19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
An engaging novel of Berlin before the fall of the Wall., September 4, 2000
This review is from: The Wall Jumper: A Berlin Story (Phoenix Fiction) (Paperback)
This completely frank, thought-provoking, and often wryly humorous account of life in Berlin before the fall of the Wall will go straight to your heart with its fascinating stories and tales from both sides of the Divided City. With poignancy and warmth, the author creates believable characters who adhere to their own truths, not necessarily the expectations of the reader.
The personable, unnamed speaker in this first person narrative is a writer trying to create the story of a man "caught in a back-and-forth motion over the Wall, like a soccer goalie in an instant replay, always taking the same dive to miss the same ball." Virtually all the Berliners we meet here--from both East and West--are in the same situation as the unfortunate goalie, as they, too, go back and forth, repeatedly mistaking the moves of people from the other "side," misinterpreting signals, and often, in their ignorance, failing to "get it."
The author provides an amazingly complete, though somewhat sanitized, picture of the Wall-jumpers--not those poor souls who were brutally machine-gunned by Wall guards, but people like the speaker who come and go across the Wall with relative impunity because they do not call attention to themselves. And Schneider is quick to point out that most of the East Berliners are fairly satisfied with their lives, which are depicted with much warmth, as families and friends spend a great deal of time with each other, undistracted by the responsibilities of "freedom."
The fascinating philosophical discussions and personal revelations that occur among friends from both sides may sweep away your preconceptions about life in Berlin, as they did mine, and you may find yourself reevaluating your thinking about society and politics in general, and about Germany, in particular. Mary Whipple
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Berlin Wall: West meets East, December 28, 2010
This review is from: The Wall Jumper: A Berlin Story (Phoenix Fiction) (Paperback)
Ian McEwan acknowledges in the introduction "at a glance The Wall Jumper appears to be reportage rather than fiction." Published in 1982, seven years befopre the wall came down, this novella has little plot and character interaction but it deftly highlights the obvious and also the subtle differences between West and East Berliners. The reportage of various famous wall jumper incidents over the years is blended in with the impact each German state's influence has on its citizens. The narrator is a West Berliner who regularly visits East Berlin and writes about the meetings he has with various citizens. The narrator's encounters with Robert a former East Berliner now living disenchantedly in West Berlin highlight their different 'eyes' and conclusions in which they perceive the same events. An interesting aside Schneider reminds us that the US had boycotted the Moscow Olympics because of Russia's occupation of Afghanistan. This book is not for those big on plot and characterisation but it is a very revealing account on the influence the state has over the individual and the way we perceive things.
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1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
fantastic read, July 14, 2009
This review is from: The Wall Jumper: A Berlin Story (Phoenix Fiction) (Paperback)
Great piece of fiction read almost like mini-biographies of diverse, often eccentric personalities- true to the hysteria with which German describes themselves and the state of two-countries divided by the wall prior to its fall in the early 90s. I found myself laughing out loud at the poignant observations, as well as prejudices coming from both sides- It is a book about people, about societies to which they are bound. It is about the human person always wanting to trespass, to go beyond, to peek into their own curiosity.
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