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Leaving Berlin
A sweeping spy thriller about a city caught between political idealism and the harsh realities of Soviet occupation.
Berlin, 1948. Almost four years after the war’s end, the city is still in ruins, a physical wasteland and a political symbol about to rupture. In the West, a defiant, blockaded city is barely surviving on airlifted supplies; in the East, the heady early days of political reconstruction are being undermined by the murky compromises of the Cold War. Espionage, like the black market, is a fact of life. Even culture has become a battleground, with German intellectuals being lured back from exile to add credibility to the competing sectors.
Alex Meier, a young Jewish writer, fled the Nazis for America before the war. But the politics of his youth have now put him in the cross-hairs of the McCarthy witch-hunts. Faced with deportation and the loss of his family, he makes a desperate bargain with the fledgling CIA: he will earn his way back to America by acting as their agent in his native Berlin. But almost from the start things go fatally wrong. A kidnapping misfires, an East German agent is killed, and Alex finds himself a wanted man. Worse, he discovers his real assignment — to spy on the woman he left behind, the only woman he has ever loved. Changing sides in Berlin is as easy as crossing a sector border. But where do we draw the lines of our moral boundaries? At betrayal? Survival? Murder?
Joseph Kanon’s compelling thriller is a love story that brilliantly brings a shadowy period of history vividly to life.
Berlin, 1948. Almost four years after the war’s end, the city is still in ruins, a physical wasteland and a political symbol about to rupture. In the West, a defiant, blockaded city is barely surviving on airlifted supplies; in the East, the heady early days of political reconstruction are being undermined by the murky compromises of the Cold War. Espionage, like the black market, is a fact of life. Even culture has become a battleground, with German intellectuals being lured back from exile to add credibility to the competing sectors.
Alex Meier, a young Jewish writer, fled the Nazis for America before the war. But the politics of his youth have now put him in the cross-hairs of the McCarthy witch-hunts. Faced with deportation and the loss of his family, he makes a desperate bargain with the fledgling CIA: he will earn his way back to America by acting as their agent in his native Berlin. But almost from the start things go fatally wrong. A kidnapping misfires, an East German agent is killed, and Alex finds himself a wanted man. Worse, he discovers his real assignment — to spy on the woman he left behind, the only woman he has ever loved. Changing sides in Berlin is as easy as crossing a sector border. But where do we draw the lines of our moral boundaries? At betrayal? Survival? Murder?
Joseph Kanon’s compelling thriller is a love story that brilliantly brings a shadowy period of history vividly to life.
384 pages, Paperback
First published November 6, 2014
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,070 reviews
October 12, 2024
3.75 stars: “Leaving Berlin” is one of the best spy thrillers I’ve read. It’s fast paced, with fast paced dialogue. In fact, while reading, I clearly saw this as a movie. The screenwriters wouldn’t have to do much, just use the book.
The story takes place in post war Berlin, in 1949, when there is an East Berlin and a West Berlin. The German people are conflicted as to whether they want to be a capitalist society or a socialist.
The protagonist, Alex Meier, is a Jewish writer who fled Berlin to escape the Nazis. He landed in California, where he fell victim to the McCarthy political faction. He made a deal with the CIA to be a spy so that he could stay in the US.
There are double-crosses, double agents, espionage, and paranoia. The dialogue is witty and fast. Kanon writes so well that you can see the imagery without lengthy passages. It’s not book candy; you need to pay attention, and you want to pay attention because it’s an engrossing story. Spy thrillers are not my usual genre, and this one makes me want to read his other works. It’s a great novel.
The story takes place in post war Berlin, in 1949, when there is an East Berlin and a West Berlin. The German people are conflicted as to whether they want to be a capitalist society or a socialist.
The protagonist, Alex Meier, is a Jewish writer who fled Berlin to escape the Nazis. He landed in California, where he fell victim to the McCarthy political faction. He made a deal with the CIA to be a spy so that he could stay in the US.
There are double-crosses, double agents, espionage, and paranoia. The dialogue is witty and fast. Kanon writes so well that you can see the imagery without lengthy passages. It’s not book candy; you need to pay attention, and you want to pay attention because it’s an engrossing story. Spy thrillers are not my usual genre, and this one makes me want to read his other works. It’s a great novel.
November 7, 2014
If you are a fan of Alan Furst, David Downing , Rebecca Cantrell or Jonathan Rabb then this is definitely for you.
I am a great fan of what some call “Berlin Noir” and in this book you can almost taste the grit and smell the grime of post war Berlin.
Alex Meier’s politics have put him at the forefront of the US communist witch-hunts. In order to stay in the US he makes a deal with the CIA to be their agent in his native Berlin.
The book dives straight into the action and doesn’t really pause for breath throughout. Kanon evocatively describes a Berlin where the sector borders are still porous, abduction is commonplace and the inhabitants are still trying to put their lives back together after the war.
He also details the claustrophobic life of those living in what was then called the Soviet Zone (later East Germany/GDR) and the Faustian pacts they make to just live and stay on the right side of the eastern authorities.
Kanon weaves actual historical figures into the story such as playwright Berthold Brecht and his wife the actress Helene Weigel and from his descriptions you can really tell he’s done his research.
This is the first Joseph Kanon book I’ve read and his writing style took me a little bit of getting used to. Conversations can be particularly staccato, but this style works really well.
If you are a fan of Alan Furst, David Downing , Rebecca Cantrell or Jonathan Rabb then this is definitely for you.
I am a great fan of what some call “Berlin Noir” and in this book you can almost taste the grit and smell the grime of post war Berlin.
Alex Meier’s politics have put him at the forefront of the US communist witch-hunts. In order to stay in the US he makes a deal with the CIA to be their agent in his native Berlin.
The book dives straight into the action and doesn’t really pause for breath throughout. Kanon evocatively describes a Berlin where the sector borders are still porous, abduction is commonplace and the inhabitants are still trying to put their lives back together after the war.
He also details the claustrophobic life of those living in what was then called the Soviet Zone (later East Germany/GDR) and the Faustian pacts they make to just live and stay on the right side of the eastern authorities.
Kanon weaves actual historical figures into the story such as playwright Berthold Brecht and his wife the actress Helene Weigel and from his descriptions you can really tell he’s done his research.
This is the first Joseph Kanon book I’ve read and his writing style took me a little bit of getting used to. Conversations can be particularly staccato, but this style works really well.
If you are a fan of Alan Furst, David Downing , Rebecca Cantrell or Jonathan Rabb then this is definitely for you.
