novel three

A history of Berlin

A History of Berlin aims to chronicle the history of Germany through the microcosm of its most dramatic city. Alexandra Richie's thousand page tome spans from the time of Nero to Helmut Kohl. Richie debunks many of Berlin's myths and leads the reader through a historic panorama. the flowering of Romanticism around the Napoleonic occupation; the city's evolution into a grim imperial capital after 1871; the hypernationalism of World War I; the Weimar turmoil and the horrors of Nazi rule; the equally appalling horrors of the Soviet conquest; the dramas of the Cold War and the Wall; East Germany's police state and West Germany's Ostpolitik; and Berlin's massive transformation into a new capital. Richie does not believe that the Berlin Republic will subordinate itself willingly to Brussels bureaucrats. She calls for Germany to build on the Federal Republic's legacy and regain a sense of national identity without succumbing to the worst elements of the German national identity. Her book attempts to remind Berliners of their troubled past, so that they will "accept its consequences" and avoid its excesses, faults, and crimes.

In the book Richie describes Berlin as the ultimate "border city," on the frontline of the dueling Weltanschauungs of the Cold War. The tone is familiar in describing the changing face of the city, and her enthusiasm evident as the book moves into the modern era. Filled with the insights of its unique and myriad residents, Faust's Metropolis recounts Berlin's culture, providing the reader with a thorough history and authoritative analysis. Richie doesn't romanticize Berlin, early on, her views of the city as capitalistic, and rude. she often says that the metropolis in Faust has always been a bad place. She commented by saying that "It is neither an ancient gem like Rome, nor an exquisite beauty like Prague, nor a geographical marvel like Rio. It was formed not by the gentle, cultured hand which made Dresden or Venice but was wrenched from the unpromising landscape by sheer hard work and determination." By placing her historical account in a world-encompassing perspective, the culture described in Faust's Metropolis comments on the whole of Germany and its people.

novel two

Rosa
The story of Rosa comes from the famous socialist revolutionist Rosa Luxemburg. What is interesting about this book is not the lead character, who's death sets in motion the story of the book. Instead it is the character Chief Inspector Nikolai Hoffner. Hoffner is investigating a grizzly series of murders and when Rosa's body turns up matching the M.O. of the serial killer. The case becomes complicated as "political" overtones come into play and Hoffner's life suddenly gets a great deal more complicated.Rosa takes place during that tension-filled time just after World War I when chaos and violence ruled Germany; when socialists sought revolution only to create a society that would ultimately lead to Hitler.

Hoffner, whose roots are strangely both Russian and Jewish, is caught up in this tension as he tries to solve his case while fending off the "Polpo" or political police. His best friend and partner having been killed in the war, and he has recently been assigned a new, naive, assistant whose girlfriend Hoffner feels drawn to. At the same time his devotion to his work has caused his relationship with his family to deteriorate. Hoffner is a weary man stuck in a world teetering on the brink of destruction.

Hoffner is not really that sort given his cheating on his wife and largely ignoring his kids. In this case the setting made a difference. There is something about the inter-war period that made Hoffner's character work. The despair, the constant tension, the sense of impending doom, all of this helps explain Hoffner's situation if not his actions. The socialist martyr Rosa is the only character who really seems to have a moral being. What makes Hoffner an interesting character is his drive to finish the case in a life, and in a society that has fallen apart in so many ways the only thing he has to hang on to is doing his job. The satisfaction from completing a case is the only thing that really gives him pleasure and is the only thing he feels competent to do.