REVIEW: The Berlin Apartment by Bryn Turnbull
This sweeping love story follows a young couple whose lives are irrevocably changed when they’re separated overnight by the construction of the Berlin Wall.
Berlin 1961: When Uli Neumann proposes to Lise Bauer, she has every reason to accept. He offers her love, respect, and a life beyond the strict bounds of the East German society in which she was raised — which she longs to leave more than anything. But only two short days after their engagement, Lise and Uli are torn violently apart when barbed wire is rolled across Berlin, splitting the city into two hostile halves: capitalist West Berlin, an island of western influence isolated far beyond the iron curtain; and the socialist East, a country determined to control its citizens by any means necessary.
Soon, Uli and his friends in West Berlin hatch a plan to get Lise and her unborn child out of East Germany, but as distance and suspicion bleed into their lives and as weeks turn to months, how long can true love survive in the divided city?
Dear Ms. Turnbull,
Recently I read “The Berlin Letters,” another book in which the Berlin Wall features heavily. I discussed how I doubted I’d see it come down in my lifetime but how wonderful it was to watch the happy people of the now undivided city celebrate. When I saw this book I realized that apparently I want to read more books with this subject.
In 1961 Germany, citizens of East and West Berlin could still fairly freely travel back and forth across the border that separates the city. A group of friends who met at the Free University of Berlin enjoy their college days together including Uri (West) and Lise (East). These two are in love, planning a life together, and have no issues with anticipating the wedding.
Their future comes crashing down when overnight thick strands of barbed wire begin what will become the Wall. Separated and desperate, Uri and his friends begin digging a tunnel. Inge can cross over to the East because of her Swedish passport and the news she brings back spurs Uri to work harder. Lise is pregnant and they’re working with a deadline. Will the tunnel be finished – and in the correct location – in time to spirit her and her unborn child to freedom?
Well, I certainly wasn’t expecting where this story would go and will try and keep my review from revealing spoilers. I probably won’t be successful but I’ll try.
The book puts us in this world where the Communist East is trying to clamp down on its citizens and keep them from the decadent West. Only some people would rather map out their lives the way they want them rather than just accepting what they’re told to do, working where and at what they’re told to do. But I appreciated the inclusion of some people who sincerely believe in the world that East Germany was crafting. Certain characters are given valid reasons, which is delicately hinted at, for toeing the party line that date back to May 1945. Other characters have accepted that this will be their life and make the best of it.
The young college students won’t just go along with being cut off from friends and family. Lise isn’t the only person they’re trying to get out. However with her actions and a petition to cross to West Berlin, Lise has drawn attention to herself (the Stasi and informers are watching everyone) and must face how this could affect her father – who is dependent on medical care – and her brother who is a police officer. Delays push the completion date of the tunnel back and Lise worries about crawling through it while seven and then eight months pregnant.
Things happen, as things will, and the group is left to sort the pieces as best they can. Tough life decisions are made as everyone faces their new realities and realizes that life goes on. I’m generally okay with how all of this plays out. I think things are handled well and realistically. Some characters hold onto understandable feelings for years while others have to finally face that what they did, although done with the best of intentions, was wrong. I kept reading, wondering how everything would end up and let me say that I enjoy books that can keep me guessing. B
Spoiler: Show
~Jayne
AmazonBNKoboBook DepositoryGoogle
I read a Foreign Policy article recently that argued the storyline of “East Germany was freed from tyranny, everyone lived HEA” is hugely flawed. East Germany had full employment, free child care, and better opportunities for women. Yes, the Stasi were horrible and there was a lot of fear about being ratted out by your neighbors. But the reunification was not 100% great for everyone. Of course, history is more nuanced than what we’ve been taught or shown on CNN. My library hold list currently includes a novel and a memoir by Jenny Erpenbeck, who was born/raised in East Germany, and 22 when the Berlin Wall came down.
I hope this doesn’t sound too argumentative, my morning caffeine hasn’t kicked in yet. I’d welcome feedback from anyone who has a personal connection to the issue.