September 25, 2023
This is my first Joseph Karon novel and I must say I was a bit disappointed. The story never really held my attention and the writing style was awkward. Karon never made me feel invested in the characters. I never wanted to cheer for any of them (or boo the bad guys). The plot was too pat. Drop in ex-Berliner, add water, poof-instant spy. I would read a little and then put the book down and find that I really had to struggle to pick it up again. I just wasn't interested in what happened next.
October 12, 2024
This was my third book by Joseph Kanon after Istanbul Passage and The Defectors. I have to say this work was far more complex and complicated.
Alex Meier a young Jewish writer has escaped from the Nazi’s before the War and come to the US. But the McCarthy purges send him back to Germany in 1948 to become an American spy.
Almost immediately Alex has a deadly confrontation and ends up killing a man. This soft writer ends up killing more before the end of the story. And even Bertolt Brecht turns up as a minor character.
Kanon paints a LeCarre world of plots, twists, violence and downright seediness - of characters and post war Berlin. I will be hunting more books in the Charity stores by this Author.
Alex Meier a young Jewish writer has escaped from the Nazi’s before the War and come to the US. But the McCarthy purges send him back to Germany in 1948 to become an American spy.
Almost immediately Alex has a deadly confrontation and ends up killing a man. This soft writer ends up killing more before the end of the story. And even Bertolt Brecht turns up as a minor character.
Kanon paints a LeCarre world of plots, twists, violence and downright seediness - of characters and post war Berlin. I will be hunting more books in the Charity stores by this Author.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 28, 2023
Joseph Kanon’s historical spy novels reek of authenticity. Set in the years immediately following World War II, they conjure up the fear and desperation that hung over Europe in the early days of the Cold War. Then, it seemed as though open war might well break out between the two erstwhile allies, now both emerging superpowers. And Leaving Berlin brilliantly conveys that atmosphere. Kanon has chosen as his setting the bleakest possible time and place: rubble-choked Berlin in 1949 as the Allied airlift to the isolated western zone of the city was underway.
It was before West Germany was created. Before the Wall went up, when the border between East and West was still porous. And before Walter Ulbricht’s East German regime had begun shooting at will at everyone who crossed into the American, British, or French zones. At least as effectively as any work of history, Leaving Berlin casts light on the early Cold War.
BLACKMAIL AND MURDER IN THE EARLY COLD WAR
Kanon’s protagonist is Alex Meier, a German-born American writer of considerable note who returns to East Germany. There, he falls into the open arms of the growing literary community that circles around Bertolt Brecht, an earlier returnee. Unbeknownst to the regime, however, Meier has cut a deal with the CIA to be welcomed back to the US despite having defied the House Un-American Activities Committee—if he will spy on the East Germans. Then, almost immediately after returning to East Berlin, Meier finds himself caught up in the murder of an East German agent, and his life becomes more fraught with danger with every passing day.
Like the work of Alan Furst, Kanon’s novels combine suspenseful plotting and a love story with complex character studies and abundant atmospherics. In Leaving Berlin, he’s at the top of his game. This book is suspenseful to the end.
THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
World War II left Berlin in shambles. After 363 air raids by the RAF and the US Eighth Air Force, plus heavy bombardment by Soviet artillery as the Red Army closed in, much of the divided city survived only as heaps of rubble. And little had been rebuilt by 1948, when Josef Stalin ordered a blockade of West Berlin in an effort to seize control of the whole city. A defiant President Harry Truman ordered an airlift to deliver supplies to relieve the city’s 2.5 million people. Over eleven months, from June 24, 1948 to May 12, 1949, the US and British military flew more than 250,000 flights over Berlin, delivering a total of 2.3 million tons of supplies. They dropped as many as 12,900 tons of food and fuel in a single day. Stalin lifted the blockade on May 12, 1949, to end the embarrassment. But the airlift continued until September 30 that year. Thus was set the pattern of tit-for-tat exchanges in the early Cold War.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
The bio on Joseph Kanon‘s author website focuses on his writing career: “Joseph Kanon is the internationally bestselling author of ten novels, which have been published in twenty-four languages: Los Alamos, which won the Edgar Award for best first novel; The Good German, which was made into a film starring George Clooney and Cate Blanchett; The Prodigal Spy; Alibi, which earned Kanon the Hammett Award of the International Association of Crime Writers; Leaving Berlin and Defectors. He is also a recipient of The Anne Frank Human Writers Award for his writings on the aftermath of the Holocaust. Before becoming a full-time writer, he was a book publishing executive. He lives in New York City with his wife, literary agent Robin Straus. They have two sons.”
Wikipedia adds that Kanon was born in 1946 and studied at Harvard University and Trinity College of the University of Cambridge. He was the editor in chief, CEO, and president of the publishing houses Houghton Mifflin and E. P. Dutton in New York. He began writing in 1995, when he was nearly fifty years of age. His first novel, Los Alamos, was published in 1997.
It was before West Germany was created. Before the Wall went up, when the border between East and West was still porous. And before Walter Ulbricht’s East German regime had begun shooting at will at everyone who crossed into the American, British, or French zones. At least as effectively as any work of history, Leaving Berlin casts light on the early Cold War.
BLACKMAIL AND MURDER IN THE EARLY COLD WAR
Kanon’s protagonist is Alex Meier, a German-born American writer of considerable note who returns to East Germany. There, he falls into the open arms of the growing literary community that circles around Bertolt Brecht, an earlier returnee. Unbeknownst to the regime, however, Meier has cut a deal with the CIA to be welcomed back to the US despite having defied the House Un-American Activities Committee—if he will spy on the East Germans. Then, almost immediately after returning to East Berlin, Meier finds himself caught up in the murder of an East German agent, and his life becomes more fraught with danger with every passing day.
Like the work of Alan Furst, Kanon’s novels combine suspenseful plotting and a love story with complex character studies and abundant atmospherics. In Leaving Berlin, he’s at the top of his game. This book is suspenseful to the end.
THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
World War II left Berlin in shambles. After 363 air raids by the RAF and the US Eighth Air Force, plus heavy bombardment by Soviet artillery as the Red Army closed in, much of the divided city survived only as heaps of rubble. And little had been rebuilt by 1948, when Josef Stalin ordered a blockade of West Berlin in an effort to seize control of the whole city. A defiant President Harry Truman ordered an airlift to deliver supplies to relieve the city’s 2.5 million people. Over eleven months, from June 24, 1948 to May 12, 1949, the US and British military flew more than 250,000 flights over Berlin, delivering a total of 2.3 million tons of supplies. They dropped as many as 12,900 tons of food and fuel in a single day. Stalin lifted the blockade on May 12, 1949, to end the embarrassment. But the airlift continued until September 30 that year. Thus was set the pattern of tit-for-tat exchanges in the early Cold War.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
The bio on Joseph Kanon‘s author website focuses on his writing career: “Joseph Kanon is the internationally bestselling author of ten novels, which have been published in twenty-four languages: Los Alamos, which won the Edgar Award for best first novel; The Good German, which was made into a film starring George Clooney and Cate Blanchett; The Prodigal Spy; Alibi, which earned Kanon the Hammett Award of the International Association of Crime Writers; Leaving Berlin and Defectors. He is also a recipient of The Anne Frank Human Writers Award for his writings on the aftermath of the Holocaust. Before becoming a full-time writer, he was a book publishing executive. He lives in New York City with his wife, literary agent Robin Straus. They have two sons.”
