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The Glass Pearls
London, June 1965. Karl Braun arrives as a lodger in Pimlico: hatless, with a bow-tie, greying hair, slight in build. His new neighbours are intrigued by this cultured German gentleman who works as a piano tuner; many are fellow émigrés, who assume that he, like them, came to England to flee Hitler.
That summer, Braun courts a woman, attends classical concerts, dances the twist. But as the newspapers fill with reports of the hunt for Nazi war criminals, his nightmares worsen....
A forgotten classic by the film-maker of Powell and Pressburger fame, The Glass Pearls (1966) is not only a thrilling feat of Hitchcockian noir but a haunting dissection of guilt, paranoia and moral ambiguity.
That summer, Braun courts a woman, attends classical concerts, dances the twist. But as the newspapers fill with reports of the hunt for Nazi war criminals, his nightmares worsen....
A forgotten classic by the film-maker of Powell and Pressburger fame, The Glass Pearls (1966) is not only a thrilling feat of Hitchcockian noir but a haunting dissection of guilt, paranoia and moral ambiguity.
260 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1966
59 people are currently reading
1440 people want to read
About the author
Emeric Pressburger
11 books15 followersHungarian-British screenwriter, film director, and producer.
Educated at the Universities of Prague and Stuttgart, Emeric Pressburger worked as a journalist in Hungary and Germany and an author and scriptwriter in Berlin and Paris. He was a Hungarian Jew, chased around Europe (he worked on films for UFA in Berlin and Paris) before World War II, finally finding sanctuary in London - but as a scriptwriter who didn't speak English. So he taught himself to understand not only the finer nuances of the language but also of the British people. A few lucky breaks and introductions via old friends led to his meeting with "renegade" director Michael Powell. They then went on to make some of the most interesting and complex films of the 1940s and 1950s under the banner of "The Archers". Pressburger often showed a deep understanding of the British only granted to those "outside, looking in". He always prided himself on being "more English than the English". After all, some of us were just BORN English, but he CHOSE to become English. He spent his last days at Shoemakers Cottage, Aspall, Stowmarket, Suffolk in the English countryside that he loved so well.
(Credits: Steve Crook )
Educated at the Universities of Prague and Stuttgart, Emeric Pressburger worked as a journalist in Hungary and Germany and an author and scriptwriter in Berlin and Paris. He was a Hungarian Jew, chased around Europe (he worked on films for UFA in Berlin and Paris) before World War II, finally finding sanctuary in London - but as a scriptwriter who didn't speak English. So he taught himself to understand not only the finer nuances of the language but also of the British people. A few lucky breaks and introductions via old friends led to his meeting with "renegade" director Michael Powell. They then went on to make some of the most interesting and complex films of the 1940s and 1950s under the banner of "The Archers". Pressburger often showed a deep understanding of the British only granted to those "outside, looking in". He always prided himself on being "more English than the English". After all, some of us were just BORN English, but he CHOSE to become English. He spent his last days at Shoemakers Cottage, Aspall, Stowmarket, Suffolk in the English countryside that he loved so well.
(Credits: Steve Crook )
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 157 reviews
July 29, 2022
An utterly gripping blend of kitchen-sink realism and slow-building, noirish thriller. First published in 1966 this was the second novel by Emeric Pressburger, better known as one half of the acclaimed, film-making duo Powell and Pressburger. The novel was reviewed once, badly, and then fell into obscurity, perhaps because the public weren’t ready for Pressburger’s particular perspective on the actions of a fugitive, Nazi war criminal. It's an incredibly taut, quite nuanced piece, unusual for its time when representations of Nazis were embedded in a general “them versus us” narrative, in which cartoonlike German villains were defeated by the British forces of good.
It concerns an outwardly unremarkable, middle-aged German, Karl Braun. Braun lives in a seedy, Pimlico boarding-house and scrapes a living as a piano tuner. But Braun has a secret, he’s actually a former concentration-camp doctor who butchered countless Jews in his experiments on memory and its site in the human brain. Braun has reinvented himself, living on borrowed anecdotes and waiting for the war trials to be over. He meets a girl and forms friendships with his fellow residents including Kolm a Czech Jew who fled the Nazis in the 1930s. The only traces of Braun’s former life surface in his mind, filled with overwhelming, mental images of the death of his wife and child in the notorious, Hamburg bombing raids. Yet he lives in a state of constant anxiety convinced that people are on his trail, just out of sight, determined to do him harm. Then a new trial highlights Braun’s activities in the concentration camp and he’s forced to flee.
Pressburger pulls off something extraordinary here, making Braun a rounded, almost sympathetic character, to the point where I found it hard not to root for him in his flight from justice – an image that’s gradually dispelled as Pressburger goes on to reveal the extent of Braun’s brutality and his contempt for those around him. It’s a remarkable feat, made even more so when you consider Pressburger’s own past. Pressburger was Jewish, born in Hungary, he moved to Berlin where he had a promising career at the prestigious UFA studios, a job he was forced to abandon when Hitler came to power. He later learnt of the deaths of his mother and other family members at Auschwitz. Yet Braun operates as a form of doppelgänger in Pressburger’s narrative, a distorted mirror image of its author – the remorseless Braun’s laden down with physical characteristics, experiences and a love of literature and music that echoed Pressburger’s own. A fact that adds to the poignancy and force of the piece, a vehicle perhaps for dealing with Pressburger’s particular brand of survivor’s guilt; or an attempt to understand the motivation behind the atrocities committed by seemingly-cultured men like Braun; or possibly a manifestation of his suppressed fears at what might lie behind the exteriors of the Germans he encountered in the years after the Holocaust. The last reinforced in the afterword by Pressburger’s grandson, director Kevin Macdonald, who recalls his grandfather’s desperate attempts to dodge an ambulance crew called to assist him after a dangerous fall, convinced these were orderlies sent to escort him to the gas chambers.
Despite the potentially fraught subject matter, it’s a highly-disciplined piece. As you’d expect from a writer with an impressive background in cinema, there’s a strong sense of place and careful attention to detail, all combining to present a clear, visual picture of settings and characters. It reminded me, at times, of reading Dorothy Hughes’s In a Lonely Place or Graham Greene’s depiction of the cornered Pinky in Brighton Rock. Introduced here by author Anthony Quinn.
Thanks to Netgalley and publisher Faber & Faber for an ARC
It concerns an outwardly unremarkable, middle-aged German, Karl Braun. Braun lives in a seedy, Pimlico boarding-house and scrapes a living as a piano tuner. But Braun has a secret, he’s actually a former concentration-camp doctor who butchered countless Jews in his experiments on memory and its site in the human brain. Braun has reinvented himself, living on borrowed anecdotes and waiting for the war trials to be over. He meets a girl and forms friendships with his fellow residents including Kolm a Czech Jew who fled the Nazis in the 1930s. The only traces of Braun’s former life surface in his mind, filled with overwhelming, mental images of the death of his wife and child in the notorious, Hamburg bombing raids. Yet he lives in a state of constant anxiety convinced that people are on his trail, just out of sight, determined to do him harm. Then a new trial highlights Braun’s activities in the concentration camp and he’s forced to flee.
