Reviewed by Emma Crowley
‘I will never forgive you! You had a choice. You could have listened to your mother, your brother, your father, but you chose to listen to those monsters. And that choice remains with you. Forever.’
Berlin, 1933. Leah and Magda have been inseparable for as long as they can remember, and one beautiful summer’s day in their courtyard, they vow nothing will ever come between their friendship. But Leah could never have predicted the darkness looming just around the corner…
As Hitler comes to power and the Nazi Party gain even more influence, Magda proudly tells Leah she has decided to join the Hitler Youth. Leah’s blood runs cold before she begs Magda to change her mind – because Leah is Jewish. Magda refuses, and heartbroken Leah knows this will not only destroy their friendship, but put her life in mortal danger. Suddenly, the only light in her life is Magda’s brother Markus, who is furious at his sister and vows to do everything he can to keep Leah safe.
As Magda becomes more entrenched in the Nazi Party, Leah’s life starts to shatter as the Gestapo raid her home, sending her beloved brother Aaron to a concentration camp. Devastated, Leah and her parents are forced to flee and hide. Desperate to save Leah, Markus decides the only way he can help stop the Nazis and his sister is to infiltrate the party as an undercover resistance fighter. But will Magda see through his lie, and how far will she go to prove her loyalty to her Führer?
Many thanks to Bookouture via NetGalley for my copy of The Children of Berlin to review and to Sharon for having my review on the blog.
The Children of Berlin is the new book from Sharon Maas which follows two women living in Germany pre, during and post WW2. The story alternates between the two women’s perspective with Magda’s perspective told in the form of a letter and Leah’s experiences are detailed in a narrative told from her own context and mindset. Right from the prologue, my interest was piqued as we are left with one big question. Just what did Magda do that caused a solid friendship formed throughout childhood to disintegrate beyond repair?
It’s 1963 and Leah is living in Bexhill on Sea and it has been years since she has had any letter from West Germany. She had washed her hands of that evil place and all the memories and events associated with a traumatic time in her life she has tried and for the most part been successful in putting them to the back of her mind.
A letter arrives from Magda ensuring a whole torrent of emotions come rushing to the surface and in choosing to read it Leah has opened up a can of worms which she feels would be best left shut. Magda is seeking forgiveness. There is a deep and sincere sense of repentance emanating from the letter but is Leah willing to forgive and forget given the horrific events that lead to their estrangement? There have been twenty years of pain, hurt, bereavement, struggle and displacement for Leah and now that she has built a new life for herself is there any point revisiting the past?
The book is split into three distinct sections which begin in Berlin in 1933. The three parts did work very well and meant that the plot was wide in scope in terms of the timeline. I will say that I did find this book slow going a lot of the time. There is a lot packed in on every page and I found that it needed my undivided attention and that at times I reread pages just to make sure I had everything straight in my head. This book is very good and I only truly came to appreciate the depth of the story and the way everything was woven together once I came to the final pages.
Being honest I did find it too long and perhaps a different title would have been more apt. Saying this it sounds like I didn’t enjoy the book, but I did, but personally I felt it could have been shorter. The story of Magda and Leah will really set you thinking as in books you are more often than not supposed to like and engage with the main characters, two in this case, but from the outset it was Magda whom I was against and couldn’t find any redeeming features in for what she did and that’s what makes this story a real good read for a book club as it would inspire so much discussion and debate.
Magda recounts her story in the form of a long and detailed letter which flowed very well and offered a deep insight into her way of thinking and her motivations. Still though, I can’t find anything good to say about her as the path she travelled down was just appalling. Magda and Leah grew up together in Berlin in an apartment complex known as Kaiserkorso Eins. Leah’s family were Jewish as were many others in the building but there was never a sense of difference or a hierarchy amongst the families that lived. Although coming from different religions the girls were like sisters, as close as could be with Magda being the outgoing, extraverted one and the talker whereas Leah was softly spoken and a listener and over the course of time she develops a crush on Markus, Magda’s brother.
During the 1930’s a dark cloud of evil and unimaginable terror started to fall over Berlin as Hitler becomes leader of the National Socialist Party. Magda, thanks to the influence of her Aunt, is soon drawn into an evil sphere. Seized upon any chance when something different was being offered. ‘Something cracked and poison oozed into her soul’. Magda throws herself into the cause and leaves Leah confused and hurt in her wake. She believes Hitler will lead their country to greatness again and do away with all the ills in society but what happens when those supposed ills are the very people you grew up with? People whom you loved trusted and idolised. It really was quite scary to see Magda become brainwashed so quickly and easily. She joins the Hitler Youth and later the BDM and as the years pass she starts writing articles and becomes even more entrenched in the Nazi’s regime.’ The BDM absorbed me. It became my entire life. It sucked my blood’. She leaves her family behind and I was so glad they didn’t at all agree with Hitler’s stance and what Magda herself was becoming involved in.
Poor Leah looks on from the side-lines as ‘the closest female friend I’d ever had, unambiguously declaring before all the world her allegiance to the dictatorship that would see me and my people banished from society’. The further I got into the book the more I really didn’t want to be reading about Magda because quite simply I was coming to loathe her as a person and her actions and the more we start to see a turn in her opinions I just thought that’s too little too late and why on earth should Leah forgive her? There is a specific thing amongst many others that Magda did that has her begging for forgiveness. In the present Magda is experiencing sorrow and guilt but does she truly recognise the criminality of her actions and can a lost friendship ever be repaired given al the damage, hurt and pain that has been inflicted upon it?
I empathised and connected with Leah much more so than Magda as is evident from what I have said up above and really who wouldn’t. The anger, hurt and distress she feels at losing her best friend to a dictatorship that was trying to annihilate her, her family, her friends and so many others. I mean you couldn’t remain connected to someone who agrees with the Nazi’s principles and ideology. I enjoyed the development of Leah’s side of the story. You see how she started out happy and content growing up in Berlin but then the darkness starts to creep in and her life and that of her family is altered. The details of the laws and sanctions imposed upon Jews are known to us all and the more that are issued the more that Leah and her family’s world shrinks until they are left with no choice but to escape and go into hiding. I felt we really saw how Leah grew and matured and her eyes were opened to the fact that Magda became a lost cause and her pull away from her had to be indefinite.
Yes, there are several moments when you think there is an element of hope and perhaps deep down Magda has a conscience after all but really they are few and far between and when you look at them as a whole it was always Magda out for herself. I enjoyed how Markus came to play an important role in Leah’s life and I would have loved to have had a few pages told from his perspective as to what he was involved in as it goes on to play an important role in the overall plot. I found Leah’s experiences during the war fascinating particularly her time at Sonnenhoff. Leah’s form of resistance lay in the form of survival and how she went about this was brave and courageous and love is a strong emotion that would help see her through the best and worst of times.
Overall, I did enjoy The Children of Berlin, pushing aside the issues I had with the length and at times the slow pace of the plot. I enjoyed seeing characters from Sharon Maas’ previous books make an appearance and I would urge you to go back and read those books if you could. The theme of the book is summed up in one word – forgiveness and even now having finished the book I am still contemplating what I would do because making a decision too rashly in this instance is not warranted or justified. Sharon Maas has written a compelling and heart-breaking read yet the divisive element still lingers on for me.
No comments:
Post a Comment