Wikipedia adds that Kanon was born in 1946 and studied at Harvard University and Trinity College of the University of Cambridge. He was the editor in chief, CEO, and president of the publishing houses Houghton Mifflin and E. P. Dutton in New York. He began writing in 1995, when he was nearly fifty years of age. His first novel, Los Alamos, was published in 1997.
October 12, 2024
East Berlin has provided a robust setting for all manner of espionage and war stories for at least 50 years. The changing affiliations, nuanced relationships and remnants of WWII animosities leave much room for storytellers to spin their tales; Joseph Kanon does so quite well here.
Leaving Berlin manages to weave in all the juicy elements while including the overlay of McCarthyism that sends this protagonist back to Berlin post-war. Our protagonist finds himself serving multiple masters in his quest to return to his family and his post-war life, far from Berlin.
-Suzanne R.
Leaving Berlin manages to weave in all the juicy elements while including the overlay of McCarthyism that sends this protagonist back to Berlin post-war. Our protagonist finds himself serving multiple masters in his quest to return to his family and his post-war life, far from Berlin.
-Suzanne R.
July 28, 2015
I acknowledge John LeCarre as the gold standard for a generation of spy novelists, but Joseph Kanon has a warmer heart. Forgive the comparison to begin here – it helps me understand my reaction to a really great book.
I can laugh at LeCarre’s witty, sardonic irony and enjoy his beautiful writing till I get to the end of the story - which usually leaves me frustrated, if not angry. Why? No moral resolution. Just cold, cynical ambiguity reflecting the heartless world of real politik and its actors - politicians, bureaucrats, spooks – which LeCarre builds his masterful work around.
Joseph Kanon does powerful ambiguity as well, make no mistake. And Kanon’s knowledge of the spy ‘trade’ and the political issues informing his stories is just as deep as LeCarre’s. But he’s not afraid to allow some idealistic and/or sentimental coloring in the drawing of his protagonists. When LeCarre injects these elements, it’s usually to highlight naïve blindness, if not foolishness. With Kanon, you hope for his characters in a way you can’t for LeCarre’s. You feel a sympathy for the ones who aren’t strong.
I don’t demand a happy ending; but, always respecting LeCarre, as a story teller, Joseph Kanon knows how to touch my need for hope. End of comparison…
In Leaving Berlin, the bad-guy Russians running the Eastern sectors of the divided city in 1949 are predictably brutish. The more interesting bad guys are the East Germans. They believe in an idea, they want to build a new kind of Germany. They also need to please their Russian masters. They’re stuck. One way or another, Kanon makes us feel for a compelling array of East Germans who can’t see what’s happening to the socialist ideal.
The story centers around Alex Meier, a German-born Jew who escaped the Nazis for America, where he has built a successful career as a writer. But he has run afoul of the McCarthy hearings. To put it right, he makes a devil’s bargain with the CIA. The story begins with Meier’s arrival in Berlin under the pretense of having walked away from a corrupt America. He plays the role of an exiled native son, excited to be “home” to lend his artistic talents in the building of new, Fascist-free German society and culture.
Alex is not the only cultural worker who has left the West and returned to the homeland. Bertold Breht is the most re-known amongst a busy, formerly ex-pat, community of film makers, radio people, actors, painters, architects, literary publishers and other writers. They, more than any of “new Germany” believers, are increasingly shocked and numbed by the Party’s constant quest for “purity” and the paranoid system put in place to achieve it.
As a respected writer, Alex Meier receives a special welcome back, replete with adulation and privileges. But he has come to gather information – anything that might help expose and discredit the real Soviet regime. In this Alex is an amateur, but not for long. The story concerns his quick, dirty education as he enacts a desperate plan to secret some old friends who never left, and himself, back out to the West.
There’s a paradox in Leaving Berlin. The story is mostly people talking - so much dialogue in as characters duck and feint, to gain advantage or keep themselves safe. Yet this is one of the most exciting books I’ve read in a long time. There are action scenes and they are vivid. But it is the never-ending, always suspicious, self-positioning talk that renders the action scenes bang-on.
Before you get to the guts of the story, Kanon brings you in with the most beautiful descriptive writing. I have only read two of his books: one based in Istanbul, and this one based in Berlin. I admire his ability to bring a place – and a time – to life.
5 stars. At school we learned about Edger Allan Poe’s theories and rules for literary impact: the right words, at the right rhythm, in the right place. Poe’s rules are timeless. For impact, Leaving Berlin is almost perfect.
I can laugh at LeCarre’s witty, sardonic irony and enjoy his beautiful writing till I get to the end of the story - which usually leaves me frustrated, if not angry. Why? No moral resolution. Just cold, cynical ambiguity reflecting the heartless world of real politik and its actors - politicians, bureaucrats, spooks – which LeCarre builds his masterful work around.
Joseph Kanon does powerful ambiguity as well, make no mistake. And Kanon’s knowledge of the spy ‘trade’ and the political issues informing his stories is just as deep as LeCarre’s. But he’s not afraid to allow some idealistic and/or sentimental coloring in the drawing of his protagonists. When LeCarre injects these elements, it’s usually to highlight naïve blindness, if not foolishness. With Kanon, you hope for his characters in a way you can’t for LeCarre’s. You feel a sympathy for the ones who aren’t strong.
I don’t demand a happy ending; but, always respecting LeCarre, as a story teller, Joseph Kanon knows how to touch my need for hope. End of comparison…
In Leaving Berlin, the bad-guy Russians running the Eastern sectors of the divided city in 1949 are predictably brutish. The more interesting bad guys are the East Germans. They believe in an idea, they want to build a new kind of Germany. They also need to please their Russian masters. They’re stuck. One way or another, Kanon makes us feel for a compelling array of East Germans who can’t see what’s happening to the socialist ideal.
The story centers around Alex Meier, a German-born Jew who escaped the Nazis for America, where he has built a successful career as a writer. But he has run afoul of the McCarthy hearings. To put it right, he makes a devil’s bargain with the CIA. The story begins with Meier’s arrival in Berlin under the pretense of having walked away from a corrupt America. He plays the role of an exiled native son, excited to be “home” to lend his artistic talents in the building of new, Fascist-free German society and culture.