Pressburger pulls off something extraordinary here, making Braun a rounded, almost sympathetic character, to the point where I found it hard not to root for him in his flight from justice – an image that’s gradually dispelled as Pressburger goes on to reveal the extent of Braun’s brutality and his contempt for those around him. It’s a remarkable feat, made even more so when you consider Pressburger’s own past. Pressburger was Jewish, born in Hungary, he moved to Berlin where he had a promising career at the prestigious UFA studios, a job he was forced to abandon when Hitler came to power. He later learnt of the deaths of his mother and other family members at Auschwitz. Yet Braun operates as a form of doppelgänger in Pressburger’s narrative, a distorted mirror image of its author – the remorseless Braun’s laden down with physical characteristics, experiences and a love of literature and music that echoed Pressburger’s own. A fact that adds to the poignancy and force of the piece, a vehicle perhaps for dealing with Pressburger’s particular brand of survivor’s guilt; or an attempt to understand the motivation behind the atrocities committed by seemingly-cultured men like Braun; or possibly a manifestation of his suppressed fears at what might lie behind the exteriors of the Germans he encountered in the years after the Holocaust. The last reinforced in the afterword by Pressburger’s grandson, director Kevin Macdonald, who recalls his grandfather’s desperate attempts to dodge an ambulance crew called to assist him after a dangerous fall, convinced these were orderlies sent to escort him to the gas chambers.
Despite the potentially fraught subject matter, it’s a highly-disciplined piece. As you’d expect from a writer with an impressive background in cinema, there’s a strong sense of place and careful attention to detail, all combining to present a clear, visual picture of settings and characters. It reminded me, at times, of reading Dorothy Hughes’s In a Lonely Place or Graham Greene’s depiction of the cornered Pinky in Brighton Rock. Introduced here by author Anthony Quinn.
Thanks to Netgalley and publisher Faber & Faber for an ARC
February 3, 2024
3.5 Stars
An engaging and well written story by filmmaker and novelist Emeric Pressburger.
I came across this novel while listening to “ A good Read” podcast on BBC Radio 4. This was Ian Rankin’s recommendation on the show and the discussion of the book really captured my attention.
Originally published in 1966, The Glass Pearls is lightly inspired by the capture of Adolf Eichmann. It is a gripping psychological study of a cultured man, guilty of unspeakable crimes as a surgeon in a Concentration camp. He now lives his life in London trying to hide in plain sight.
I thought the book was extremely well written and engaging and all. the more impressive when you realise that Pressburger was a Hungarian Jew who'd had to flee Nazi Germany.
An engaging and well written story by filmmaker and novelist Emeric Pressburger.
I came across this novel while listening to “ A good Read” podcast on BBC Radio 4. This was Ian Rankin’s recommendation on the show and the discussion of the book really captured my attention.
Originally published in 1966, The Glass Pearls is lightly inspired by the capture of Adolf Eichmann. It is a gripping psychological study of a cultured man, guilty of unspeakable crimes as a surgeon in a Concentration camp. He now lives his life in London trying to hide in plain sight.
I thought the book was extremely well written and engaging and all. the more impressive when you realise that Pressburger was a Hungarian Jew who'd had to flee Nazi Germany.
February 11, 2023
A novel that was first published in 1966, received one apparently terrible review, and sunk into obscurity, to be revived now at last in a good-looking new edition by Faber. It’s a fine, noirish rediscovery that tells the story of ‘Karl Braun,’ a quiet, unassuming London piano tuner as he interacts with other European emigre residents of his boarding house, carefully fends off the attentions of the woman at his firm who’s responsible for sending work his way, and woos a young divorcee. Tension builds throughout since, as the reader quickly becomes aware, Braun isn’t all he seems to be - actually, he’s a Nazi war criminal, anxious to avoid detection and nervous at every turn about blowing his cover.
I wasn’t familiar with Pressburger, but his background is part of what makes the story so fascinating. Better known for his work in film, he was born in Hungary and lived in Weimar-era Berlin until Hitler rose to power, after which he fled to Paris and then the UK. His mother and most of his family died in the Holocaust. And yet, he writes with such skill that it is hard to avoid rooting at various points for Braun to escape detection. Fascinating, too, that the false backstory Braun gives himself, of escape to Paris, was Pressburger’s own…
I wasn’t familiar with Pressburger, but his background is part of what makes the story so fascinating. Better known for his work in film, he was born in Hungary and lived in Weimar-era Berlin until Hitler rose to power, after which he fled to Paris and then the UK. His mother and most of his family died in the Holocaust. And yet, he writes with such skill that it is hard to avoid rooting at various points for Braun to escape detection. Fascinating, too, that the false backstory Braun gives himself, of escape to Paris, was Pressburger’s own…
August 17, 2022
Karl Braun is a lonely piano tuner in London. He left Germany in the 30s and found his way to Britain before the war or did he? As his true background is gradually revealed in this slow paced but engrossing novel, it’s Karl’s own paranoia and guilt that leads to an inevitable end. He’s a sympathetic character despite his past which makes this a cleverly written story.
July 12, 2023
Cam İnciler, başka bir kimlikle yaşayan eski bir Nazi subayının merkezde olduğu bir roman. Nazi olduğunu bilsek de onu tanıdığımız zaman diliminde kahramanımız o kadar olağan ki neredeyse onun kendisine atfedilen suçları işleyen adam olduğuna inanmakta zorlanıyoruz. Yazarın da derdi tam bu zaten. Kötülüğün ne kadar sıradan olduğunu (Eichmann’ın adı da geçirerek) anlatmaya çalışıyor. Karakterin yakalanmaya dair kaygıları, hayata kendince tutunmaya çalışması ama bir şeylerden sürekli şüphe duyması da onun herhangi bir insandan farkı olmadığını göstermeye yarıyor. 1966 yılında yayınlanan kitap, savaşın anıları hala tazeyken, bir Nazi’yi merkeze alıp, onu da anlamaya çalıştığı için hayli ilginç bir bakış açısına sahip. O dönemde çok sevilmemesinin de açıklaması bence bu farklı bakış. Bu bakışa yer yer artan gerilim dozu (ki bence eksik kaldığı kısım biraz bu, yazar istese çok daha heyecanlı bir hikaye anlatabilirmiş ama bunu tercih etmemiş), akıcı anlatım ve sinematografik betimlemeler (yazar yönetmenmiş de aynı zamanda ve bu çok hissediliyor) de ekleyince ortaya okunmayı hak eden bir roman çıkıyor.
May 22, 2024
A surprisingly light treatment of a serious theme. Karl Braun is working as a piano tuner in 1960s London. No one knows that he is a notorious Nazi war criminal.
There's plenty of light humour on display (mostly at the expense of his unworldly female companion) which seems to be a bit at odds with the idea of this being a cruel Nazi.
However it's an entertaining enough light read with a decent little plot twist at the end
There's plenty of light humour on display (mostly at the expense of his unworldly female companion) which seems to be a bit at odds with the idea of this being a cruel Nazi.
However it's an entertaining enough light read with a decent little plot twist at the end
March 8, 2019
A stunning second (and final) novel from Pressburger, who wrote many of the finest films of the 1940s. It’s somewhat reminiscent of Peeping Tom, his regular collaborator Michael Powell’s 1960 film, dealing with a quiet, haunted German psychopath engaging in tentative, sexless romance in London, while trying to stay ahead of the law.
