The Good German: A Novel

Rating:
Summary: Who is the "Good German ?"
Review: In this fictional romance detective (mystery/thriller) novel Joseph Kanon works with real historical facts (Allied occupation of Berlin in the summer of 1945) and places (Berlin and environs of Potsdam and Grunewald) to create a MORALLY INTROSPECTIVE plot. Historical facts are presented to show the evils done not only by the Nazis, but also the Russian soldiers, and the American GIs.

As some of the other reviewers mentioned, this novel is not great for it's detective story. Our action-hero, Jake/Jacob Geismar, is a war-correspondent for the US Army and seems to survive many incredulous circumstances.

The complexity of the novel is much more than untangling a web of mystery in the underground world of post-WWII Berlin. At the heart of the novel is the MORAL EXPLORATION of what we mean by good and evil, and of the nature of justice in times of war and relative peace.

As such, the title "The Good German" is a key to understanding the moral intricacies of the characters presented in this novel. This title is echoed in only four places (as far as I could notice).

So what does it mean to be a "good German?"

According to Joseph Kanon:
a) "Not a Nazi." (pg. 72)
b) De-nazified German scientists. (pg. 265)
c) Gunther, a German policeman during the war and detective-for-hire under occupied Berlin who was also an Iron Cross veteran (1917) during the Great World War. (pg. 464)
d) Americanzined Germans (German scientists and German population who is willing to forget the past and get with the new program: the new war, the Cold War).

Rating:
Summary: A hard look at the real questions
Review: Like in his other books (Los Alamos in the best, In my opinion), Kanon uses the mystery genre to ask difficult questions and to try to answer them.

An American journalist returns to Berlin immediately after WWII. He reunited with his lost love and, through her and through his work, meets a series of Germans and non Germans, whose lives have been twisted and torn apart by the war.

The main theme of the book, namely, who is a good German, or, more accurately, who is a good person, is presented in a series of subtle onion skins, which get peeled as the book progresses. The real greatness of Kanon is that the answer to the question is ultimately a matter of the reader's personal choice.

I love Kanon's writing and think that this is a truly brilliant book, but I must admit to one area of discomfort. This book is one of a wave of recent publications that seeks to portray the German suffering in the Second World War. Kanon is very fair in this regard, because he presents the German suffering suffering in its context and because his protrayel of the Jewish victims of the Holocaust is both powerful and touching. But the fact still stands that lately there have been quite a few books that have focused on the poor Germans and their trials during the war. As a Jew whose life was hugely influenced by the tragedies of the holocaust, I feel uncomfortable with the new trend. I understand that many Germans suffered horribly, but despite this touching book, I am hard pressed to feel pity for any of them. The voices of my many relations who died in the camps are simply too loud for me to hear these statements.

This not withstanding, The Good German is a brilliant book and an excellent topic for a book club or any reader with a heart.

Rating:
Summary: Outstanding!
Review: The Good German is a rarity---a thinking person's thriller. The characters are extremely well-developed, the moral issues raised by the story (and setting) are really thought-provoking and the plot is fascinating.
Jake, an American journalist, returns to Berlin in 1945 to search for the married woman with whom he had an affair before being forced to leave Berlin. While Jake manages to find Lena, his attempts to persuade her to join him become hopelessly convoluted when she insists on finding and notifying her husband of her decision to leave him. Lena's husband, it turns out, was a rocket scientist/mathematician who worked for the Nazis and who is now the target of a concentrated search by both the Russians and Americans (who want not to try her husband but rather to exploit his knowledge of weapons and missles).
While Russian and American intelligence are courting former Nazi scientists, Nazi and Nazi sympathizers who lack valuable knowledge are being systematically put on trial by both the Russians and Americans. The parallel story of Renate, a Jewish Berliner who worked for the Nazis as a "catcher" (someone who identified and caught Jews for the Nazis while under threat of death) presents an incredible counterpoint to the story of Lena's husband.
This is not a book which you can easily put down---the writing is great and the story moves along quickly. But it is the issues or moral responsibility which will remain with you long after you have finished the book. You won't regret buying this book!