Description on the back of the book:
Set in the 1930s, Goodbye to Berlin evokes the glamour and sleaze, excess and repression of Berlin society. Isherwood shows the lives of people under threat from the rise of the Nazis: a wealthy Jewish heiress, Natalia Landauer, a gay couple, Peter and Otto, and an English upper-class waif, the divinely decadent Sally Bowles.
I was disappointed when I read Goodbye to Berlin, and I think that was because my expectations of the book were based on Cabaret (the film). I did not expect the stories to be so depressing. And I expected more of Sally Bowles in the stories, since she is such a big focus in the film. I do much better reading a book when I go in with no expectations.
Goodbye to Berlin, published in 1939, consists of six connected short stories. The stories are semi-autobiographical. They depicted the poverty in Germany in the early 1930s more realistically than the movie. So, this book is a better depiction of the time, but not what I expected. Isherwood uses his own name for the narrator.
In the first story, "A Berlin Diary (Autumn 1930)," the narrator is living in a room in the house of a woman, Fraulein Shroeder, who once lived alone. She has been renting rooms for 30 years, but now, "Frl. Shroeder has not even got a room of her own; she has to sleep in the living room behind a screen on a small sofa with broken springs."
The second story, "Sally Bowles," is the longest in the book. It focuses on the time that Christopher knew Sally, a singer and actress. It was not my favorite story.
"On Ruegen Island" is about three young men spending the summer on an island. "The Nowaks" is about a strange and impoverished family that Christopher lives with; Otto Nowak was one of the young men in the previous story. In "The Nowaks", the characters discuss characters in "The Landauers", the fifth story. Natalia Landauer is a very young Jewish woman, the daughter of affluent parents who hire Christopher to give her English lessons. Natalia is more interested in learning about Christopher and gossiping.
"A Berlin Diary (Winter 1932-3)," is the sixth and last story. It is the shortest story, only 25 pages. It consists of brief vignettes, written like diary entries, that describe the situation in Berlin as it gets worse and worse. Christopher decides he must leave for good.
I suspect that if I take the time to reread the stories in Goodbye to Berlin, I will find the book more appealing on a second read.
14 comments:
Often you are very familiar with a film or a play based on a book and then read the book, you find yourself not appreciated the book on its own terms. they are very different forms with their own -- often very different -- approaches. I suspect, as you said, if you reread the book now, you will get much more out of it.
I have only seen the film and devoid of the music and dancing I am not sure I would have appreciated that so much.
I actually didn't know that Cabaret was based on a short story or book. I don't know what I thought it was based on, I don't think I'd ever given it any thought. Given that my daughter played Sally Bowles in an am-dram production some years ago, you might've thought I would have!
I think you are right, Jerry, about getting more out of it if I read it again. While I was reading pieces of the stories while writing the post, I found I liked the style a lot. Now I just have to remember to reread it.
It certainly wasn't fair to the book that I wanted it to be more like the film. Christopher Isherwood had criticisms of the film adaptation when it was made.
Patti, it has been a while since we saw Cabaret so I am sure I have forgotten much about it. But I did like the music and dancing a lot so that may have overshadowed (for me) the depiction of the times.
Cath, I bet that was an interesting (and fun?) production to watch, with your daughter in it. I still have not figured out why I felt let down by the stories. Or maybe I felt let down by the film which was also depressing but the musical numbers distracted from that? Many readers liked the stories a lot.
I've not seen Cabaret, so I would have no expectation going into this. I'm not always a fan of stories set in the decadent 20s and 30s. I think reading this would be harder knowing what the future years in Germany would hold.
Not a huge CABARET fan, and do like Isherwood stories.
The book is quite different from the film, isn't it, Tracy? There's a certain upbeat quality in the musical/film that isn't there in the stories. You make a good point, really, about reading the book before seeing the movie. I've found that works better for me, too.
I think the current depressing state of things can make depressing work a bit harder to take, as well.
The musical and film Caberet were so very, very loosely based on Isherwood's stories of Berlin in that era that it is often hard to find the connection! At the least, Isherwood's stories are totally grounded in what he experienced and witnessed in Berlin in the early-mid 1920s, which is crucially important historically, as an eye-witness account. And after viewing the film long ago, and then reading the stories, I found them to be two, almost totally separate, works of fiction. I enjoyed the film!
Never saw Cabaret but I know if it. Not sure how I would feel about the book. Christopher Isherwood writing these stories in the 1930's shows he saw the horror coming and wrote about it. I might give it a try.
Nice review. I think I had forgotten that the film Cabaret was based on or inspired by Isherwood's book. I have not read him -- so despite the depressing nature I'm still curious ... or maybe I might try A Single Man. I gather from what I googled that Isherwood was not a fan of Cabaret the film. Interesting.
Susan, I think reading this book is a good idea. It gives a picture of life in Berlin in the 30's. The writing is good but I got confused trying to keep track of the various stories and characters. I found Wikipedia's notes on Goodbye to Berlin and Cabaret interesting, especially what Isherwood and his friends thought of the movie.
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