His protagonist, though, isn’t a serial killer wielding a murderous tripod, but a Nazi war criminal (shades of Marathon Man, ‘Karl Braun’ (the actor who starred in Peeping Tom, incidentally, was Karlheinz Böhm), suspectible to flights of hypnotic anxiety and ornamented deceit, all cleverly tied by Pressburger to the character’s chilling wartime experiments. The book is dark and unsettling – the nature of narrative forcing us to be complicit in Braun’s neuroses, excuses and evasion of justice – but, like so much of the writer’s work, also deft, witty, intelligent and entertaining.
The final scene is truly jawdropping and heartbreaking, Pressburger bringing the weight of history to bear, after holding it at bay for so long. How critics could regard the author’s feelings towards Braun as ambivalent following that is truly mystifying.
His protagonist, though, isn’t a serial killer wielding a murderous tripod, but a Nazi war criminal (shades of Marathon Man, ‘Karl Braun’ (the actor who starred in Peeping Tom, incidentally, was Karlheinz Böhm), suspectible to flights of hypnotic anxiety and ornamented deceit, all cleverly tied by Pressburger to the character’s chilling wartime experiments. The book is dark and unsettling – the nature of narrative forcing us to be complicit in Braun’s neuroses, excuses and evasion of justice – but, like so much of the writer’s work, also deft, witty, intelligent and entertaining.
The final scene is truly jawdropping and heartbreaking, Pressburger bringing the weight of history to bear, after holding it at bay for so long. How critics could regard the author’s feelings towards Braun as ambivalent following that is truly mystifying.
August 23, 2024
This ran like a Hitchcock film in my mind.
December 27, 2025
It’s been 20 years since the end of WWII, but Nazi war criminals who managed to escape justice are still being hunted down and put on trial. Karl Braun presents himself as having left Germany in the early 1930s as the Nazis were gaining power. He is an educated man living a humble life in London, working as a piano tuner, quite popular with the women surrounding him as well as with the residents of the boardinghouse in which he lives.
But Karl Braun is actually Dr. Otto Reitmüller, a Nazi brain surgeon who conducted horrific experiments on concentration camp prisoners. And he is in hiding.
Braun is living his life in anticipation of the impending cut–off date after which Nazi war criminals can no longer be prosecuted. He reads, goes to concerts and enjoys a good play and good conversation. But when the cut-off date is postponed and certain events occur, Braun/ Reitmüller sees pursuers everywhere and everyone he knows becomes a suspected informer.
He begins to spiral as he is completely overtaken by a debilitating sense of terror at the thought of being apprehended and put on trial. He decides that he must escape to Argentina and rejoin the “Brotherhood” and he is on the run. As the tension mounts, the wall that Reitmüller has created between his adopted persona and his true one crumbles.
The strength of the novel is twofold: the “noirish” element of a man in freefall and the mounting tension keep the pages turning as we follow Braun’s efforts to escape his stalkers, be they true or imagined; and more so, the manner in which Pressburger writes Braun. Pressburger’s mother and other family members were murdered in German concentration camps, yet he manages to describe Braun in a manner that we find ourselves rooting for him to escape his pursuers. And each time this happens, we are subtly reminded that he is in fact Dr. Otto Reitmüller.
As Noirs go I have read better ones, but Pressburger’s original angle in describing this war criminal makes for an interesting read.
But Karl Braun is actually Dr. Otto Reitmüller, a Nazi brain surgeon who conducted horrific experiments on concentration camp prisoners. And he is in hiding.
Braun is living his life in anticipation of the impending cut–off date after which Nazi war criminals can no longer be prosecuted. He reads, goes to concerts and enjoys a good play and good conversation. But when the cut-off date is postponed and certain events occur, Braun/ Reitmüller sees pursuers everywhere and everyone he knows becomes a suspected informer.
He begins to spiral as he is completely overtaken by a debilitating sense of terror at the thought of being apprehended and put on trial. He decides that he must escape to Argentina and rejoin the “Brotherhood” and he is on the run. As the tension mounts, the wall that Reitmüller has created between his adopted persona and his true one crumbles.
The strength of the novel is twofold: the “noirish” element of a man in freefall and the mounting tension keep the pages turning as we follow Braun’s efforts to escape his stalkers, be they true or imagined; and more so, the manner in which Pressburger writes Braun. Pressburger’s mother and other family members were murdered in German concentration camps, yet he manages to describe Braun in a manner that we find ourselves rooting for him to escape his pursuers. And each time this happens, we are subtly reminded that he is in fact Dr. Otto Reitmüller.
As Noirs go I have read better ones, but Pressburger’s original angle in describing this war criminal makes for an interesting read.
October 3, 2022
First published to a surprisngly quiet reception in 1966, this dark and gritty take, described by some as a noir, concerns a Nazi war criminal hiding in plain sight in the dingy streets of London’s Pimlico district. That the book barely sold its initial print run of 4,000 and just one highly critical review in the Times, is more of a comment that the 60s weren't ready for its disturbing content.
It lay sleeping until 2015 when its rediscovery saw it do much better.
In the summer of 1965, Karl Braun, a piano tuner, moves into new lodgings in southwest London. He is, in fact, Dr Otto Reitmuller, a Nazi war criminal on the run from the authorities. Reitmüller, a fictitious character, was a barber cum Nazi brain surgeon who is wanted for crimes against humanity in the form of the inhumane surgical experiments he carried out on concentration camp inmates.
That early Times review quibbled that Reitmüller's actual identity was revealed too early in the novel, but these days I think it would be read differently.
Rather, the brilliance of Pressburger's writing is in how it Braun's character tries to draw the reader in and gain their sympathy, as he achieves some status in the London music scene as an accomplished violinist. But if for one moment the reader does begin to think like that, there are timely reminders of the past of a thoroughly reprehensible and evil man, who at no stage expresses any regret for crimes of twenty years earlier.
And.. there’s a great ending. Actually, difficult to see how it could be any more fitting..
It lay sleeping until 2015 when its rediscovery saw it do much better.
In the summer of 1965, Karl Braun, a piano tuner, moves into new lodgings in southwest London. He is, in fact, Dr Otto Reitmuller, a Nazi war criminal on the run from the authorities. Reitmüller, a fictitious character, was a barber cum Nazi brain surgeon who is wanted for crimes against humanity in the form of the inhumane surgical experiments he carried out on concentration camp inmates.
That early Times review quibbled that Reitmüller's actual identity was revealed too early in the novel, but these days I think it would be read differently.
Rather, the brilliance of Pressburger's writing is in how it Braun's character tries to draw the reader in and gain their sympathy, as he achieves some status in the London music scene as an accomplished violinist. But if for one moment the reader does begin to think like that, there are timely reminders of the past of a thoroughly reprehensible and evil man, who at no stage expresses any regret for crimes of twenty years earlier.
And.. there’s a great ending. Actually, difficult to see how it could be any more fitting..
July 17, 2024
1,5
Novela corta pero no por ello ágil, de hecho ha sido una lecutra bastante pesada y repetitiva que ha llegado hacerse larga.
La historia esta ambientada en un Londres un poco aburrido, con una trama muy repetitiva, el protagonista de la historia conoce a una chica, van al teatro, van a su piso, cenan… y asi dia tras dia… pensaba que estaba leyendo lo mismo todo el rato.
