I believe this book has courted some controversy and there are certainly sections which are upsetting. I, however, very much enjoyed the book which is set in Berlin during the second world war. Friedrich, a naïve young Swiss man who has suffered abuse from his alcoholic mother and a brutal facial injury whilst very young, arrives in Berlin in 1942. He falls madly in love with Kristin, whom he first meets when she models at a life painting class he attends.
Kristin is not all she seems though, she is actually Stella Goldschlag, a Jew who managed to survive until she was captured and persuaded to hunt out fellow Jews for the Nazis to protect her parents; even after her parents were sent to Auschwitz she continued to be a catcher for the Nazis.
I think some of the characters lose an element of depth through the translation and for me some of the more interesting parts of the book are, for me, in the earlier times in Friedrich’s life, which build up an evocative picture and go a long way to explain his character and how he reacts to Kristin. Kristin is very flawed but the relationship that Friedrich has with his mother goes some way to explain how he fell so deeply in love to someone so damaged and for the most part seemed able to ignore her flaws.
Kristin is not all she seems though, she is actually Stella Goldschlag, a Jew who managed to survive until she was captured and persuaded to hunt out fellow Jews for the Nazis to protect her parents; even after her parents were sent to Auschwitz she continued to be a catcher for the Nazis.
I think some of the characters lose an element of depth through the translation and for me some of the more interesting parts of the book are, for me, in the earlier times in Friedrich’s life, which build up an evocative picture and go a long way to explain his character and how he reacts to Kristin. Kristin is very flawed but the relationship that Friedrich has with his mother goes some way to explain how he fell so deeply in love to someone so damaged and for the most part seemed able to ignore her flaws.