(Possible Spoilers)
For the May 1, 2013 discussion, the Wednesday Whodunit Mystery book discussion group chose The Good German by Joseph Kanon. It was first published in 2001 and made into a film released in 2006. It takes place in Berlin right after the fall of Nazi German. It is a seamless, complicated but still very compelling combination of a murder mystery, spy novel, love story, and fictional portrait of a very real place and time, a time that was pivotal for generations to come according to the author. It was the end of World War II and the very beginning of the Cold War and Berlin was ground zero. Caught in the middle between the Russians, Americans, and, to a lesser extent, the British and French were the German people surviving in the bombed out ruins of Berlin. It is a relatively longer mystery book at 480 pages with fairly small type separated into three parts (Ruins, Occupation, and Reparations) and over 20 chapters. It took me over two weeks to finish. The plot could get very complicated with so many different characters and agendas at work. At times it seem to be a "slice of life" portrait of postwar Berlin, at others a suspense story, and others a political intrigue. But through it all, it kept my interest until the end.
The main character, Jake Geismer, is a U.S. Army foreign correspondent that had lived in Berlin before World War II and has returned to cover the Potsdam conference for Collier's magazine. He also returns to try to find his former lover, Lena Brandt. There are many other characters including Liz, a photography who comes to Berlin with Jake; Ron, an Army officer who coordinates the American press in Berlin; Bernie Teitel, a Jewish prosecutor of Nazi war criminals; Tully, a mysterious young soldier; Congressman Breimer; Shaeffer, who is involved in seemingly classified operations involving German scientists; Gunther, a former German police detective who helps Jake out; Sikorsky, a Russian General; Lena's husband, the mathematician Emil Brandt; Muller, an upper-level assistant to General Clay, and the list goes on. Despite so many, I had little trouble keeping track of who everyone was and how they fit in to the story. I found it interesting that several of the American characters have German-sounding last names such as Jake Geismer, Congressman Breimer, Joe Schaeffer, and possible even Bernie Teitel.
I think the only mystery Jake is planning to solve when he comes to Berlin is what became of Lena. But he ends up pursuing an even more complicated case involving the American military, the Russians, multiple murders, corruption, and many players. There are several red herrings and many who are actually different than what they initially seem to be. I found myself trying to figure it all out like Jake, but also fascinated with just the survival story of Lena, Gunther and the other Berliners. Though the story is told in the third person, Jake is clearly the driving character. He appears in every "scene". The novel contains suspense and some pretty good action sequences. Early on is the late night adventure Jake goes through to finally find Lena, and try to take care of her. Much later he has to escape from the Adlon Hotel. That sequence reminded me of when Jean Valjean was trying to evade Javert in the streets and walls in Paris in the book Les Miserables.
The fictional story reveals many interesting aspects of the time period that may have been true. I think Muller or maybe Bernie Teitel gives Jake an overview of the black market in Berlin and how the printing of occupation currency leads to GI's sending home much more than their take-home pay. There's also Danny's operation of the escort service for officers for which he has a doctor to check on his girls, real estate to house them, and other pursuits. Even small details reveal the time and situation such as the old couple at the boarding house where the American press lives serving for dinner "standard B rations of pea soup, stewed meat, and canned pears" (p. 26) and Jake later listening to the record of "Straighten Up and Fly Right" by the Nat Cole Trio. The tragic plight of the Jews is also explored with the character of Renate, the Jew who betrays others as a "griefer" and also with Gunther who divorces his Jewish wife to help her hide as a "U-Boat". At one point Kanon remarks, possible as Jake's inner thought, "The most terrifying sound in Germany, a knock at the door." (p. 134)
The city where the story takes place is featured very prominently. I think Kanon mentions in the interview at the back of the book that Berlin is like another character. It is a large and fascinating city, further complicated by all the damage from the war and the occupation zones of the allies. Kanon includes a map of the major areas of Berlin within the first few pages of the book and I found this map invaluable in keeping track of where they were and where they were going. Eventually I started getting familiar with the areas such as Dahlem, where the Press stays including Jake, initially and Kreuzberg where Gunther Lives. I marvel at Jake's ability to get around the ruined city in his Army-issue jeep, though he had lived there previously. A couple of place names were musical references for me. On the map to the east of the Tiergarten is Zoo Station, that's also the name of a song by the band U2 off their album "Achtung Baby." In a described flashback, Emil tells his father, Professor Brandt, that the Spandau Bridge is was still open. I later researched and learned that Spandau is the name of the westernmost borough of Berlin and was in the British sector during the occupation. The British band Spandau Ballet got their name from the borough.