Alex is not the only cultural worker who has left the West and returned to the homeland. Bertold Breht is the most re-known amongst a busy, formerly ex-pat, community of film makers, radio people, actors, painters, architects, literary publishers and other writers. They, more than any of “new Germany” believers, are increasingly shocked and numbed by the Party’s constant quest for “purity” and the paranoid system put in place to achieve it.
As a respected writer, Alex Meier receives a special welcome back, replete with adulation and privileges. But he has come to gather information – anything that might help expose and discredit the real Soviet regime. In this Alex is an amateur, but not for long. The story concerns his quick, dirty education as he enacts a desperate plan to secret some old friends who never left, and himself, back out to the West.
There’s a paradox in Leaving Berlin. The story is mostly people talking - so much dialogue in as characters duck and feint, to gain advantage or keep themselves safe. Yet this is one of the most exciting books I’ve read in a long time. There are action scenes and they are vivid. But it is the never-ending, always suspicious, self-positioning talk that renders the action scenes bang-on.
Before you get to the guts of the story, Kanon brings you in with the most beautiful descriptive writing. I have only read two of his books: one based in Istanbul, and this one based in Berlin. I admire his ability to bring a place – and a time – to life.
5 stars. At school we learned about Edger Allan Poe’s theories and rules for literary impact: the right words, at the right rhythm, in the right place. Poe’s rules are timeless. For impact, Leaving Berlin is almost perfect.
June 17, 2016
World War II is a popular subject in publishing right now. But what happened after the war ended, particularly in Germany, seems to remain almost strictly within the spy thriller arena - which is a shame, because the years after the war were fraught with danger, political and social quagmire, and tragedy, drama, and valor.
Joseph Kanon highlights the dilemmas faced by survivors of the murderous Nazi regime in his masterful, sparely written and haunting "Leaving Berlin." His protagonist, Alex Meier, is a celebrated German Jewish writer who escaped for America before the war. A somewhat reluctant socialist, his politics have made him a target of the McCarthy era witch-hunts against communists. Faced with deportation, he agrees to an offer by the newly established CIA: earn his way back to America by acting as their agent in his native Berlin, now partitioned into east and west, with East Berlin in particular becoming a satellite Soviet nightmare.
What could go wrong? Well, almost everything. After an unexpected shoot-out that results in an agent's death, Alex treads an increasingly thin line between his desire to obtain freedom and a future back home, and the ghosts of his past, personified by the survivors of a family of childhood friends, including Irene, the enigmatic woman he still loves yet who, after enduring the brutality of the Soviet occupation, is now the mistress of a high-ranking Soviet official in Berlin and even more elusive in her motivations than ever. Other past acquaintances of shady morals and questionable agendas dodge Alex's heels as he tries to do the right thing in a world where nothing is what it seems. Crossing a sector border in Berlin might be easy, but how can he delineate the borders of his moral obligations? As Alex is tested beyond his limits, Mr Kanon depicts not only the wreckage of a society destroyed by fascism and the rapacity of its avowed-foe occupiers, but also the wreckage left in the souls of those who must do whatever is necessary to live another day.
I was enthralled by this novel, which doesn't offer palatable solutions. Gripping and tense, yet imbued with the longing for what is lost and can never be recovered, "Leaving Berlin" is not only a fine spy thriller but also a love story and lamentation for a fallen city.
Joseph Kanon highlights the dilemmas faced by survivors of the murderous Nazi regime in his masterful, sparely written and haunting "Leaving Berlin." His protagonist, Alex Meier, is a celebrated German Jewish writer who escaped for America before the war. A somewhat reluctant socialist, his politics have made him a target of the McCarthy era witch-hunts against communists. Faced with deportation, he agrees to an offer by the newly established CIA: earn his way back to America by acting as their agent in his native Berlin, now partitioned into east and west, with East Berlin in particular becoming a satellite Soviet nightmare.
What could go wrong? Well, almost everything. After an unexpected shoot-out that results in an agent's death, Alex treads an increasingly thin line between his desire to obtain freedom and a future back home, and the ghosts of his past, personified by the survivors of a family of childhood friends, including Irene, the enigmatic woman he still loves yet who, after enduring the brutality of the Soviet occupation, is now the mistress of a high-ranking Soviet official in Berlin and even more elusive in her motivations than ever. Other past acquaintances of shady morals and questionable agendas dodge Alex's heels as he tries to do the right thing in a world where nothing is what it seems. Crossing a sector border in Berlin might be easy, but how can he delineate the borders of his moral obligations? As Alex is tested beyond his limits, Mr Kanon depicts not only the wreckage of a society destroyed by fascism and the rapacity of its avowed-foe occupiers, but also the wreckage left in the souls of those who must do whatever is necessary to live another day.
I was enthralled by this novel, which doesn't offer palatable solutions. Gripping and tense, yet imbued with the longing for what is lost and can never be recovered, "Leaving Berlin" is not only a fine spy thriller but also a love story and lamentation for a fallen city.
May 18, 2019
Gripping tale of East Berlin post WWII where Russian power wages war with a divided German society faced with survival. They must choose sides to avoid brutal interrogations, trials, POW camps or enforced work mining uranium.
Into this challenging environment a German who had gained some fame as author in America makes a return to Berlin under agreement with US Security to learn the art of killing and deception the hard way.
The action is paced perfectly, balanced with believable characters of all types.
Into this challenging environment a German who had gained some fame as author in America makes a return to Berlin under agreement with US Security to learn the art of killing and deception the hard way.
The action is paced perfectly, balanced with believable characters of all types.
March 14, 2015
I read this book cover to cover but did not find it compelling or a page turner. It barely held my attention but I did complete it--reading each page. This experience is why I call it "OK" and nothing more.
April 17, 2015
Really loved this and a portrayal of a shattered East Berlin and how no-one gets the moral high ground.
March 6, 2015
East Berlin was a robust setting for all manner of stories for at least 50 years. The changing affiliations, nuanced relationships and remnants of WWII animosities leave so much room for a storyteller to spin their tale. Leaving Berlin manages to weave in all the elements and include aspects of the US McCarthyism that sends the protagonist back to Berlin post-war. I had difficulty with the writing style even though I am very familiar with the German authors and characters referenced; the dialog is overlapping and rarely explained. It feels like entering a movie 10 minutes after it started. You understand overall what is happening but feel as though you are missing the artistry. I received the book from Netgalley.
June 3, 2024
Sensational! Talk about being thrown back into the beginnings of the Cold War. 1948 Berlin. Alex Meier has a job to do in order to see his son again. Compliments of the unAmerican Comittee. All he has to do is act as a spy and get information out to the west. Of course it goes spectacularly wrong. All Alex can do is his best. Gritty and taught tale of the early days of spycraft in what became East Berlin.
