Customer Reviews

The Politics of Memory: Looking for Germany in the New Germany

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Kramer is a wonderful storyteller and an excellent reporter. The problem with this book is that Kramer's status as an outsider reporting on a country she doesn't even live in leads to overcompensation in the form of a transparent will to write an "insider's" tone into her essays. If I had a nickel for every time she referred to "the kids" and "the scene" as if she really knew anything but hearsay about German kids and scenes, or for the occurrences of "a lot of people say [x]" and "so-and-so likes to say [x]," I'd have enough money to buy Anna Funder's book about the Stasi, which, while also problematic, has the intelligence to include her outsider stance in the narrative itself. Meanwhile, Kramer's lack of familiarity with Berlin comes out in embarrassing goofs such as placing the KaDeWe on the Ku'damm and referring to Germany's most important literary publishing house, Suhrkamp, as Surkampf. Too bad, for there is much important social and political history gathered in these essays. The book is definitely worth reading, but its weaknesses do annoy.

Kramer is one of the leading exponents of literary journalism, so it's perplexing that this book is out of print--especially since it contains several classic essays that she wrote for the New Yorker magazine. Some of the essays are over a decade old but they hold true and remain great reads. Most memorable are the ones on Berlin and the Wall--absolute gems of style and voicing that alone are worth the book's price. Highly recommended for anyone visiting Germany or living there.