There were a couple of other relatable reference that had to do with math, something I studied. I didn't like it after Jake told Liz that Emil was a mathematics professor and Liz said, "Math? An egghead? Not very sexy." (p. 25) Much later Jake reads a file that is almost like an actuarial study of Holocaust victims that examines how long they'll be able to work on so many calories per day. (p. 352) Since reading A Study in Scarlet, my wife and I have become dedicated Sherlock Holmes fans and I tend to note all references in other books. I found two in The Good German. When Jake seems very nosy about who picked Tully up at the airport, Liz says to him, "Have it your way, Sherlock." (p. 67) Much later, Danny says of Gunther, "You see? That's what he likes. Old Sherlock. It's not the money with him." (p. 291) I thought it was interesting that the castle near Frankfurt where the Americans stashed the scientists was known as "Dustbin" When Jake volunteers his jeep to transport the orphans, Pastor Fleishman doesn't worry how it will take all 20 of them "as if the Lord would multiply the jeep, like the loaves and the fishes." (p. 281) Finally, when he sees Professor Brandt throw his arms around Emil, Jake think that "maybe the only story that really mattered, the endless ties of life's cat's cradle, tangled like yarn." (p. 478) I just read Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut a few months ago for my other regular book club. Now I know another meaning for the title.
In addition to a mystery, spy novel, suspense thriller, and historical fiction, The Good German is also a love story involving Jake, his old lover Lena, and her husband Emil. It's kind of a "bizarre love triangle" to quote the title of a song by the band New Order, a contemporary of Spandau Ballet. This arrangement further complicates the situation especially when Jake feels he must find and save Emil and they must work together. There is an extended love scene in the first half of the book that I found interesting for insightful comments by the author and by Jake, given that he and Lena hadn't had contact in many years and had gone through so much in the interim, especially her. As the scene begins, everything is familiar, "except the pleasure, the feeling itself, always new, different every time, like the sky, too immediate to hold on to the memory." (p. 168) A bit later when Lena laments all she has been through in the past years, Jake tells her, "You forget everything when you make love. That's why they invented it." (p. 172)
Throughout the book, there are references to its title. The term "good German" seems to have a different meaning for each character that uses it. I never figured out to which "good German" the title refers. Early on, Jake thinks of Emil as "A pleasant man with gentle eyes, quiet at parties, diffident, who saw numbers in his head . . . Not a Nazi, one of the good Germans." (p. 72) During the halftime of an American-style football game, Congressman Breimer gives a speech including, "We're going to help this country out of the ashes, extend our hand to the good German's who've prayed for democracy during all these dark years." (p. 112) One of the witnesses at Renate's trial, Frau Gersh, describes how when she was caught as a Jew, "The others—good German people, helping me—were already gone. (Renate) sent them away, too." (p. 246) Shaeffer mentions the process of "De-Nazification" of the German scientists "Those guys—we'd be lucky to get Ike cleared. They want the good Germans." (p.265) Much later, when he finds a medal won by Gunther in the first World War, Jake says, "He was a good German." (p.464)
At the end of the edition of the book that I read was the transcript of an interview with the author, Joseph Kanon. I thought he had some interesting things to say about his writing and the movie. He mentions that his research was entirely from print sources along with photographs and films made at the time. I admire that Kanon didn't use any electronic sources in his research, just as Erik Larson didn't use any for The Devil in the White City. Something else I like is that Kanon writes out his first drafts longhand before typing them on the computer. He mentions how it just works better for him that way. The Good German must have been over 1,000 pages longhand. I can relate because that's how I compose most of my reviews and blog entries. For me I think it's because the computer has distractions such as going on the Internet and it just feels more like work when typing than when hand-writing. Ironically, I had to compose this review on the computer to finish it in time for the discussion on Wednesday. I haven't mentioned much about the film version of The Good German. I think it has a very different plot from the book. In the interview, Kanon mentions that the book is just a starting point for the movie and that it was very well made, but the odd thing is "that now when I think of the characters I see George (Clooney) and Cate (Blanchett). But that's the power of movies."
I greatly regret I won't be able to participate in the discussion on Wednesday. There are just so many aspects of the book to talk about: the story, the mystery, the punishment of "war criminals", the importing of German scientists, the period in history portrayed in the book, the emerging Cold War, the plight of Jews in Nazi Germany, the book versus the movie, the historical accuracy, the characters, etc. The edition I read had some great discussion questions in the back. One question I might propose is "Who is the good German in the title?"
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