No me gusto la idea de un ex criminal de guerra nazi viva de forma normal, mas por como esta contado que por lo que es la trama, este personaje asume una nueva identidad y veve su vida como si nada en los años sesenta en Londres.
El libro esta etiquetado como un thriller “noir”, diria que es un estudio psicologico a este criminal, sus ansias por el amor y por la libertad, una novela que intenta que simpatices con un personaje asi.
El autor de la novela fue director de cine, y ha intentado varias veces escribir novelas que no llegaron a nada, esta novela fue publicada en 1966, y quizá este género de nazis fugitivos no era tan popular….
Tenia ganas de leer este libro pero al final me ha resultado un poco decepcion para lo que esperaba. Es un libro muy cortito y puede que te encaje.
Novela corta pero no por ello ágil, de hecho ha sido una lecutra bastante pesada y repetitiva que ha llegado hacerse larga.
La historia esta ambientada en un Londres un poco aburrido, con una trama muy repetitiva, el protagonista de la historia conoce a una chica, van al teatro, van a su piso, cenan… y asi dia tras dia… pensaba que estaba leyendo lo mismo todo el rato.
No me gusto la idea de un ex criminal de guerra nazi viva de forma normal, mas por como esta contado que por lo que es la trama, este personaje asume una nueva identidad y veve su vida como si nada en los años sesenta en Londres.
El libro esta etiquetado como un thriller “noir”, diria que es un estudio psicologico a este criminal, sus ansias por el amor y por la libertad, una novela que intenta que simpatices con un personaje asi.
El autor de la novela fue director de cine, y ha intentado varias veces escribir novelas que no llegaron a nada, esta novela fue publicada en 1966, y quizá este género de nazis fugitivos no era tan popular….
Tenia ganas de leer este libro pero al final me ha resultado un poco decepcion para lo que esperaba. Es un libro muy cortito y puede que te encaje.
January 17, 2025
Eski bir Nazi suçlusu doktorun İngiltere'deki yeni yaşamı, psikolojik baskı ile giderek içinden çıkılmaz hale gelmektedir. Yaşadıkları sadece paranoya mı? Ya da gerçekler mi olduğu ancak zamanla belli olacaktır.
İyi bir sinemacı olan Pressburger'den kişisel notalar da bulunan giderek yükselen bir kreşendo benzeri bir eser.
İyi bir sinemacı olan Pressburger'den kişisel notalar da bulunan giderek yükselen bir kreşendo benzeri bir eser.
June 27, 2023
Emeric Pressburger is best known as an Oscar-winning screenwriter, director and producer. He was also, however, the author of two novels. Killing a Mouse on Sunday, a thriller set right after the Spanish Civil War, was published to great acclaim in 1961, translated into over a dozen languages and adapted (as Behold a Pale Horse) into a Hollywood movie starring Omar Sharif and Gregory Peck. On the contrary, The Glass Pearls (1966) was given scant attention and the only review it garnered – on the Times Literary Supplement – was a damning one. The novel’s reputation has suffered since then, but its republication as part of the Faber Editions series – Faber’s reproposals of wrongly-neglected 20th century classics – should go a long way towards addressing that. And it is, indeed, high time for The Glass Pearls to be reassessed.
The novel’s premise can be briefly summed up. One morning in June 1965, nondescript piano tuner Karl Braun moves into new lodgings in Pimlico. Soon enough (too soon for that disappointed TLS reviewer), we learn that Braun is actually Dr Otto Reithmüller, a Nazi brain surgeon who conducted infamous experiments on Jewish prisoners in concentration camps. Braun hopes that he will evade punishment thanks to the twenty-year statute of limitations which is due to lapse imminently. Just before this happens, however, the term is extended by five years and, as luck would have it, a widely-reported trial shines a spotlight on Braun/Reithmüller’s past sins. The protagonist continues to conduct what seems a placid, normal life – going to concerts and plays, going out with a younger woman – while playing a game of cat-and-mouse with his real or imagined pursuers.
Stylistically, The Glass Pearls is what we would expect from a scriptwriter of Pressburger’s talent. The prose can be utilitarian, but it has a compelling streak of quasi-comedic irony. The dialogue is crisp and witty. The plot, which borrows many tropes of the noir, is taut and involving, and the final chapters are worthy of a thriller.
But what makes The Glass Pearls really worthy of rediscovery is the moral conundrum at its heart. Philosophers and psychologists trying to come to grips with the horrors of the Shoah have spoken of the “banality of evil” and questioned how ordinary people could carry out acts of sadistic violence. Pressburger explores the same themes through fiction. And he does so chillingly and disturbingly by making readers sympathise with his villian. I dare you to go through this novel without – guiltily – hoping the Braun will make it to the end unscathed. In his movies, Pressburger is intrigued by the figure of the “good German”, refusing to demonise all Germans for the atrocities of the Nazis. But what he proposes in The Glass Pearls is far more shocking – namely that a war criminal can, in many other respects, be a more than decent human being.
What are we to make of this? Was Pressburger perhaps a Nazi sympathizer? Of course not. He came from a Jewish family, had relatives (including his mother) who died in Nazi concentration camps, and escaped a similar fate only by fleeing to Paris and then on to England before the War. Yet, Pressburger gives his Nazi main character some of his own traits and life history. Perhaps this reflects a sense of survivor’s guilt on the author’s part. More importantly, it is a novelistic rendering of Hannah Arendt’s observation about Eichmann that:
The trouble... was precisely that so many were like him, and that the many were neither perverted nor sadistic, that they were, and still are, terribly and terrifyingly normal.
In the 1960’s, with memories of the Second World War still fresh and current, the “moral morass” explored by this novel would have come across as not only discomfiting but also as potentially weyward and outrageous. Six decades later, the time has come to recognise the surprising philosophical depth of Pressburger’s little thriller.
The new Faber edition has an introduction by Anthony Quinn.
4.5*
https://endsoftheword.blogspot.com/20...
The novel’s premise can be briefly summed up. One morning in June 1965, nondescript piano tuner Karl Braun moves into new lodgings in Pimlico. Soon enough (too soon for that disappointed TLS reviewer), we learn that Braun is actually Dr Otto Reithmüller, a Nazi brain surgeon who conducted infamous experiments on Jewish prisoners in concentration camps. Braun hopes that he will evade punishment thanks to the twenty-year statute of limitations which is due to lapse imminently. Just before this happens, however, the term is extended by five years and, as luck would have it, a widely-reported trial shines a spotlight on Braun/Reithmüller’s past sins. The protagonist continues to conduct what seems a placid, normal life – going to concerts and plays, going out with a younger woman – while playing a game of cat-and-mouse with his real or imagined pursuers.
Stylistically, The Glass Pearls is what we would expect from a scriptwriter of Pressburger’s talent. The prose can be utilitarian, but it has a compelling streak of quasi-comedic irony. The dialogue is crisp and witty. The plot, which borrows many tropes of the noir, is taut and involving, and the final chapters are worthy of a thriller.
But what makes The Glass Pearls really worthy of rediscovery is the moral conundrum at its heart. Philosophers and psychologists trying to come to grips with the horrors of the Shoah have spoken of the “banality of evil” and questioned how ordinary people could carry out acts of sadistic violence. Pressburger explores the same themes through fiction. And he does so chillingly and disturbingly by making readers sympathise with his villian. I dare you to go through this novel without – guiltily – hoping the Braun will make it to the end unscathed. In his movies, Pressburger is intrigued by the figure of the “good German”, refusing to demonise all Germans for the atrocities of the Nazis. But what he proposes in The Glass Pearls is far more shocking – namely that a war criminal can, in many other respects, be a more than decent human being.
