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| Plot Summary of The Good German |
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"
Holt, Sept. 2001, 26.00, 496 pp.
ISBN: 0805064222
Before World War II forced him to leave, Jake Geismar, was CBS' reporter in Berlin. Now with the war over, CBS sends Jake back to Berlin to cover the Potsdam Conference. An obsessed Jake could not care less about a stuffy conference with a bunch of aging heads of state ready to carve up Europe like the failed efforts of Metternich a century before. Instead, Jake needs to know what happened to his prewar lover, Lena.
Jake becomes interested in the corpse of an American soldier whose murdered body is found near the conference. The intriguing part of this homicide is the Ally military leadership efforts to sweep the murder under a rug. Jake's journalist instincts smell a big story so he begins his own inquires that take him on a tour of the battered from the capital of the Third Reich and the competition among the winners to grab the spoils of victory, including the German scientists like Lena's husband.
THE GOOD GERMAN is an exciting look at Berlin just after the Nazi defeat. The story line is fantastic when the characters deal with ethics and morality especially local efforts to expunge feelings of guilt over atrocities and over losing. The tale slows down when Joseph Kanon turns it more into a thriller that interferes with an incredible character study filled with pathos as Allies and Germans feel different degrees of inadequacy, guilt, mistrust, and denial.
Harriet Klausner
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Harriet Klausner, Resident Scholar
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| Review Analysis of The Good German |
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Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about books by breaking them down into many different literary elements, all of which are searchable (click here).
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Composition of Book
descript. of violence and chases - 20%
Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 40%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 20%
How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 20%
How difficult to spot villain?
- Very difficult--no foreshadowing/clues
Time/era of story:
- 1930's-1950's
Spying/Terrorism Thriller
Yes
Cloak & Dagger Plotlets:
- kidnap/rescue
What % of story relates directly
to the mystery, not the subplot?
- 50%
Kid or adult book?
- Adult or Young Adult Book
Crime Thriller
Yes
Murder Mystery (killer unknown)
Yes
Main Character
Gender
- Male
Profession/status:
- writer
Age:
- 40's-50's
How much violence does he/she use?
- just the right amount
How sensitive is this character?
- sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
Physique
- average physique
Main Adversary
Identity:
- an organization
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- a moderate amount
Motive of antagonist
- power
The antagonists are:
- government bureaucracy
Setting
Europe
Yes
European country:
- Germany
Misc setting
- prison
Style
Person
- mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death?
- moderately detailed references to deaths
How many deaths?
- hundreds or more
Amount of dialog
- roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
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