlin, and Peter fighting on the Russian front. As the war progresses, the outlook of the characters changes from the initial presumption of an easy and quick victory to one of hopelessness as they suffer escalating deprivations. It is very well written, but rather bleak and it focuses on people who have bought into the Nazi agenda. It depicts the horrors of war for both soldiers and civilians, which I guess is to be expected in an anti-war novel. It is hard to say I enjoyed this book, but I admire the author’s writing style.
March 27, 2024
genel hatlarıyla gayet beğendim, sadece birkaç itirazım olduğu için dört yıldız veriyorum. kitap aşırı akıcı, elinize aldığınızda bitirmeden duramıyorsunuz. sinematografik olması da bir diğer keyifli kısım. rahatlıkla bir tiyatro oyununa da çevrilebilir keza. beş yıldız vermeme sebebim finale giden yolun az biraz fazla hızlı olması ve karakterler arasındaki bağın -savaş psikolojisi gereği- fazlasıyla bir anda kuvvetlenmesinin az biraz yazar tarafından vurgusunun yapılamamış olması. ben olsam çok çok ufak bir dokunuşla orayı okuyucuya hissettirirdim çünkü geçiş biraz fazla keskin olmuş. zaten finaldeki geçişin keskinliğinde de -bence- aynı sıkıntı var. hani şöyle yazar ‘viraj’ları daha yumuşak alsaymış bence çok daha canevden vurabilirmiş. ama beğendim tabii. gayet keyifliydi.
January 8, 2021
Vahvaa ja kaunista, dialogivetoista proosaa. Berliiniläinen Katherina astuu järjestettyyn avioliittoon Venäjän rintamalla sotivan Peterin kanssa, Molemmat elävät tahoillaan sotaa, jonka vakuutetaan loppuvan pian, mutta joka ei tunnu koskaan loppuvan. Katherina on niitä harvoja, joiden elintaso sodan ansiosta nousee - mutta millä hinnalla?
Tykkäsin paljon saksalaisesta näkökulmasta toiseen maailmansotaan. Dialogipainotteisen kerronnan takia henkilöt jäivät vähän vesiväriluonnostelmien tasolle, mutta koin tietäväni heistä juuri riittävästi nauttiakseni tarinasta. Pidin myös henkilögallerian monipuolisuudesta. Välillä olisin halunnut päästä syvemmälle erityisesti Katherinan ajatuksiin ja tunteisiin, mutta toisaalta kaikessa marionettimaisuudessaan ja läpinäkymättömyydessään hän tuntui jotenkin aivan mahdolliselta, olemassa olevalta henkilöltä. Peter hämmensi minua ajoittain, sillä hän ei koko kirjan aikana tuntunut oikein ehjältä, kokonaiselta persoonalta.
Tykkäsin paljon saksalaisesta näkökulmasta toiseen maailmansotaan. Dialogipainotteisen kerronnan takia henkilöt jäivät vähän vesiväriluonnostelmien tasolle, mutta koin tietäväni heistä juuri riittävästi nauttiakseni tarinasta. Pidin myös henkilögallerian monipuolisuudesta. Välillä olisin halunnut päästä syvemmälle erityisesti Katherinan ajatuksiin ja tunteisiin, mutta toisaalta kaikessa marionettimaisuudessaan ja läpinäkymättömyydessään hän tuntui jotenkin aivan mahdolliselta, olemassa olevalta henkilöltä. Peter hämmensi minua ajoittain, sillä hän ei koko kirjan aikana tuntunut oikein ehjältä, kokonaiselta persoonalta.
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