Even culture has become a battleground, with German intellectuals being lured back from exile to add credibility to the competing sectors.Īlex Meier, a young Jewish writer, fled the Nazis for America before the war. Espionage, like the black market, is a fact of life. In the West, a defiant, blockaded city is barely surviving on airlifted supplies in the East, the heady early days of political reconstruction are being undermined by the murky compromises of the Cold War. Almost four years after the war’s end, the city is still in ruins, a physical wasteland and a political symbol about to rupture. The acclaimed author of The Good German “deftly captures the ambience” ( The New York Times Book Review) of postwar East Berlin in his “thought-provoking, pulse-pounding” ( Wall Street Journal) New York Times bestseller-a sweeping spy thriller about a city caught between political idealism and the harsh realities of Soviet occupation.īerlin, 1948. Leaving Berlin, one of Joseph Kanon’s best, is highly recommended.New York Times Notable Book * Named one of NPR and Wall Street Journal's Best Books of the Year * The best scenes in Leaving Berlin are flashbacks to Meier’s early life – glimpses of a younger man and a city unchanged by war – which enlighten the reader and give the novel uncommon depth. When asked to spy on a former lover, Meier is helpless to object, but when he’s deceived by his old friends, so-called allies, and the woman whom he still loves, he knows his life is in danger – but why? And from whom? Meier comes face to face with his real enemy in a dénouement that upturns all of our expectations, Meier’s literary credentials may open doors for him, but the Russians suspect his American connections, Germans dislike his Jewish name, and the Americans distrust his brand of socialism. After a turn as an Agency spy in Berlin, Meier will be allowed to return to the States for good. When he refused to testify against communist sympathizers, however, his residence status was threatened, forcing him bargain with the CIA. Meier’s home is in California with his young son. Although welcomed back as a returning exile cum celebrity, he doesn’t plan to stay. Meier, a successful writer, left Germany while that was still possible. We see the war-torn city through the eyes of Alex Meier, a Berliner returning for the first time in 15 years. Intra-city rivalries for resources, manpower, and, above all, confidential information, are fierce and sometimes deadly. Like all of Germany, Berlin is divided into zones administered by the Allies, but the city itself is in the middle of the Russian sector. Kanon’s latest thriller (after Istanbul Passage, 2012) takes place in the interstices of World War II and the Cold War.

Leaving berlin book review