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A review by tomleetang
The Berlin Novels by Christopher Isherwood
3.0
One could compare this to Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises: it's set in a similar period and is predominantly focused around anchorless expats - except in Berlin instead of Paris and Spain. Isherwood is a lot funnier than Hemingway, but also less vital, less weighty, even though it's set during a much more fascinating milieu: Germany during the rise of Hitler.
The first of the two parts to this book, Mr. Norris Changes trains, is more flippant and fun, while Goodbye to Berlin is more precise and rueful - though still amusingly observed.
So why just three stars? At one point, the character Sally Bowles indirectly describes a fictionalised version of Christopher Isherwood as a 'dilettante' - and that is exactly how one could describe the author's writings. Witty, acutely observed, and yet also somewhat throwaway, loose, lacking in precision and vision.
The first of the two parts to this book, Mr. Norris Changes trains, is more flippant and fun, while Goodbye to Berlin is more precise and rueful - though still amusingly observed.
So why just three stars? At one point, the character Sally Bowles indirectly describes a fictionalised version of Christopher Isherwood as a 'dilettante' - and that is exactly how one could describe the author's writings. Witty, acutely observed, and yet also somewhat throwaway, loose, lacking in precision and vision.