Review: Both enjoyable and insightful
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 05 27, 2014
I wish I had read this book before I visited the Berlin Wall a few years back. Sometimes it takes a book of fiction to bring home how different life was back then.Many of us know the saying "we take certain things, like freedom for granted". Michael Califra’s novel might be a work of fiction, but it works so well in taking us back in time when this could not be taken for granted.The author does not preach about some high ideas of democracy, and he is to be praised for it. Instead he focuses on the story, which develops at a very nice pace, introducing each character, the atmosphere, the place. All quite gripping, I thought.This is not the first book I have read about this period before the Wall collapsed both in fiction and non-fiction. Berlin at this time in history was repressive - with limited neighborly gossip, where one cannot complain about the shortages of particular goods; telephones are bugged, certain books and films banned; press, art and whole culture are censored, foreign radios are jammed, letters are opened and censored, informers are rewarded for snooping etc.And, yes, I found Califra’s version, quite different and refreshing. OK, some readers might say "we already read about it before". But it’s a great period of time, and maybe because I am a computer marketer too, I related to the book on many fronts.I recommend this book both from an educational and entertainment point of view. It makes you better understand Berlin, and is also a good story that will grip you.