January 18, 2016
There were some very good moments in this book and some other, not-so-good moments.
On the positive side, Kanon is skilled at creating the atmosphere of post-war Berlin, both the physical look and feel of the city and also the mindset of the Berliners. There have been a number of books written in the past decade that attempt to see into the mind of the post-war German. Given the atrocities that the Nazis inflicted on so many, I find it difficult to believe that Germans in that era could ever think that they were the victims but, apparently, they did. The Brits and Americans were wrong for bombing, the Russians were wrong for, well, everything. As the history of East Berlin played out, there is perhaps some validity to that belief but still, no one was ever a willing Nazi. Hopefully, the post-post war generations are more accepting of the role that the average German played in the rise of Nazism. But I digress...
I also thought the spy part of the story was very good. I couldn't quite keep track of all the twists and turns-- no one was telling the truth and no one was who he/she seemed to be.
So, what I didn't like-- too many minor, useless characters! I had a hard time keeping track of the plot twists and I really couldn't keep track of all the minor characters. I found myself constantly flipping back trying to remember who "Gunther" was or who "Helene" was. In particular, the book was loaded with references to actual people. I have never been overly fond of German art or literature and the name dropping of all these writers who returned to Germany believing that they were building a new Communist society got tiresome. I realize that some of it was necessary to move the story along but we could have lost 50 pages and they wouldn't have been missed. The same thing could have been said in three sentences rather than three pages. There was no need for pages upon pages about Brecht and "Mother Courage." (Yes, I know, one of the greatest plays of the 20th century yada yada yada.) If I had wanted to read about Mother Courage, I would have read the play itself, not a synposis in an espionage book.
On the positive side, Kanon is skilled at creating the atmosphere of post-war Berlin, both the physical look and feel of the city and also the mindset of the Berliners. There have been a number of books written in the past decade that attempt to see into the mind of the post-war German. Given the atrocities that the Nazis inflicted on so many, I find it difficult to believe that Germans in that era could ever think that they were the victims but, apparently, they did. The Brits and Americans were wrong for bombing, the Russians were wrong for, well, everything. As the history of East Berlin played out, there is perhaps some validity to that belief but still, no one was ever a willing Nazi. Hopefully, the post-post war generations are more accepting of the role that the average German played in the rise of Nazism. But I digress...
I also thought the spy part of the story was very good. I couldn't quite keep track of all the twists and turns-- no one was telling the truth and no one was who he/she seemed to be.
So, what I didn't like-- too many minor, useless characters! I had a hard time keeping track of the plot twists and I really couldn't keep track of all the minor characters. I found myself constantly flipping back trying to remember who "Gunther" was or who "Helene" was. In particular, the book was loaded with references to actual people. I have never been overly fond of German art or literature and the name dropping of all these writers who returned to Germany believing that they were building a new Communist society got tiresome. I realize that some of it was necessary to move the story along but we could have lost 50 pages and they wouldn't have been missed. The same thing could have been said in three sentences rather than three pages. There was no need for pages upon pages about Brecht and "Mother Courage." (Yes, I know, one of the greatest plays of the 20th century yada yada yada.) If I had wanted to read about Mother Courage, I would have read the play itself, not a synposis in an espionage book.
April 17, 2015
A very good story about conditions in east Berlin after WWII. A Jewish writer is coerced by the CIA to return to East Germany or face being blacklisted for having been a socialist prior to the war. Faced with the choice Alex Meyer returns to East Berlin and receives a heroes welcome by the communist party. The CIA wants him to make contact with an ex girlfriend, Irene, who is now dating a high ranking Russian official. The story is complex and intricate. The character of Irene is completely captivating and the plot is full of double dealings. The most interesting part of the book is the naïveté of once young socialists returning to East Berlin and facing actual living condition in a Russian controlled country. The book has some drawbacks. The story is confusing at the beginning as it takes awhile to figure out why Alex is in East Berlin. Some of the things that the character of Alex accomplishes during his stay there lack credibility for a non-spy, but that is why it is a fiction book.
September 10, 2015
A friend of mine lent me this book because she couldn't really make head nor tails of it. Even from the start, I could see why it was such a problem for her.
The subject matter is very interesting. I've always wondered how Germany felt after World War II, not only that they lost the war, but also about the division of their nation into East and West Germany, between Communism and capitalism. This book takes place in 1948, when America was airlifting supplies into Berlin while the Soviets were trying to solidify their position with their East German Communist allies. However, nothing and no one is as they seem, and everything is rife with danger.
So this sounds like a fascinating novel about a time period that we in the West might not be fully aware of. But most of the story is told within dialogue between characters, complete with hesitations and interruptions, which makes it very difficult to grasp exactly what's going on. Had Kanon instead chosen to tell the story a little more, versus showing with dialogue, I feel that he would have captured the reader a little more fully. It's also difficult at times to differentiate the characters and to keep everyone straight.
I really wanted to enjoy this novel, but unfortunately it just wasn't to be.
The subject matter is very interesting. I've always wondered how Germany felt after World War II, not only that they lost the war, but also about the division of their nation into East and West Germany, between Communism and capitalism. This book takes place in 1948, when America was airlifting supplies into Berlin while the Soviets were trying to solidify their position with their East German Communist allies. However, nothing and no one is as they seem, and everything is rife with danger.
So this sounds like a fascinating novel about a time period that we in the West might not be fully aware of. But most of the story is told within dialogue between characters, complete with hesitations and interruptions, which makes it very difficult to grasp exactly what's going on. Had Kanon instead chosen to tell the story a little more, versus showing with dialogue, I feel that he would have captured the reader a little more fully. It's also difficult at times to differentiate the characters and to keep everyone straight.
I really wanted to enjoy this novel, but unfortunately it just wasn't to be.
June 24, 2015
I plan to visit Berlin in August so I really wanted to read something that gave me that old Berlin feel. Having read some reviews awhile back I thought this would give it to me, but I gave up before any of the good stuff I am sure?? This book just so boring! No character building at all, no established plot by 25%?? I gave up! The narrator on the audio version could possibly have ruined it all on his own, he wasn't the best! I have a feeling...eventually...I could have gotten a picture of the old city, post war, gritty - oh well!
September 5, 2017
I've always enjoyed Joseph Kanon's books, which are thrillers set in various places around the world, but all taking place shortly after World War II. Kanon mines that same ground over and over because it's one of the richest veins of material you could ever hope to find. The war ended, but not the fighting. It was just a different kind of battle and the players shifted around. No more Allies fighting Nazis, now it's the Cold War, with Berlin being dead center in the new conflict.