@SusanS: as a person who lived in another post-soviet country and now has been living in Germany for a while, it’s complicated. Yes, some things were better in the soviet times (although honestly, just look at who was in any politburo to dispel too optimistic ideas about women’s rights – yes, abortion was legal…ish (it’s really complicated), and women worked, but men were consistently in power). Yes, they had full employment… which is really not great in practice. A lot of people had to work jobs they hated, or jobs that were meaningless and pointless, and this really led to very bad quality of things produced and services offered – imagine how bad e.g. some teachers could get when they basically could not lose their jobs. (I’ve had some teachers like that, who hated having to be a good teacher after fall of the ussr) – and also to people being unhappy and frustrated. You couldn’t just change your job to the one you wanted. If you knew the right people, maybe, but otherwise? You’re screwed.
There is a big reason why so many people wanted to flee the soviet countries and very few people wanted to flee the capitalist countries, and its not the efficiency of the propaganda – soviet propaganda was intensive, all-encompassing and often competent. Yes, some things were better in the soviet times, and the Wiedervereinigung (joining of Germanies) was not great and left a lot of people behind, but East Germany was not a great place to live in. Nor was any other soviet country.
@SusanS: Even ten years after the American revolution, half of our then-country thought the other was wrong. I had no idea, I thought we were all happy because no one teaches that reality.
My Czech friends, who lived under several regimes in one lifetime, thought Berlin as a whole was a small gateway to the rest of the world at the time; they could hear Western music, see a little TV, read other newspapers. All said “the government pretended to pay us and we pretended to work.” The scarcity of items at grocery stores was a major upset for another friend when she was younger and Russians faced the same problem. When Russia occupied Afghanistan, Afghan women/girls went to school and had jobs.
So how do we square our perception of repressive and evil with a country that provides more basic human needs than the US does? To paraphrase @Marta, it’s really complicated. For me, we can’t.
Jayne, thank you for the review.
I will always prefer the freedom to exercise self-determination over any service a government cares to offer me. I am aware that I speak as midwesterner who has never lived under authoritarian rule. Although that may happen…
Thank you for your review. I look forward to reading this book.
Kind of answering everyone here. Yep, Lise’s brother is a True Believer in what East Germany was “trying” to do for it’s citizens. He reminds Lise that their father (who was paralyzed from the waist down when in WWII an American bomb fell on the hospital in which he was doing surgery) needs medical treatment and the authorities will make sure he gets it. They are assured of housing in the city and have a small country place for weekends. And both her brother and father tell her that she will have child care.
But Lise desperately wants to be a doctor and when East Germany authorities tell her no, so sorry but we want you to be a physicist, that’s when she applies to the Free University in West Berlin. When the Wall goes up and she can no longer attend her classes there, she luckily snags a job in a tailoring shop rather then be put on a factory floor position. So yes, pros and cons.
The author’s note is well worth reading. She based the tunnel digging here partly on the famous Tunnel 29 and Tunnel 57 (named by how many people escaped through them). There are films and books about Tunnel 29.
@SusanS: @Marta: My question would be has East Germany caught up with the rest of the country yet? I do remember hearing that the reunification was difficult and even a while after it, people from the former East Germany still felt like the red-headed stepchildren of the country.
But Jayne, is there a HEA? (Feel free to email me if the answer is too spoilery!)
@Kaetrin: I’m going to add the answer to your question to the bottom of the post as the spoiler tags aren’t working for comments.
@SusanS: Not directly on topic but I’ve read several of Jenny Erpenbeck’s novels, and she’s an extraordinary writer. Not that I cared for all her books, but I loved GO, WENT, GONE. Her main characters usually are from the former East Germany and that shapes their experiences in the now reunited country.
@Marta: pretty much agree with your comment and about Soviet Country not being a great place to live. To be clear though I am talking about Soviet Union and post Soviet Union countries I never lived in eastern Germany .
Not a great place to live at all.
Jayne thank you for the review . Apologies for needing a separate post to do that