What are we to make of this? Was Pressburger perhaps a Nazi sympathizer? Of course not. He came from a Jewish family, had relatives (including his mother) who died in Nazi concentration camps, and escaped a similar fate only by fleeing to Paris and then on to England before the War. Yet, Pressburger gives his Nazi main character some of his own traits and life history. Perhaps this reflects a sense of survivor’s guilt on the author’s part. More importantly, it is a novelistic rendering of Hannah Arendt’s observation about Eichmann that:
The trouble... was precisely that so many were like him, and that the many were neither perverted nor sadistic, that they were, and still are, terribly and terrifyingly normal.
In the 1960’s, with memories of the Second World War still fresh and current, the “moral morass” explored by this novel would have come across as not only discomfiting but also as potentially weyward and outrageous. Six decades later, the time has come to recognise the surprising philosophical depth of Pressburger’s little thriller.
The new Faber edition has an introduction by Anthony Quinn.
4.5*
https://endsoftheword.blogspot.com/20...
July 5, 2024
Durup dururken raftan alıp sonra da elimden hiç bırakamadan bitirdiğim kitaplar kalp ben.
Pressburger'in bu kitabını konusu için almış ama henüz okuma fırsatı bulamamıştım. Marías'ın Yarınki Yüzün kitabında Peter Wheeler (🤍) “sahte İngilizler"i sayarken adı geçiyordu, ben de hazır elimde olunca okuyayım dedim.
Zaten sözkonusu "soykırım edebiyatı" olunca benim bir kitaptan uzak durabildiğim nerede görülmüş. Pressburger, kendisi Macaristan'dan ve sonra da Almanya'dan kaçmak ve önce Paris'e sonra Londra'ya sığınmak zorunda kalan; annesi ise Auschwitz'e gönderilen ve geri gelemeyen Yahudilerden olan bir yazar. Kitabın ön sözünde Anthony Quinn'in ve son sözünde de yazarın torununun belirttiği kadarıyla kitabının baş karakeri olan Karl Braun'da Pressburger'den otobiyografik özellikler bulmak mümkünmüş. Bu da kitabı konusundan da çok konunun işlenişi açısından daha ilginç kılıyor.
Baş karakterimizin, yani hayatını piyano akort ederek kazanan, keman çalan, iyi müzikten, operadan, Shakespeare'den, iyi şaraptan, kısacası iyi yaşamaktan anlayan ve ülkesini terk etmek zorunda bırakılmış, bu esnada da karısını ve bebeğini kaybetmiş olan karakterin esasında hiç de savaştan kaçmış “sıradan” bir Alman vatandaşı olmadığını; 3. Reich döneminde bir tür insani deney laboratuvarı işlevi gören Wittau toplama kampında hafızanın nasıl çalıştığını tespit edebilmek adına mahkumların beyinleri üzerinde acımasız ameliyatlar yapan bir cerrah ve Nazi olduğunu öğrenmemiz uzun sürmüyor - zaten kitabın esas sürprizi bu bile değil.
Son sayfaya kadar soluk soluğa okunan bir kitap Cam İnciler. Okurken size yer yer (karakterin esas kimliğini öğrendikten sonra bile) "acaba kaçabilecek mi - ne diyorum ben, yakalansın tabii" dedirten; peşindekiler acaba şu kadın mı, yoksa kırtasiyeci çift mi, aslında kaldığı yerdekiler de olabilir diye herkesten şüphe etmenizi sağlayan bir kurgusu var. Bir yandan olayları adeta film izler gibi canlandırabildiğiniz dolayısıyla heyecanı hiç düşmeyen ama bir yandan da belki en kötüsü de bu - karakterle empati yaptıran bir tarafı da var. Arendt'in ustalıkla tespit ettiği, bu insanların sadist ve tepeden tırnağa canavar olmaktan ziyade tam da Braun gibi güzel müziği, seyahati, iyi bir kitabı, iyi bir operayı seven, gayet sıradan insanlar olması gerçeği bu kitapta birebir hissediliyor. Kurgusu ve hem olayların heyecanının giderek artması hem de insanlara dair yerinde ama didaktik olmayan tespitler de cabası. Ben çok beğendim, hem de çok!
Senin tarif ettiğin gibi bir adam, en sık görülen ve en tehlikeli suçlu türüdür. Onlar insanoğlunun felaketidir. Her şeyi açıklayabilenler. Suçlarını bilim, anavatan, din adına; aşk, kültür, gelişme uğruna işleyenler...
Pressburger'in bu kitabını konusu için almış ama henüz okuma fırsatı bulamamıştım. Marías'ın Yarınki Yüzün kitabında Peter Wheeler (🤍) “sahte İngilizler"i sayarken adı geçiyordu, ben de hazır elimde olunca okuyayım dedim.
Zaten sözkonusu "soykırım edebiyatı" olunca benim bir kitaptan uzak durabildiğim nerede görülmüş. Pressburger, kendisi Macaristan'dan ve sonra da Almanya'dan kaçmak ve önce Paris'e sonra Londra'ya sığınmak zorunda kalan; annesi ise Auschwitz'e gönderilen ve geri gelemeyen Yahudilerden olan bir yazar. Kitabın ön sözünde Anthony Quinn'in ve son sözünde de yazarın torununun belirttiği kadarıyla kitabının baş karakeri olan Karl Braun'da Pressburger'den otobiyografik özellikler bulmak mümkünmüş. Bu da kitabı konusundan da çok konunun işlenişi açısından daha ilginç kılıyor.
Baş karakterimizin, yani hayatını piyano akort ederek kazanan, keman çalan, iyi müzikten, operadan, Shakespeare'den, iyi şaraptan, kısacası iyi yaşamaktan anlayan ve ülkesini terk etmek zorunda bırakılmış, bu esnada da karısını ve bebeğini kaybetmiş olan karakterin esasında hiç de savaştan kaçmış “sıradan” bir Alman vatandaşı olmadığını; 3. Reich döneminde bir tür insani deney laboratuvarı işlevi gören Wittau toplama kampında hafızanın nasıl çalıştığını tespit edebilmek adına mahkumların beyinleri üzerinde acımasız ameliyatlar yapan bir cerrah ve Nazi olduğunu öğrenmemiz uzun sürmüyor - zaten kitabın esas sürprizi bu bile değil.
Son sayfaya kadar soluk soluğa okunan bir kitap Cam İnciler. Okurken size yer yer (karakterin esas kimliğini öğrendikten sonra bile) "acaba kaçabilecek mi - ne diyorum ben, yakalansın tabii" dedirten; peşindekiler acaba şu kadın mı, yoksa kırtasiyeci çift mi, aslında kaldığı yerdekiler de olabilir diye herkesten şüphe etmenizi sağlayan bir kurgusu var. Bir yandan olayları adeta film izler gibi canlandırabildiğiniz dolayısıyla heyecanı hiç düşmeyen ama bir yandan da belki en kötüsü de bu - karakterle empati yaptıran bir tarafı da var. Arendt'in ustalıkla tespit ettiği, bu insanların sadist ve tepeden tırnağa canavar olmaktan ziyade tam da Braun gibi güzel müziği, seyahati, iyi bir kitabı, iyi bir operayı seven, gayet sıradan insanlar olması gerçeği bu kitapta birebir hissediliyor. Kurgusu ve hem olayların heyecanının giderek artması hem de insanlara dair yerinde ama didaktik olmayan tespitler de cabası. Ben çok beğendim, hem de çok!