Alex Meier was a celebrated young novelist in Germany in the 1930s. A socialist with a Jewish father, neither one good things to be once the Nazis took over. But he was friends with the younger members of the powerful von Bernuth family, and their father got Alex out of the country before it was too late. Alex's parents never got out.
Alex made a new home in the US, married and had a son. Then along came the Red Scare and suddenly a young German socialist was in danger from the government yet again. To avoid being deported permanently, Alex agrees to act as a US government agent by returning to Berlin for a time, in particular to the Soviet Occupied Zone, where several other leftist German exiles had returned, the most prominent being playwright Berthold Brecht. Alex is to provide information about his friends in the new Germany, and if he does a good job, the promise is he can return to the US.
Berlin in 1949 was about the most interesting place imaginable. Interesting in the usual sense, but also in the sense of the old curse, "May you live in interesting times." The city was divided into four occupation zones for each of the Allied powers, but there was no Berlin Wall yet. Tensions between the Soviets and the other Allies were increasing by the day, as the Soviets tried to squeeze the Allies out of the city, deep within the eastern half of the country, which the Soviets planned as a satellite state.
Along with the political and military Cold War, there was also a so-called Cultural Cold War. The Soviets and the West vied for superiority in literature, music, theater and all the other arts. The Soviets lavished privileges on artists who could burnish the reputation of communism around the world. So Alex is welcomed warmly in the Soviet Occupied Zone and treated as a valued member of the new socialist dream society, someone who can eat and drink off ration at the Kulturbund and be awarded a nice apartment all to himself.
Alex quickly finds that Berlin is full of secrets and lies, with danger and betrayal all around him. This is no longer the city of his youth. His childhood home is rubble and his old and new friends may not be what they seem. What was supposed to be a quick and easy job soon turns deadly dangerous and Alex must rely on his wits to save himself and those he still feels loyal to.
I've read a lot of espionage thrillers, but this one had of the most satisfyingly twisty-turny plots ever; enough to make your head spin and heart pound. Along with the complex and exciting plot, Kanon delivers a large cast of realistic characters, starting with Alex, but also including childhood friends (especially Irene von Bernuth), Soviet officers, Alex's minder from the Party, intelligence contacts and more. Kanon also has a gift for invoking the atmosphere of the ruined city and what Berliners do to survive in the new reality.
This is Kanon's second book set in Berlin, with the first being The Good German (2002), made into a movie starring George Clooney and Cate Blanchett. This is a very different story, but also one that would make a terrific film. I feel sure of that because Kanon's powerfully evocative writing turned it into a story that played out in my head as a movie while I was reading.
Alex Meier was a celebrated young novelist in Germany in the 1930s. A socialist with a Jewish father, neither one good things to be once the Nazis took over. But he was friends with the younger members of the powerful von Bernuth family, and their father got Alex out of the country before it was too late. Alex's parents never got out.
Alex made a new home in the US, married and had a son. Then along came the Red Scare and suddenly a young German socialist was in danger from the government yet again. To avoid being deported permanently, Alex agrees to act as a US government agent by returning to Berlin for a time, in particular to the Soviet Occupied Zone, where several other leftist German exiles had returned, the most prominent being playwright Berthold Brecht. Alex is to provide information about his friends in the new Germany, and if he does a good job, the promise is he can return to the US.
Berlin in 1949 was about the most interesting place imaginable. Interesting in the usual sense, but also in the sense of the old curse, "May you live in interesting times." The city was divided into four occupation zones for each of the Allied powers, but there was no Berlin Wall yet. Tensions between the Soviets and the other Allies were increasing by the day, as the Soviets tried to squeeze the Allies out of the city, deep within the eastern half of the country, which the Soviets planned as a satellite state.
Along with the political and military Cold War, there was also a so-called Cultural Cold War. The Soviets and the West vied for superiority in literature, music, theater and all the other arts. The Soviets lavished privileges on artists who could burnish the reputation of communism around the world. So Alex is welcomed warmly in the Soviet Occupied Zone and treated as a valued member of the new socialist dream society, someone who can eat and drink off ration at the Kulturbund and be awarded a nice apartment all to himself.
Alex quickly finds that Berlin is full of secrets and lies, with danger and betrayal all around him. This is no longer the city of his youth. His childhood home is rubble and his old and new friends may not be what they seem. What was supposed to be a quick and easy job soon turns deadly dangerous and Alex must rely on his wits to save himself and those he still feels loyal to.
I've read a lot of espionage thrillers, but this one had of the most satisfyingly twisty-turny plots ever; enough to make your head spin and heart pound. Along with the complex and exciting plot, Kanon delivers a large cast of realistic characters, starting with Alex, but also including childhood friends (especially Irene von Bernuth), Soviet officers, Alex's minder from the Party, intelligence contacts and more. Kanon also has a gift for invoking the atmosphere of the ruined city and what Berliners do to survive in the new reality.
This is Kanon's second book set in Berlin, with the first being The Good German (2002), made into a movie starring George Clooney and Cate Blanchett. This is a very different story, but also one that would make a terrific film. I feel sure of that because Kanon's powerfully evocative writing turned it into a story that played out in my head as a movie while I was reading.
April 20, 2019
Leaving Berlin was quite a disappointing read. It is a shame because the book seemed promising at first. Initially, I found myself interested in the protagonist, a Jewish man who returns to Berlin from USA shortly after the end of WW2. His prewar recollections seems interesting at first, but soon they became repetitive and there was no character development to speak of so I lost my interest in him. Unfortunately, the more I read, the more bored I became, up until the point when I almost gave up. I'm glad I didn't because I hate to give up on a book, but at the same time the story did nothing for me so I didn't gain anything by finishing it. At least I don't have to worry I had missed something! Notwithstanding, I might try some other book by Joseph Kanon. Maybe this novel isn't the best representative of his writing abilities.
What are my issues with this book? First of all, the writing isn't good. This novel is overwritten and repetitive. Secondly, the writer didn't make me care for the characters. I couldn't really connect with them, and not caring about them obviously had an impact on my reading motivation. Often I couldn't make any sense of characters. In addition, their portrayal seemed trivial and stereotypical. Thirdly, the plot wasn't well developed. Not that much happens in this book, and that is strange, especially considering the genre. The whole thing is too long and not eventful at that. The story drags. Finally, the atmosphere doesn't feel realistic. The author did try to convey the atmosphere of post war Berlin, but he relied too much on repetition. He used too much description when he was supposed to showing us things and the fact there is no plot to speak of doesn't help. I do believe that the author did his research but it didn't really came up well in the writing itself. It is nice that he tried to show the human side of Berlin people and their suffering (if that is what he tried to do), but this kind of writing can't make anyone appear human. On overall, this novel feels sloppy and lazy. As interesting as this time period is, it doesn't make up for the fact that Leaving Berlin is a poorly constructed and badly written novel. Not a fan!
