This is not the sort of story you want to read during the holiday season. It's damned depressing and makes you want to stop reading. But it's also exactly what the holidays, indeed what living, is all about. When you think of holidays you think helping those in need, caring, sharing, (and singing Christmas carols/watching Christmas cartoons but that isn't the point here).
Every Man Dies Alone by Hans Fallada in about a couple in Nazi Germany who try to inspire resistance in Berlin. I debated long and hard over what to write in this review. There's a lot going on, it's deeply emotional, scary, inspiring, and one of the best books I've read in ages. I went to Amazon and B&N to see what other people wrote about this in hopes i could better articulate my thoughts. Publisher's Weekly put it best, and that's probably why they're paid the big bucks:
From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. This disturbing novel, written in 24 days by a German writer who died in 1947, is inspired by the true story of Otto and Elise Hampel, who scattered postcards advocating civil disobedience throughout war-time Nazi-controlled Berlin. Their fictional counterparts, Otto and Anna Quangel, distribute cards during the war bearing antifascist exhortations and daydream that their work is being passed from person to person, stirring rebellion, but, in fact, almost every card is immediately turned over to authorities. Fallada aptly depicts the paralyzing fear that dominated Hitler's Germany, when decisions that previously would have seemed insignificant—whether to utter a complaint or mourn one's deceased child publicly—can lead to torture and death at the hands of the Gestapo. From the Quangels to a postal worker who quits the Nazi party when she learns that her son committed atrocities and a prison chaplain who smuggles messages to inmates, resistance is measured in subtle but dangerous individual stands. This isn't a novel about bold cells of defiant guerrillas but about a world in which heroism is defined as personal refusal to be corrupted.
Every Man Dies Alone by Hans Fallada in about a couple in Nazi Germany who try to inspire resistance in Berlin. I debated long and hard over what to write in this review. There's a lot going on, it's deeply emotional, scary, inspiring, and one of the best books I've read in ages. I went to Amazon and B&N to see what other people wrote about this in hopes i could better articulate my thoughts. Publisher's Weekly put it best, and that's probably why they're paid the big bucks:
From Publishers WeeklyStarred Review. This disturbing novel, written in 24 days by a German writer who died in 1947, is inspired by the true story of Otto and Elise Hampel, who scattered postcards advocating civil disobedience throughout war-time Nazi-controlled Berlin. Their fictional counterparts, Otto and Anna Quangel, distribute cards during the war bearing antifascist exhortations and daydream that their work is being passed from person to person, stirring rebellion, but, in fact, almost every card is immediately turned over to authorities. Fallada aptly depicts the paralyzing fear that dominated Hitler's Germany, when decisions that previously would have seemed insignificant—whether to utter a complaint or mourn one's deceased child publicly—can lead to torture and death at the hands of the Gestapo. From the Quangels to a postal worker who quits the Nazi party when she learns that her son committed atrocities and a prison chaplain who smuggles messages to inmates, resistance is measured in subtle but dangerous individual stands. This isn't a novel about bold cells of defiant guerrillas but about a world in which heroism is defined as personal refusal to be corrupted.
I can't put it any better than this except to say some lessons should never be forgotten.
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