Senin tarif ettiğin gibi bir adam, en sık görülen ve en tehlikeli suçlu türüdür. Onlar insanoğlunun felaketidir. Her şeyi açıklayabilenler. Suçlarını bilim, anavatan, din adına; aşk, kültür, gelişme uğruna işleyenler...
October 2, 2024
Muchas loas sobre esta novela pero muy poca enjundia, esa crítica de Ian Rankin «Impresionante: increíblemente buena, tensa, convincente y moralmente compleja», sinceramente no sé de donde la ha sacado, a no ser que sea pelotilleo entre colegas.
Bastante coñazo el libro.
Bastante coñazo el libro.
December 16, 2019
This is a great read.... an old classic currently reprinted. Could not put it down.
December 24, 2022
I just didn’t get it? I wasn’t invested in the characters, the writing style did nothing for me and the plot was ?????? Disappointing second book from Daunt Books subscription.
July 1, 2023
"Cam İnciler", 1965 yılında Londra'da yaşayan piyano akortçusu Karl Braun'un hikayesini anlatıyor. Karl Braun görünüşte savaş sırasında Almanya’dan İngiltere’ye kaçmış birçok sürgünden biridir. İngilizlerin Hamburg’a yaptığı bir hava saldırısında eşini ve çocuğunu kaybeden Braun, sürekli yas içerisinde yaşamaktadır. Piyano akortçuluğu yaparak geçimini sağlayan bu kültürlü Alman beyefendi, papyonu, ağarmış saçları ve zinde yapısıyla yeni komşularının hemen ilgisini çeker, sempati toplar. Onun da kendileri gibi Hitler'in baskıcı rejiminden canını kurtarmak için İngiltere'ye sığındığını düşünürler. Oysa bu sıradan beyefendi aslında Nazi savaş suçlusu Dr. Otto Reitmüller’dir.
Dr. Otto Reitmüller insanlar üzerinde çok tehlikeli deneyler yapan bir beyin cerrahıdır. Deneylerinde kullanacağı insanları toplama kamplarından seçer ve birden fazla beyin ameliyatından geçen bu deneklerin hiçbiri hastaneden canlı çıkamaz.
Karl Braun kimliğiyle yaşamını sürdüren Dr. Otto Reitmüller için görünürde her şey yolunda gitmektedir. Sıradan insanınkine benzer bir hayat sürer. Genç bir kadınla gönül ilişkisine girer, lokantalara, klasik müzik konserlerine gider, tatil planları yaparlar. Ancak gazetelerde Nazi savaş suçlularının aradan geçen yirmi yıla rağmen nasıl yakalandıklarına dair haberler artmaya başlayınca Braun'un ruhsal dengeleri bozulur. Kendisinin de benzer şeklide yakalanıp yargılanacağından endişe etmeye başlar. Artık herkesten şüphelenmektedir.
Emeric Pressburger kahramanının yaşadığı ruhsal değişimi ustaca anlatıyor. Dr. Otto Reitmüller'in geçmişinden kaçamayacağı korkusuyla yaşayan Braun'un gittikçe artan paranoyası ile gerilimin dozunu artıyor. Başta sempatik görüne piyano akortçusu korkunç bir savaş suçlusu olarak belirginleşmeye başlıyor.
Emeric Pressburger, Nazi savaş suçluları konusuna tersten, onların bakış açısından bakıyor. Sanıyorum romanın ilk yayınlandığında beğenilmemesinin, görmezden gelinmesinin nedeni de bu. Klasikleşen Holocust Edebiyatının tipik örneklerine tamamen zıt bir yapıda. Savaş suçlularının genellikle sapkın veya sadist olarak tasvir edildiği bu tür eserlerin aksine, Pressburger Karl Braun karakteriyle soykırımın faillerinin sıradan insanlar olabileceğini örnekliyor. Dr. Otto Reitmüller toplama kamplarından getirttiği insanların beyinlerini açarak yaptığı ölümcül deneylerin büyük bir insanlık suçu olduğunu hiçbir zaman düşünmemiş. Ona göre bu çalışmalar tıp bilimine büyük bir hizmettir.
Emeric Pressburger kahramanı Karl Braun’ın ruhsal durumunu ve onun dinginlikten panik haline geçmesini ustaca anlatıyor. Karl Braun canını kurtarmak ve kendini güvenli bir yere, birçok Nazi savaş suçlusunun kaçtığı Arjantin’e atmak için işe koyulur ve roman tam bir gerilim halini alır. Braun'un gerçekten takip edilip edilmediğini ve şüphelerinin sonucunda korkuya kapılmasıyla ortaya çıkan hayal gücünün ürünü olup olmadığını romanın sonuna kadar anlayamayız.
Eleştirmenler Nazi zulmünün dehşetini yaşamış bir Macar Yahudisi olarak Emeric Pressburger'in kendi geçmişinin de romana yansıdığını düşünüyor. Yazar, Braun'un serüveni aracılığıyla kendi geçmişiyle, hayatta kalanların suçluluğunun ağırlığıyla ve o karanlık dönemde işlenen vahşetlerin ardındaki motivasyonları anlama arayışıyla yüzleşiyor, diyorlar.
İnsan doğasının karmaşıklığını, savaşın açtığı derin yaraları ve tarihin karanlık sayfalarını anlamak ve ahlaki sorgulamalar yapmak için dokunaklı bir keşif olarak nitelenen "Cam İnciler" usta işi anlatımı, sürükleyici kurgusu, sıra dışı karakterleri ve etkileyici sonuyla iyi bir roman
Dr. Otto Reitmüller insanlar üzerinde çok tehlikeli deneyler yapan bir beyin cerrahıdır. Deneylerinde kullanacağı insanları toplama kamplarından seçer ve birden fazla beyin ameliyatından geçen bu deneklerin hiçbiri hastaneden canlı çıkamaz.
Karl Braun kimliğiyle yaşamını sürdüren Dr. Otto Reitmüller için görünürde her şey yolunda gitmektedir. Sıradan insanınkine benzer bir hayat sürer. Genç bir kadınla gönül ilişkisine girer, lokantalara, klasik müzik konserlerine gider, tatil planları yaparlar. Ancak gazetelerde Nazi savaş suçlularının aradan geçen yirmi yıla rağmen nasıl yakalandıklarına dair haberler artmaya başlayınca Braun'un ruhsal dengeleri bozulur. Kendisinin de benzer şeklide yakalanıp yargılanacağından endişe etmeye başlar. Artık herkesten şüphelenmektedir.
Emeric Pressburger kahramanının yaşadığı ruhsal değişimi ustaca anlatıyor. Dr. Otto Reitmüller'in geçmişinden kaçamayacağı korkusuyla yaşayan Braun'un gittikçe artan paranoyası ile gerilimin dozunu artıyor. Başta sempatik görüne piyano akortçusu korkunç bir savaş suçlusu olarak belirginleşmeye başlıyor.