What are my issues with this book? First of all, the writing isn't good. This novel is overwritten and repetitive. Secondly, the writer didn't make me care for the characters. I couldn't really connect with them, and not caring about them obviously had an impact on my reading motivation. Often I couldn't make any sense of characters. In addition, their portrayal seemed trivial and stereotypical. Thirdly, the plot wasn't well developed. Not that much happens in this book, and that is strange, especially considering the genre. The whole thing is too long and not eventful at that. The story drags. Finally, the atmosphere doesn't feel realistic. The author did try to convey the atmosphere of post war Berlin, but he relied too much on repetition. He used too much description when he was supposed to showing us things and the fact there is no plot to speak of doesn't help. I do believe that the author did his research but it didn't really came up well in the writing itself. It is nice that he tried to show the human side of Berlin people and their suffering (if that is what he tried to do), but this kind of writing can't make anyone appear human. On overall, this novel feels sloppy and lazy. As interesting as this time period is, it doesn't make up for the fact that Leaving Berlin is a poorly constructed and badly written novel. Not a fan!
February 6, 2017
Joseph Kanon is a master of complexity and pacing, and this novel of a post-WWII divided Berlin is a brilliant example of that.
The protagonist is Alex Meier, a well-known American author who runs afoul of the House Un-American Activities Committee because he refuses to finger fellow Hollywood artists as Communists. He has also been through a divorce. He is exiled to East Berlin after making a secret deal with the American government to spy for it, in return for one day being able to go back to America and see his son Peter.
The German-born Alex had once been a close friend of the aristocratic von Bernuth family, and they become central to his story almost right away. One daughter in the family, the beautiful Irene, had been his lover when they were young, and she is now the consort of an important Russian intelligence agent, and it is for this reason that Alex was able to swing his spy deal.
In the meantime, he is touted by the East German Kulturbund as a returning hero of socialism, someone who will continue to write in the new Communist world and will befriend other exiled Westerners like Bertolt Brecht.
Alex has barely gotten himself situated when he is confronted with an ambush and is forced to commit an act of violence, and then, as he tries to feel his way in his new role as a spy -- for which he has many talents -- an old acquaintance of the von Bernuths approaches him to spy for the East Germans, with veiled threats abounding.
As the story progresses, Alex is faced with whether to help an escaped POW and smuggle him out of the country, whether to resume his old love affair with Irene, whether to trust his American minders, and underneath it all, to figure out who is double crossing whom, all in a war-ravaged city where being followed, arrested and killed are ever-present dangers.
This is another well-crafted spy novel by Kanon, who makes you care for all of his characters without giving any of them a clear cut moral superiority.
The protagonist is Alex Meier, a well-known American author who runs afoul of the House Un-American Activities Committee because he refuses to finger fellow Hollywood artists as Communists. He has also been through a divorce. He is exiled to East Berlin after making a secret deal with the American government to spy for it, in return for one day being able to go back to America and see his son Peter.
The German-born Alex had once been a close friend of the aristocratic von Bernuth family, and they become central to his story almost right away. One daughter in the family, the beautiful Irene, had been his lover when they were young, and she is now the consort of an important Russian intelligence agent, and it is for this reason that Alex was able to swing his spy deal.
In the meantime, he is touted by the East German Kulturbund as a returning hero of socialism, someone who will continue to write in the new Communist world and will befriend other exiled Westerners like Bertolt Brecht.
Alex has barely gotten himself situated when he is confronted with an ambush and is forced to commit an act of violence, and then, as he tries to feel his way in his new role as a spy -- for which he has many talents -- an old acquaintance of the von Bernuths approaches him to spy for the East Germans, with veiled threats abounding.
As the story progresses, Alex is faced with whether to help an escaped POW and smuggle him out of the country, whether to resume his old love affair with Irene, whether to trust his American minders, and underneath it all, to figure out who is double crossing whom, all in a war-ravaged city where being followed, arrested and killed are ever-present dangers.
This is another well-crafted spy novel by Kanon, who makes you care for all of his characters without giving any of them a clear cut moral superiority.
August 24, 2017
What a wonderfully written story. Mr. Kanon is a fantastic storyteller who takes the reader through some dangerous situations while educating them on what happened after the war ended. He does a great job showing how scary Berlin was even several years after the war ended. How people were still being sent away for talking against authority.
Our office building security guy was in Berlin after the war and as I was reading this book I kept thinking about him and what he might have gone through and if he even dealt with some of these types of characters.
Pick this one up. You will be pulled into a story where you will be cheering for the different characters to succeed and survive.
Our office building security guy was in Berlin after the war and as I was reading this book I kept thinking about him and what he might have gone through and if he even dealt with some of these types of characters.
Pick this one up. You will be pulled into a story where you will be cheering for the different characters to succeed and survive.
December 6, 2015
One of the best spy stories I have ever read. You will be breathless by the extraordinary climax. A complex and devious story devised by a master of prose, a master of suspense. Brilliant.
December 30, 2015
Wow! So much better than "The Good German"
April 23, 2021
Odlična knjiga. Pitka, napeta, nepredvidiva, sjajno obavijena povijesnim događajima i ojačana stvarnim likovima. Odlična.
May 4, 2015
For those who love spy thrillers stage in the aftermath of WW11 “Leaving Berlin” brings us to 1949 the year of Berlin Airlift, after the roads and railways were closed and the city was partitioned into sectors. You needed to cross checkpoints to travel between East and West Berlin and this if you were permitted to do so.
Alex Meier is the main player, a novelist and refugee who has returned to Berlin after being expelled from the USA. The communists greet him with open arms but soon the CIA will offer him a deal he could not refuse…..Alex becomes a pawn in a chess game…..
This plot left me hot and cold, the first part I really didn’t know where it was going I found it babbled for long period and the dillydally around became an irritant. Was the plotting to intricate or simply too confusing for me I cannot confirm or deny this. I had a hard time getting through half the book and I almost gave up how much this plot was dragging along. The second half was better crafted with some old fashioned plot twists, some great setup and chocked with historical details. The author has mixed fiction and facts seamlessly and finally gave his story a note that rang true and basically made it believable to a degree. This book is also heavily populated with a toxic mix of interests: good guys and bad guys take your pick but it is a challenge to know which is which….The writing style is unusual and the dialogue is particularly staccato, it takes time to get used to both and by then I had happily reached the conclusion…..
