Cafe Berlin is a hypnotic literary thriller and an unforgettable portrayal of the feverish, decadent world of Berlin clubgoers in the months leading up to the Nazi rise to power. Utterly accurate in its depiction of historical and military events and astoundingly rich in detail, Cafe Berlin is vivid and compelling.
--This text refers to the
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Screenwriter/film producer Nebenzal, whose credits include Cabaret, mixes seedy ambiance and solid historical detail in this darkly kaleidoscopic first novel. The narrative unfolds as Daniel Saporta, aka Salazar, hiding out in a Berlin attic in 1943, feverishly records the city's decadent nightlife between the wars. A Syrian Jew, Saporta assumes the identity of a Christian Spaniard when he moves to Berlin in 1930 and opens a nightclub whose lurid shows titillate high-ranking Nazis and solid German citizens. Recruited into a British spy ring in 1941, he forces his live-in lover, Samira Mansour, a Jewish dancer, to become the mistress of a Nazi officer fond of sadomasochistic sex games. Samira uncovers the cooperation between Hitler and the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin al-Husseini, the real-life Palestinian leader who sought the Nazis' help in a plan to annihilate the Jews. While his tormented lover sinks into cocaine addiction, in late 1941 Saporta undertakes a mission to Yugoslavia, where Croatians are slaughtering Jews, Serbs and Gypsies with the help of Bosnian Muslims, minions of the Grand Mufti. Saporta's diary, extending to Berlin's capture in April 1945, is punctuated by bad news from the outside world, delivered by his club's street-smart ex-manager. An absorbing, ingenious debut.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Kirkus Reviews
Superbly imagined first novel by a former Marine captain who was also the screenwriter for Bob Fosse's Cabaret, which was based on Christopher Isherwood's Goodbye to Berlin. Nebenzal knows prewar Berlin like his own moles. For 12 years Daniel Saporta, a Sephardic Jew masquerading as a Spaniard named Daniel Salazar, runs the Klub Kaukasus in Berlin at the height of its decadence. And Klub Kaukasus is as decadent and colorful a cafe as you might ever hope to lose your virtue in. Especially nifty are Daniel's Turkish, Armenian, and Egyptian belly dancers (many of whom were parentally declitorized in pubescence) whose dances and orgasmically rippling bellies excite the high-styled clientele. The Klub is a fabulous success, and Nebenzal's knowledge of how to run such a club, keep the girls in line, and the show fresh is detailed with headspinning authenticity. One can't praise enough this novel's Nabokovian, termite-like detail, no matter what area of life it enters into: Middle Eastern Jewish life, German military life, the endless levels of a Pan-European capital's society, national varieties of cuisine, or the types of mentality of its characters. Daniel raises a streetwise former doorman, Lohmann, to be his second-in-command, and Lohmann's gratitude for being lifted out of the lower classes is one of the novel's most moving themes. But war comes; the club's Russian fare falls into the ersatz and makeshift; the high life departs; even the dancers are listless; and only Nazi toadies and functionaries fill the tables. Then Daniel is drafted unwillingly into helping the underground: The Germans have extended the Final Solution to the Middle East, with their Arab cohorts massacring Jews. Daniel must sacrifice his beloved Samira, a dancer, so she can become a spy servicing a Nazi pervert--and a rich scene it is when he givers her these orders. After a strong start, it gets only better. -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
fast spaced, unputdownable,
By A Customer
This review is from: Cafe Berlin (Paperback)
This is one of the best books I ever read. Historically authentic, thrilling, decadent, sublime prose with an ingenious plot.
5.0 out of 5 stars
cafe berlin,
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Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Cafe Berlin (Paperback)
I loved it. Nebenzal has done as much research for this book as Alan Furst must have done for his wonderful series.
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of the Best books I've ever read...,
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This review is from: Cafe Berlin (Paperback)
I found a flimsy proof version of this book at a garage sale circa 1998 and it has since been read by almost every member of my family and crossed the country two times.If you like the idea of pre war Berlin cabarets and espionage, then I promise you you will more than like this book.
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