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13 reviews for:
Berlin Now: The Rise of the City and the Fall of the Wall
Peter Schneider, Sophie Schlondorff
3.62 AVERAGE
13 reviews for:
Berlin Now: The Rise of the City and the Fall of the Wall
Peter Schneider, Sophie Schlondorff
3.62 AVERAGE
Not entirely what I expected - there were more personal anecdotes than I thought there would be, but still interesting to see how the fall of the Berlin Wall impacts the city even today.
funny
informative
slow-paced
A bit dully written book - very dry, the author jumps from topic to topic, hard to follow sometimes. With Berlin having such a rich and interesting history, I was expecting the read to be great, unfortunately it wasn’t.
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Three quarters of this book is exactly the kind of backstory drama I didn't know I wanted to read. Although as this book is from 2014 I don't know how much it can be described as Berlin Now. The other quarter is the author bemoaning how Muslim residents of Berlin aren't assimilating like he thinks they should. I definitely interpreted it as a "old man yells at clouds" situation until I read the author's Wikipedia page and saw he was active in leftist politics when younger. Then again I also know American liberals who handwring like this about immigration as well. I find the author's moral panic to be a huge blot on the rest of the book.
The other major flaw: this book desperately needs one or more maps and a whole bunch of photographs, even if the author had to take his own photos to reduce costs. I definitely had to use my phone extensively to Google places and buildings referenced, especially when reading the chapter about the rebuilding of the Potsdamer Platz.
The book was definitely helpful to gain some insight into the Berlin I visited and to see how different what I experienced was from how it had been, even a decade ago. Even the Humboldt Center that the author grumbles will never going to be built is now open. I did appreciate getting the entire backstory of the Holzmarkt 25 and how it relates to issues of gentrification in former East Berlin.
In general it was helpful to see the ways in which Berlin is grappling with the same issues as New York City, and how it succeeds and how it doesn't. I definitely came to better understand why some people think the two cities are similar even if they look very different.
The other major flaw: this book desperately needs one or more maps and a whole bunch of photographs, even if the author had to take his own photos to reduce costs. I definitely had to use my phone extensively to Google places and buildings referenced, especially when reading the chapter about the rebuilding of the Potsdamer Platz.
The book was definitely helpful to gain some insight into the Berlin I visited and to see how different what I experienced was from how it had been, even a decade ago. Even the Humboldt Center that the author grumbles will never going to be built is now open. I did appreciate getting the entire backstory of the Holzmarkt 25 and how it relates to issues of gentrification in former East Berlin.
In general it was helpful to see the ways in which Berlin is grappling with the same issues as New York City, and how it succeeds and how it doesn't. I definitely came to better understand why some people think the two cities are similar even if they look very different.
Some of the early parts are not that good but from about 50 pages in all worth reafing and interesting observations
For someone who has written two books about Berlin, Schneider appears to hold a lot of contempt for the city.
For my first step into post-Wall Germany, this book was a great start.
I finished about half of this book before a trip to Berlin. The essays I had read were fascinating and while walking around the city, I was able to point out places I had read about and offer my husband interesting bits of history, context, politics, and trivia. Schneider does an excellent job of describing the culture of the city. I’m only just starting to delve into the unique history of Berlin and this was a great starting point.
Five stars might be pushing it, but for me this book deserves all five. I lived in Berlin for a semester and loved every moment of it. I find myself thinking about that time of my life on a weekly, if not daily, basis and Berlin Now brought back all of those memories for me. I found myself nodding in agreement as I read about the history of anti-semitism in the city and how it has affected the current inhabitants. Reading about how living in East Germany (I also lived in the Eastern part of the city) was bland and drab compared to the Western side and how the Ossi's reacted once the wall came down made me feel like I was there, even though I wasn't born until 8 years later. Schneider's writing transported me back in time. The ending line hit me hard. "I feel sorry for anyone who can't live here (Berlin)". I'd never really thought about it, but I feel the same way. Berlin, specifically living there, is something I think everyone should experience.
I didn’t love Berlin when I visited. I was tired, and I was led on long walking tours throughout the city. It was strangely sunny, and the sun beat down on me with unfamiliarity. It wasn’t until the day I left, when I walked past the S-Bahn tracks and to little shops, that I began to appreciate the life that hummed under its greyness. Later that summer, I read The Wall Jumper and revisited Berlin in my mind, albeit a past version of what I had seen. I began to fall in love with its pace and the young people drinking beer on patios in Mitte and old women with head scarves and grocery bags and all the other things I had seen. I more fully felt the force of history and memorialization that defines Berlin. Reading Berlin Now had the same intimate, lyrical power of Schneider’s fictional work. Each chapter was a treasure trove of facts that seemed to uncover corners of the city. I fell in love, and I can’t wait to travel back soon.