Jonathan Rabb

This book is unlike anything I’ve ever read before. It’s breathtaking yet profoundly simple. The author truly makes you think about uncomfortable, complex social interactions. How on earth would you relate to or care for someone who survived something as hellish as the Holocaust? How do humans relate to each other while grieving different losses? How do factors such as race, religion, and socioeconomic status factor into such situations? I loved that although this book was not my normal “cup of tea,” I couldn’t put it down. The characters are well developed, the storyline is easy to follow and doesn’t derail into various subplots (as these types of books often do), and I found myself wanting more at the end. I would recommend this book and I will read it again myself, probably more than once.… (altro)

The 1927 period detail in this novel was just as good as in Jonathan Rabb's previous novel in the series, [b:Rosa: A Novel|7118378|Rosa A Novel|Jonathan Rabb|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1328771247s/7118378.jpg|1998722], to which I gave 5 stars. There is an attempt to make a unifying figure out of the film director, Fritz Lang, but this use of a real person doesn't work as well as in the first novel, which was built around the assassination of Rosa Luxemburg.

What made it difficult for me to finish the novel was its byzantine plot--around the German-American battle to master the technology of talking movies, and the haphazard characterisation of the novel's central character, Herr Kriminal-Oberkommissar Nikolai Hoffner. In spite of my disappointment, the great impression made on me by Rosa means that I will read other Jonathan Rabb novels.… (altro)