Emeric Pressburger, Nazi savaş suçluları konusuna tersten, onların bakış açısından bakıyor. Sanıyorum romanın ilk yayınlandığında beğenilmemesinin, görmezden gelinmesinin nedeni de bu. Klasikleşen Holocust Edebiyatının tipik örneklerine tamamen zıt bir yapıda. Savaş suçlularının genellikle sapkın veya sadist olarak tasvir edildiği bu tür eserlerin aksine, Pressburger Karl Braun karakteriyle soykırımın faillerinin sıradan insanlar olabileceğini örnekliyor. Dr. Otto Reitmüller toplama kamplarından getirttiği insanların beyinlerini açarak yaptığı ölümcül deneylerin büyük bir insanlık suçu olduğunu hiçbir zaman düşünmemiş. Ona göre bu çalışmalar tıp bilimine büyük bir hizmettir.
Emeric Pressburger kahramanı Karl Braun’ın ruhsal durumunu ve onun dinginlikten panik haline geçmesini ustaca anlatıyor. Karl Braun canını kurtarmak ve kendini güvenli bir yere, birçok Nazi savaş suçlusunun kaçtığı Arjantin’e atmak için işe koyulur ve roman tam bir gerilim halini alır. Braun'un gerçekten takip edilip edilmediğini ve şüphelerinin sonucunda korkuya kapılmasıyla ortaya çıkan hayal gücünün ürünü olup olmadığını romanın sonuna kadar anlayamayız.
Eleştirmenler Nazi zulmünün dehşetini yaşamış bir Macar Yahudisi olarak Emeric Pressburger'in kendi geçmişinin de romana yansıdığını düşünüyor. Yazar, Braun'un serüveni aracılığıyla kendi geçmişiyle, hayatta kalanların suçluluğunun ağırlığıyla ve o karanlık dönemde işlenen vahşetlerin ardındaki motivasyonları anlama arayışıyla yüzleşiyor, diyorlar.
İnsan doğasının karmaşıklığını, savaşın açtığı derin yaraları ve tarihin karanlık sayfalarını anlamak ve ahlaki sorgulamalar yapmak için dokunaklı bir keşif olarak nitelenen "Cam İnciler" usta işi anlatımı, sürükleyici kurgusu, sıra dışı karakterleri ve etkileyici sonuyla iyi bir roman
August 16, 2016
Excellent, original story about a former Nazi doctor living anonymously in London, plagued with the constant fear of being found out. It doesn't offer the potential of its premise, though--it could have been a study of guilt along the lines of Crime and Punishment, but instead it's how Braun's paranoia proves to be his downfall. Still, I enjoyed it except for the extremely abrupt ending. You can't end a novel the same way you do a film, Emeric! Pressburger's first novel, Killing a Mouse on Sunday, is the stronger one, but it's so fascinating that someone who narrowly escaped the Holocaust would write something like this.
January 1, 2023
Un gioiello che merita di essere riscoperto.
Un viaggio in una mente crudele, in una coscienza sconquassata, in una personalità vana, egoista e spietata e incapace di riconoscersi come tale - eppure si prova comprensione, anche compassione per Karl, la sua solitudine, il suo desiderio d’amore e musica e bellezza.
Ma che terribile, terribile finale.
Un viaggio in una mente crudele, in una coscienza sconquassata, in una personalità vana, egoista e spietata e incapace di riconoscersi come tale - eppure si prova comprensione, anche compassione per Karl, la sua solitudine, il suo desiderio d’amore e musica e bellezza.
Ma che terribile, terribile finale.
March 26, 2025
I picked up this book solely on the strength of the author’s name, Emeric Pressburger being one half of the remarkable creative partnership, along with Michael Powell, which made some of the greatest - and strangest - films ever to be produced in the UK, and all of them favourites of mine. The Glass Pearls, written in the mid-Sixties, when Pressburger’s film career was largely in the past has all the qualities that made the movies he made with Powell so exceptional: a strong central lead, a distinctly sideways approach to telling his story and plenty of tension. It’s the story of Otto Reitmuller who we discover fairly early on is a Nazi war criminal on the run and hiding under the assumed name of Karl Braun in a London lodging house and working as a piano tuner. Pressburger takes an enormous risk in telling the story from Reitmuller/Braun’s point of view to the extent that the reader can easily slip into feeling sympathy for the stress and anxiety he feels as he is pursued across Europe before you suddenly remember just what a monster he is and pull yourself up short.
First published in 1966 to a single poor review, The Glass Pearls vanished for the best part of sixty years, but has deservedly now been rescued from obscurity and republished by Faber.
First published in 1966 to a single poor review, The Glass Pearls vanished for the best part of sixty years, but has deservedly now been rescued from obscurity and republished by Faber.
September 10, 2022
The contrast between Karl Braun's former occupation as a Nazi surgeon who performed experiments on Jews in order to study memory, and his fate as someone who has to live without a past were a very clever set up for this novel.
While I never quite got to the point of rooting for him, Pressburger made Braun into a person instead of a caricature, which is a much more effective way to drive the point home.
While I never quite got to the point of rooting for him, Pressburger made Braun into a person instead of a caricature, which is a much more effective way to drive the point home.
December 17, 2022
Haunting!
December 6, 2024
A genuine curio. It is hard to make the reader care about the central character in a thriller when that character is a Nazi war criminal. Think Mengele trying to keep his head down. I don't think Pressburger succeeds in the difficult task he's set himself, but he has created an interesting read - which even if it somewhat off-putting, is at least more interesting than a lot of thrillers out there.
July 8, 2023
Suspenseful story of a Nazi surgeon posing as a piano tuner living in London 20 years after the war.
February 12, 2023
Karl Braun is a cultured German gentleman who works as a piano tuner in the London of the mid 1960s. Many of his fellow emigres assume like them he fled to England to avoid the Nazis.
In the summer of 1965 he courts one woman, is pursued by another, and attends classical concerts. The newspapers begin to report the trial of the prison guards and medical staff of the Wittau concentration camp.
A former colleague of Braun's called Hein dies in front of Braun when they meet on an early morning tube train. Braun has to leave Hein where he is to cover his tracks unless a connection is made between Braun and the Brotherhood in Argentina. Braun dates a naïve woman called Helen, whom he takes to restaurants and classical music concerts . He tells her stories about his former life in Paris where he worked as a press photographer.
Braun doesn't have many possessions but does take particular care of a set of false teeth. Braun's nightmares worsen as the reports of the activities at Wittau become public knowledge including the medical experiments of a particular doctor. His guilt and paranoia increase, he believes he's being followed by Nazi hunters and being spied upon by police informers. Eventually, he sees an opportunity to escape when Helen goes on holiday with friends to the south of France. They travel to Paris where Helen insists that Braun show her all the places he frequented during his time there.
She heads to Millau, he heads to Zurich to pick up some money from a bank account that was deposited at the end of WWII. His intention is to head to Buenos Aires but his fears get the better of him and he visits Helen in Millau. They visit the Chaos de Montpellier-le-Vieux where she gets heatstroke and ends up in hospital. He leaves her as he's seen the people who are following him. Convinced they're out to get him, he puts in the set of false teeth.
At the end of the book, when an investigator reads some excerpts from the file he has on 'Karl Braun', some of the stories seem familiar to Helen...
