Am kurzeren Ende der Sonnenallee (German Edition) [Hardcover]

Thomas Brussig (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: German

Product Details

• Hardcover: 156 pages
• Publisher: Volk & Welt (1999)
• Language: German
• ISBN-10: 3353011684
• ISBN-13: 978-3353011688
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,573,486 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars how cute can East Berlin be?, April 25, 2006

By 

P. Horton - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Am Kurzeren Ende der Sonnenallee (German Edition) (Paperback)

Brussig's novel is a wonderful instance of self-conscious "Ostalgie." Here we have a group of teenage boys growing up, quite literally, in the shadow of the Berlin Wall and wanting nothing more than to get out and be free (to listen to the Rolling Stones). Ultimately though, there is no way for them to possibly escape, because what they want to leave is their home and their past - things that will always be part of them and that have made them who they are. A cynic could claim that Sonnenallee attempts to romanticize Stasi surveillance and the repression of the GDR, but it seems from my readings that it instead romanticizes the past in general. In the end, we all miss our home town... even if we never want to go back.

The novel itself is part school-novel, part teenage romance, and part everything else. Quite postmodern in its inter-relation to music and film (not to mention the Haussmann film starring Alex Scheer), it is a very enjoyable read. Even intermediate German students should be able to read it with little difficulty. I reserved the final star only because it's a little too short, in my opinion, to really reach beyond "cute" or "novel accompanying hit film" and make an interesting statement about our relationship with our past.

I highly recommend this novel to all... hopefully a translation will appear soon for the Anglo/American audience (I know at least one person working on one, but who knows if it'll be published).