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Alone in Berlin

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Alone in Berlin

By: Hans Fallada, Michael Hofmann - translator
Narrated by: John Telfer
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About this listen

Berlin, 1940. The city is paralysed by fear. But one man refuses to be scared. Otto, an ordinary German living in a shabby apartment block, tries to stay out of trouble under Nazi rule. But when he discovers his only son has been killed fighting at the front he's shocked into an extraordinary act of resistance and starts to drop anonymous postcards attacking Hitler across the city. If caught, he will be executed.

Soon this silent campaign comes to the attention of ambitious Gestapo inspector Escherich, and a murderous game of cat-and-mouse begins. Whoever loses, pays with their life.

Every Man Dies Alone was published in the UK as Alone in Berlin.

English edition copyright 2009 Melville House Publishing; Translation copyright 2009 Michael Hofmann.

©1994 Aufbau-Verlagsgruppe GmbH, Berlin (P)2010 Hachette Digital Classics
All stars
Most relevant  
Not for the fainthearted. Heavy subject matter, but brilliantly written and exceptionally well narrated.

Heavy

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Despite the attempt in the last chapter to state the purpose of this book there really does not seem to be one. The narrator uses a whiney pathetic voice for the female characters. There is no critique of the state, no depth to the characters, no objection to pointless violence. It is not about a game of cat and mouse, no developed story. There are many better ways to spend the hours.

Pointless book

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There's too much dialogue altogether and too much designed to vilify the Nazi characters in a crushingly crude and tedious way.
This is a crass novel that has very obvious messages that it then repeats over and over again. The British Telegraph recommended this but I can't believe the reviewer actually listened to the eighteen hours of tedium.

Crude and obvious

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Has Alone in Berlin put you off other books in this genre?

I am interested in WW2 stories, but not this one. This just did not ring true to me.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Alone in Berlin?

There were so many superfluous conversations, or arguments that went to and fro with disagreement. Way too long for the story that it was.

Any additional comments?

There was no real plot, just a collection of insignificant stories.

DIdn't ring true

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