The author Emeric Pressburger is the same Emeric Pressburger who had a hugely successful cinema partnership with Michael Powell. Pressburger's grandson is the film director Kevin MacDonald.
In the summer of 1965 he courts one woman, is pursued by another, and attends classical concerts. The newspapers begin to report the trial of the prison guards and medical staff of the Wittau concentration camp.
A former colleague of Braun's called Hein dies in front of Braun when they meet on an early morning tube train. Braun has to leave Hein where he is to cover his tracks unless a connection is made between Braun and the Brotherhood in Argentina. Braun dates a naïve woman called Helen, whom he takes to restaurants and classical music concerts . He tells her stories about his former life in Paris where he worked as a press photographer.
Braun doesn't have many possessions but does take particular care of a set of false teeth. Braun's nightmares worsen as the reports of the activities at Wittau become public knowledge including the medical experiments of a particular doctor. His guilt and paranoia increase, he believes he's being followed by Nazi hunters and being spied upon by police informers. Eventually, he sees an opportunity to escape when Helen goes on holiday with friends to the south of France. They travel to Paris where Helen insists that Braun show her all the places he frequented during his time there.
She heads to Millau, he heads to Zurich to pick up some money from a bank account that was deposited at the end of WWII. His intention is to head to Buenos Aires but his fears get the better of him and he visits Helen in Millau. They visit the Chaos de Montpellier-le-Vieux where she gets heatstroke and ends up in hospital. He leaves her as he's seen the people who are following him. Convinced they're out to get him, he puts in the set of false teeth.
At the end of the book, when an investigator reads some excerpts from the file he has on 'Karl Braun', some of the stories seem familiar to Helen...
The author Emeric Pressburger is the same Emeric Pressburger who had a hugely successful cinema partnership with Michael Powell. Pressburger's grandson is the film director Kevin MacDonald.
November 4, 2024
So this was a slow burn for me. For the majority of the book I felt that I would probably give it 3 stars (or 3.5 on story graph where I can give half stars). The closer I got to the end though the more I felt that it would be a 4 star read. I then read the Afterword that has been included in this edition and was so taken by the backstory that I wanted to give it 5 stars because it gave a whole new level of meaning to the piece.
I've plumped for 4 stars as that is how I felt about the actual novel upon finishing but let me explain myself.
This is what I would describe as a subtle novel or a quiet novel. I did not find it gripping and this for me often makes it hard to pick up a book again after a break. Don't get me wrong, I do appreciate subtlety but it's harder to remain absorbed in the world/novel. This is part of the reason I was thinking it would be 3 stars, it simply wasn't a story I was loving.
I wouldn't say that it became any more gripping by the end, it was still quiet and subtle but by that point I was consumed by the themes. The paranoia, the method of constructing lies and a new life, the questioning of the nature of humanity and inhumane acts - whether there is any reason that could exonerate you after you had committed these acts. But I was also taken with some of the smaller themes that popped up here and there - Lillian becoming incensed at the "foreign swans" after being jilted by Karl, the mirroring of Karls paranoia in Helen, and so on.
Finally I would like to say that this is almost stream of consciousness (although not quite) and therefore you won't feel immersed in the locations of the story - this did disappoint me in the scenes set in Paris - but you are deep in his thoughts and the thoughts of others, so much so that it can becoming a little disorientating when he goes down a paranoid path and then you have to realise that was is on the page isn't really happening.
This is for fans of stream of consciousness style narration (like Mrs Dalloway or Like a Mule Bringing Ice Cream To The Sun) or those who like explorations of themes around human nature and paranoia.
I've plumped for 4 stars as that is how I felt about the actual novel upon finishing but let me explain myself.
This is what I would describe as a subtle novel or a quiet novel. I did not find it gripping and this for me often makes it hard to pick up a book again after a break. Don't get me wrong, I do appreciate subtlety but it's harder to remain absorbed in the world/novel. This is part of the reason I was thinking it would be 3 stars, it simply wasn't a story I was loving.
I wouldn't say that it became any more gripping by the end, it was still quiet and subtle but by that point I was consumed by the themes. The paranoia, the method of constructing lies and a new life, the questioning of the nature of humanity and inhumane acts - whether there is any reason that could exonerate you after you had committed these acts. But I was also taken with some of the smaller themes that popped up here and there - Lillian becoming incensed at the "foreign swans" after being jilted by Karl, the mirroring of Karls paranoia in Helen, and so on.
Finally I would like to say that this is almost stream of consciousness (although not quite) and therefore you won't feel immersed in the locations of the story - this did disappoint me in the scenes set in Paris - but you are deep in his thoughts and the thoughts of others, so much so that it can becoming a little disorientating when he goes down a paranoid path and then you have to realise that was is on the page isn't really happening.
This is for fans of stream of consciousness style narration (like Mrs Dalloway or Like a Mule Bringing Ice Cream To The Sun) or those who like explorations of themes around human nature and paranoia.
December 18, 2023
Beware the hype. This book is readable but hardly a lost masterpiece. Think George Simenon's non-Maigret novels for it's claustrophobic feel. The problem for me is that it's set in a dull London more redolent of1956 than 1966. Despite living near the King's Road, Swinging London is somewhere else. No reference or awareness of how London and the UK had changed when ration books ended. The next issue is the repetitive plot. Braun meets girl, goes to concert, goes to his flat. And again and again. There's a lot of filler about his persecution complex but zero rational as to why a girl 30 years his junior would want to go out with him! Yes, the ending is neat, but it's all a bit rushed and convenient.
One aside: the basic plot has a lot of similarities with William Goldman's later novel The Marathon Man. Probably coincidence, but was Goldman one of its few readers for it's a book that cries out for a a rewriting.
One aside: the basic plot has a lot of similarities with William Goldman's later novel The Marathon Man. Probably coincidence, but was Goldman one of its few readers for it's a book that cries out for a a rewriting.
June 15, 2024
I really liked the spare style of writing and the presentation of Karl as a somewhat sympathetic character. The plot is gripping and the atmosphere ifeels authentic.
July 24, 2023
My wife got this from the library by mistake and i started reading it because i like noir and thought it might be good. I found out the writer had written and had also co-directed the 1947 classic movie Black Narcissus. Wow!
This book treads on sacred ground and invites the reader to walk in the shoes of a former german military man from WWII who has changed his name and is living (hiding) in England. The premise is unsettling for reasons i will not disclose but it is certainly daring and perhaps even offensive. I would not say the book is riveting but it is good. It is a slow burn noir style and so you must be a patient reader but it does take the reader on a fascinating journey.
One interesting note. This ex-German soldier who was active in WWII does pray to God in a handful of places within the book, which is interesting. He is not truly devout but he is committed to prayer as an essential part of his life. But what does prayer even mean to a man with his history?
This book treads on sacred ground and invites the reader to walk in the shoes of a former german military man from WWII who has changed his name and is living (hiding) in England. The premise is unsettling for reasons i will not disclose but it is certainly daring and perhaps even offensive. I would not say the book is riveting but it is good. It is a slow burn noir style and so you must be a patient reader but it does take the reader on a fascinating journey.
One interesting note. This ex-German soldier who was active in WWII does pray to God in a handful of places within the book, which is interesting. He is not truly devout but he is committed to prayer as an essential part of his life. But what does prayer even mean to a man with his history?
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