A really striking set of barely fictionalized memoir stories strung into a loose narrative. Very much evocative of their time and location, and more satisfying than the companion work, Mr. Norris Changes Trains. It's also less glib. It's no surprise this generated a play and a couple of films - there are several different strands of overlapping, vividly drawn characters, and we see clearly how their lives are affected and changed as Berlin itself changes under the rise of the Nazi party. ( )

Christopher Isherwood's Goodbye to Berlin is a collection of some connected short stories about how Isherwood, once an outsider English teacher living in Berlin, became involved in several people who were threaten by the rise of the Nazis. His friendship began in some simple and subtle way, yet some ended in melancholic realization.

As time went away, the lives of people in Isherwood's circle were getting robbed by the Nazis, as well as Berlin crashed from once a center of culture and fashion with its Golden Twenties into a depressing town doomed with its citizen only be able to acclimatizing themselves with the natural law.

"The political moral is certainly depressing, these people could be made to believe in anybody or anything."

"Only a week since I wrote the above. Schleider has resigned. The monocles did their stuff. Hitler has formed a cabinet with Hugenberg. Nobody thinks it can last till the spring."

"She is merely acclimatizing herself, in accordance with a natural law, like an animal which changes its coat for the winter. Thousands of people like Frl. Schroeder are acclimatizing themselves. After all, whatever government is in power, they are doomed to live in this town."

"The sun shines, and Hitler is master of this city. The sun shines, and dozens of my friends -- my pupils at the Workers' School, the men and women I met at the I. A. H -- are in prison, possibly dead."

Interestingly, Isherwood describing his characters with queers way of thinking, making them interesting each of their own. He described two women, Sally Bowles and Natalia Landauer, with a great admiration and care, yet in an extreme subtleness, he told his readers that he had no sexual attraction towards them.

One of the character who attracted Isherwood was Bernhard Landauer, the Jews-Prussian man, wealthy and always mocking Isherwood's logic English thought with absolute sarcasm. Yet the more we delve to their story, the more we see how the attracted each other. Sadly, their fate put their life in a different road.

'Bernhard Landauer, beware. We are going to settle the score with you and your uncle and all other filthy Jews. We give you twenty-four hours to leave Germany. If not, you are dead men.'

"The Nazis may write like schoolboys, but they're capable of anything. That's just why they're so dangerous. People laugh at them, right up to the last moment…"

Initially, Isherwood came from British to Berlin to search freedom. It was ironically being asked by Herr Landauer with the discussion about Lord Byron and Oscar Wilde. For Isherwood, Berlin was land of freedom so even though he would be lonely, he chose to live there.

In his eyes, Berlin was perfect. They tolerate queer and glamorous lifestyle, they tolerate communist movement, and they tolerate Jewish business. The Nazis and Adolf Hitler changed them all. Isherwood even told about how this propaganda was being told to Berlin's citizen, making Jews the wrong side in trade. The saddest part of all was how fast the society believed all those lies.

George Orwell was right, reading Goodbye to Berlin is like reading a brilliant sketches of a society in decay.
( )

Christopher Isherwood's Goodbye to Berlin is a collection of some connected short stories about how Isherwood, once an outsider English teacher living in Berlin, became involved in several people who were threaten by the rise of the Nazis. His friendship began in some simple and subtle way, yet some ended in melancholic realization.

As time went away, the lives of people in Isherwood's circle were getting robbed by the Nazis, as well as Berlin crashed from once a center of culture and fashion with its Golden Twenties into a depressing town doomed with its citizen only be able to acclimatizing themselves with the natural law.

"The political moral is certainly depressing, these people could be made to believe in anybody or anything."

"Only a week since I wrote the above. Schleider has resigned. The monocles did their stuff. Hitler has formed a cabinet with Hugenberg. Nobody thinks it can last till the spring."

"She is merely acclimatizing herself, in accordance with a natural law, like an animal which changes its coat for the winter. Thousands of people like Frl. Schroeder are acclimatizing themselves. After all, whatever government is in power, they are doomed to live in this town."

"The sun shines, and Hitler is master of this city. The sun shines, and dozens of my friends -- my pupils at the Workers' School, the men and women I met at the I. A. H -- are in prison, possibly dead."

Interestingly, Isherwood describing his characters with queers way of thinking, making them interesting each of their own. He described two women, Sally Bowles and Natalia Landauer, with a great admiration and care, yet in an extreme subtleness, he told his readers that he had no sexual attraction towards them.

One of the character who attracted Isherwood was Bernhard Landauer, the Jews-Prussian man, wealthy and always mocking Isherwood's logic English thought with absolute sarcasm. Yet the more we delve to their story, the more we see how the attracted each other. Sadly, their fate put their life in a different road.

'Bernhard Landauer, beware. We are going to settle the score with you and your uncle and all other filthy Jews. We give you twenty-four hours to leave Germany. If not, you are dead men.'

"The Nazis may write like schoolboys, but they're capable of anything. That's just why they're so dangerous. People laugh at them, right up to the last moment…"

Initially, Isherwood came from British to Berlin to search freedom. It was ironically being asked by Herr Landauer with the discussion about Lord Byron and Oscar Wilde. For Isherwood, Berlin was land of freedom so even though he would be lonely, he chose to live there.

In his eyes, Berlin was perfect. They tolerate queer and glamorous lifestyle, they tolerate communist movement, and they tolerate Jewish business. The Nazis and Adolf Hitler changed them all. Isherwood even told about how this propaganda was being told to Berlin's citizen, making Jews the wrong side in trade. The saddest part of all was how fast the society believed all those lies.

George Orwell was right, reading Goodbye to Berlin is like reading a brilliant sketches of a society in decay.
( )

I enjoyed this book just as much as [b:Mr Norris Changes Trains|705163|Mr Norris Changes Trains|Christopher Isherwood|https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/books/1320426661s/705163.jpg|1473499]. It lacks the persistent sense of foreboding that characterises the earlier book, but it makes up for it by more clearly showing the poverty and social decay that existed in Berlin during the rise of the Nazis. The desperation of all the characters is clear as they cope with the consequences of long term social and economic collapse. The final couple of stories then emphasise the terrifying rise of the Nazis with remarkable acuity.

Isherwood creates a narrator who is engaged and expresses his own emotions, but refuses to judge or sensationalise what he sees. So when he states that he "shuddered in disgust" or similar, it is never quite clear that the disgust is justified, merely that this was his reaction. It is left to the reader to decide how to respond. Of course, the result is that all the emotions are felt much more keenly by the reader because they own them. Add to this the vividness of the descriptions and the expert characterisation and reading the book is a wonderful experience. ( )

A little too slow moving for my current mood, which made me feel disconnected from the characters. The most interesting bits were at the end, where the author puts in some of his actual diary entries from 1932-33 and which describe the small acts of public violence and hatred, and how ordinary citizens responded to them. ( )