Address Unknown
A review copy of Address Unknown was kindly promised to me a while ago, and it arrived in the post just a couple of days ago. It's a fairly unassuming book, a thin little hardback, with the type taking up barely half of each page. It promised to be a quick read, at a time when I needed one - halfway through a long 19th century Russian classic.
The story takes the form of a series of letters between Max and Martin, friends and co-owners of an art business in California. Martin is German,
and has lived in America for years; Max is a Jewish American. The letters begin in 1932 when Martin returns to Germany as a wealthy man in a thoroughly downtrodden country. Despite his liberal politics, Martin is quickly swept up in the enthusiasm for Hitler, and then for Nazism. When he betrays the trust of his friend, Max exacts a chilling revenge.
Address Unknown is very spare - I read it in under an hour and then re-read it again. It also feels pretty worthy, as if it belongs squarely on a GCSE History syllabus. However, it's also a very striking story of how friendship and fireside discussions, the warmth of the human heart, can be crushed under the wheels of an ideology.
This book is in fact a clever short story, but it could have been an absorbing novel if it had shown Martin's transformation with more psychological resonance and political depth. As it is, it's too thin for me to love it, but it was arresting and admirable.
The story takes the form of a series of letters between Max and Martin, friends and co-owners of an art business in California. Martin is German,
and has lived in America for years; Max is a Jewish American. The letters begin in 1932 when Martin returns to Germany as a wealthy man in a thoroughly downtrodden country. Despite his liberal politics, Martin is quickly swept up in the enthusiasm for Hitler, and then for Nazism. When he betrays the trust of his friend, Max exacts a chilling revenge. Address Unknown is very spare - I read it in under an hour and then re-read it again. It also feels pretty worthy, as if it belongs squarely on a GCSE History syllabus. However, it's also a very striking story of how friendship and fireside discussions, the warmth of the human heart, can be crushed under the wheels of an ideology.
This book is in fact a clever short story, but it could have been an absorbing novel if it had shown Martin's transformation with more psychological resonance and political depth. As it is, it's too thin for me to love it, but it was arresting and admirable.
Becca
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