Customer Reviews

Last Stop Vienna: A Novel

5 star:		(11)
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3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I derive no greater reading pleasure than when I learn something while being highly entertained. Andrew Nagorskis Last Stop Vienna is an amazing novel that manages to teach as well as engage. The rise and rule of Adolf Hitler is the most notorious tale of the twentieth century, yet how many people truly understand the dire social, economic, and political climate in 1920s and 1930s Germany that enabled the emergence of a man like Hitler? Perhaps better than any novelist in recent history, Nagorski does. Through the eyes of young and idealist Nazi Brownshirt, Karl Naumann, Nagorski tells a story that demonstrates in eerie and vivid detail how readily evil can rise out of desperation. Last Stop Vienna is not only a compelling book but also an important one. We live in an age where the conditions in many countries throughout the world are jarringly parallel to those of pre-World War II Germany. It would behoove us all to gain an understanding of such matters. Andrew Nagorski has provided us a great service by making it easy and enjoyable to edify his readers using his 288-page gem, Last Stop Vienna.

I started reading the book believing it was about something totally the opposite of how it ended. Does that make sense? It begins as a good illustration into just what kind of people enlisted into the Brown Shirts, then the SA, and ultimately, the SS. I thought that was excellent... really getting into the mind of a troubled angry youth that did what thousands of others did. The SA gave the angry, brutish, and the uneducated a place to belong. They just had to sell their souls. That I got. Nagorski's depiction of the main character's mindset I got. The reacton of the main character's wife as she detests his beliefs, I got. It went so well until...well honestly around the time Geli was introduced. It departed its roots and really became a dirty novel with facist undertones. I'm not totally sure exactly what the description of the sexual encounters added to the story, but to each his own.

Maybe it was the main character, himself, that let me down. Another reviewer said it correctly, HE LEARNS NOTHING. After a while it's just outright annoying to see him walk around in the same stupifying haze he began the book in.

The ending, well I don't want to give it away if you plan on reading this book... but it was unexpected. Here, the final departure from what the book initially said it was occurs. You're left with a WTF reaction. Not so much for the sheer climax of the story, but for the "damn it, the book outright lied to me! " type reaction. Again, it may just be me. But really. What the hell? The book ends after the strange and almost silly climax. You have no real idea what the ramifications are.

If you want to read a book with a decent grasp on history with an ok fictional component, this may be worth your while. If you can get over the idiocy of the main character and simply enjoy a piece of well written fiction, read this book. If you have some time to kill, read this book. It's an easy read. I'd borrow it or buy it at a deep discount. Or you will end up like me...not knowing what to do with it after you're done. I almost feel dirty for placing it in the bookcase with my other books. Basically, this book is the reason why I normally do not read historical fiction.

A vivid and engaging piece of historical fiction, Nagorski's tale traces the life of a young Karl Naumann against the stark backdrop of Germany's decaying liberal order. What begins as a coming of age story quickly maps to the increasingly dramatic events culminating in the Nazi takeover. But Naumann's investment in the events shaking Germany take on an entirely different character as he meets -- and falls in love with -- Hitler's troubled niece, Geli. Nagorski's prose is absorbing, and his grasp of the period's history is excellent. At turns thrilling and edifying, it's a story not to be missed.

Nagorski is probably an excellent journalist. He can write, but his characterization and plotting aren't up to snuff here. The protagonist (I hesitate to use the word "hero" in this case.) is a young man who learns absolutely nothing in the nearly 300 pages of this book. He begins as an angry, irresponsible teenager who deserts his widowed mother in the aftermath of the first World War, and he ends as a prisoner who comes to hate the man (Hitler) he once worshipped, but still shares Hitler's values and beliefs. Perhaps this would have worked in a book about private people, but once you involve a public figure like Hitler, the story you're telling will grow to fit the myth that surrounds that figure.

I think referring to this novel as an alternate history is perhaps misleading. The event which makes it so occurs at the very end of the novel, and we're never really given any indication of how the event changes history as we know it. And that too, is a disappointment.

I read this novel in one sitting, but it stayed with me well beyond that. Nagorski has written a fascinating alterna-history that makes you wonder how our world might have turned out differently if a Karl Naumann-like figure had existed. Nagorski is masterful in evoking the time period, and he's a brilliant, even profound, writer. For anyone interested in a thought-provoking historical novel...this is a must-read.

This book was recommended to me by my mother and to be honest, the only reason I listened to her was because I liked the cover. I'm really not a history buff but I have to say I was surprised at how much I loved Last Stop Vienna - and I learned an incredible amount. I couldn't stop reading it and, instead of skipping over the historical descriptions as I usually do, I was truly fascinated by Nagorski's ability to write so clearly and incisively, that I had a blast reading all of it! Of course, I relished the love affairs and love triangles and all the intrigue...especially when it came to Hitler's own perversions that I didn't know much about before! I wish they had added more sexual intrigue in the history courses I hated so much in college. I'm telling everyone about this book!
Jen Senko

Last Stop Vienna is historical fiction at its finest. It is so rare to find a journalist/historian who is also a wonderful storyteller with a masterful gift for prose. Andrew Nagorski is such a writer. He crafts a mesmerizing tale that not only entertains but educates. Nagorski's encyclopedic knowledge of a Germany ravaged by the Treaty of Versailles combined with his familiarity of character and place lends an authenticity to the novel that is both captivating and illuminating. Add to that a brilliant imagination and a lyrical ability to compose a compelling and original work of fiction from recent historical events and you have an extraordinary novel. Last Stop Vienna is a very special book by an informed and talented novelist. I recommend it highly.

Why was this book written in the first place? Why was it reprinted at all? Thank God I did not buy it, just read it - and am sorry I wasted all this time on a well-written piece of garbage.

Geli Raubal might not have died a virgin, but she certainly was not the tramp Nagorski made her out to be. Having been a victim of exactly the time period which the "writer" expounds on, I have long ago stuck my nose in just about every publicaton I could read that was pertinent to the subject of Hitler . The flights of phantasy the author takes are so way out it makes you wonder what he was thinking (if at all) when he made up the story.

He has written such excellent, serious books and now this.....

How could he deteriorate into this garbage dump? Waste not (your money), and it is not worth reading seiously - except for a few excellent description of sexual encounters. Your choice -- not mine.

One of the most interesting, fascinating and brilliant historical novels I've ever read. Creating a fictional character who acts as the reader's lens into a past world is extremely tricky and difficult--and Nagorski wrote it all so smoothly and seemingly effortlessly. It was more than a pleasure to read. It also made me reflect on the situations today: what if things had been slightly different in the past, what if things were taken care of today in a slightly altered manner...What would this world be like now? It's a shame Karl Naumann didn't exist-and that such a perverse monster named Hitler was even allowed to live as long as he did. Absolutely brilliant. I can't wait for what Nagorski's next subject will be...he's truly gifted.

Nagorski's creation of the character Karl Naumann is amazing. I felt like I was seeing what was going on in Berlin and Munich during that time right through Karl's eyes, as though I were living there myself. Nagorski's imaginative plot really made it clear how someone could have gotten caught up in the whole Nazi movement-something I could never quite comprehend before. And Nagorski's powerfully descriptive romances definitely heated up things and only made me read faster and faster...and wow, what an ending! An incredible read. Whether it's for pleasure or studying, this book should be on everyone's top ten list!