Not my preferred spy thriller but not to say it is a bad one and this by far, in fact many readers have enjoyed it immensely. This book is simply not my cup of tea but it may be yours
Alex Meier is the main player, a novelist and refugee who has returned to Berlin after being expelled from the USA. The communists greet him with open arms but soon the CIA will offer him a deal he could not refuse…..Alex becomes a pawn in a chess game…..
This plot left me hot and cold, the first part I really didn’t know where it was going I found it babbled for long period and the dillydally around became an irritant. Was the plotting to intricate or simply too confusing for me I cannot confirm or deny this. I had a hard time getting through half the book and I almost gave up how much this plot was dragging along. The second half was better crafted with some old fashioned plot twists, some great setup and chocked with historical details. The author has mixed fiction and facts seamlessly and finally gave his story a note that rang true and basically made it believable to a degree. This book is also heavily populated with a toxic mix of interests: good guys and bad guys take your pick but it is a challenge to know which is which….The writing style is unusual and the dialogue is particularly staccato, it takes time to get used to both and by then I had happily reached the conclusion…..
Not my preferred spy thriller but not to say it is a bad one and this by far, in fact many readers have enjoyed it immensely. This book is simply not my cup of tea but it may be yours
January 3, 2017
Joseph Kanon has written another winner. LEAVING BERLIN is a post-World War II novel that I would call historical fiction/thriller. Here is Berlin four years after the Nazis, now not yet totally Stalinist but divided into sectors. Alex Meier, a socialist who left Berlin before the war, has returned. He lives in the Russian sector.
But this book is, most of all, a thriller. Meier is recruited by the Americans to spy on his old girlfriend and, not much later, he is recruited by a German Communist. And, my, what a tangled web! Meier gets a real good idea of what life in East Germany is becoming.
This is an intelligent can’t-put-it-down book, both plot- and character-driven. I need a sequel.
Thank you to luxuryreading.com for the lovely hardcover copy of LEAVING BERLIN. It's a keeper!
But this book is, most of all, a thriller. Meier is recruited by the Americans to spy on his old girlfriend and, not much later, he is recruited by a German Communist. And, my, what a tangled web! Meier gets a real good idea of what life in East Germany is becoming.
This is an intelligent can’t-put-it-down book, both plot- and character-driven. I need a sequel.
Thank you to luxuryreading.com for the lovely hardcover copy of LEAVING BERLIN. It's a keeper!
March 18, 2015
When I saw the publisher’s description for international bestselling author Joseph Kanon’s newest novel, Leaving Berlin, I realized I hadn’t read a sneaky spy thriller in a long time and that I had only rarely read anything about the Berlin split after World War II. I was intrigued by the concept of this novel, which frankly gave me chills. A Jewish man escapes the camps to America only to find himself in a rock-and-a-hard-place situation that lands him back in Berlin immediately after the war. It made me bite my nails to just think about it. It looks at loyalty, betrayal, survival, the testing of what makes us human, and includes not just espionage but political maneuvering that made my head spin. Sound interesting? Read the rest of my review at http://popcornreads.com/?p=8222.
March 17, 2015
My eyes are closed
But I'm not asleep.
Snore snore snore.
Kanon's weakest novel. Slow. Boring.
I quit after 45%.
But I'm not asleep.
Snore snore snore.
Kanon's weakest novel. Slow. Boring.
I quit after 45%.
September 3, 2022
Loved this robust spy thriller. Physical feel and look of post-war Berlin very well portrayed. The war has ended but not the fighting. Does it ever end?
March 19, 2015
Four and a half stars. I have found Mr. Kanon's books to be inconsistent; some great, some not so great. This is another of the great ones.
Here Mr. Kanon explores a subject I've not seen done before: East Berlin immediately (1948-49) after WW II. The Russians have taken over, and many idealistic, hopeful Germans are seeking to embrace the new "Socialist" order, despite their raw memories of the brutal Russian invasion--and the obvious similarities of the repressive Russian occupation to the Nazi government of Germany. Alex Meier, the young protagonist, comes to East Berlin from the United States; a socialist himself, he has accepted deportation and agreed to provide information about Communist activities in East Berlin as an alternative to imprisonment for refusing to testify to Congress and give names, and to earn his right to return to the United States with a clean slate. Of course, he has no idea what he is getting into, and the story chronicles his education and his desperate efforts to survive in an environment where no one can be trusted.
Mr. Kanon has a great sense of place. His descriptions of the ruined city, its frightened and conflicted German residents, and the overbearing Russian occupiers ring true. His characters are realistic, and their motivations persuasive. I have only two issues with Leaving Berlin, and they've shown up in other Kanon books: One is that about two-thirds of the way through, the plot becomes incredibly complicated, and at the same time the protagonist, suddenly and magically developed from a naive young man into a master manipulator, becomes infallibly able to deal brilliantly with all the sudden developments, handling deduction, persuasion and violence with an aplomb that would be envied by a master spy. That's all right; the whole thing is so well done that one doesn't mind a bit of unreality. The second issue, a minor one, is that at times the sentences are choppy and not fully informative; this is Mr. Kanon's style, and he's certainly entitled to it. For me, at least, having to go back and reread parts slows the pace and interferes with the flow of the exciting story.
Altogether, highly recommended.
Here Mr. Kanon explores a subject I've not seen done before: East Berlin immediately (1948-49) after WW II. The Russians have taken over, and many idealistic, hopeful Germans are seeking to embrace the new "Socialist" order, despite their raw memories of the brutal Russian invasion--and the obvious similarities of the repressive Russian occupation to the Nazi government of Germany. Alex Meier, the young protagonist, comes to East Berlin from the United States; a socialist himself, he has accepted deportation and agreed to provide information about Communist activities in East Berlin as an alternative to imprisonment for refusing to testify to Congress and give names, and to earn his right to return to the United States with a clean slate. Of course, he has no idea what he is getting into, and the story chronicles his education and his desperate efforts to survive in an environment where no one can be trusted.
Mr. Kanon has a great sense of place. His descriptions of the ruined city, its frightened and conflicted German residents, and the overbearing Russian occupiers ring true. His characters are realistic, and their motivations persuasive. I have only two issues with Leaving Berlin, and they've shown up in other Kanon books: One is that about two-thirds of the way through, the plot becomes incredibly complicated, and at the same time the protagonist, suddenly and magically developed from a naive young man into a master manipulator, becomes infallibly able to deal brilliantly with all the sudden developments, handling deduction, persuasion and violence with an aplomb that would be envied by a master spy. That's all right; the whole thing is so well done that one doesn't mind a bit of unreality. The second issue, a minor one, is that at times the sentences are choppy and not fully informative; this is Mr. Kanon's style, and he's certainly entitled to it. For me, at least, having to go back and reread parts slows the pace and interferes with the flow of the exciting story.
Altogether, highly recommended.
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