Nightmare in Berlin (1947) by Hans Fallada

BOOK: Nightmare in Berlin (1947) by Hans Fallada

HBG gathered on a balmy summer night in the agreeable pub garden at the Westbourne to discuss Keith’s Criminality and Art themed selections. Could we enjoy the work of artists who have done bad shit?

First up was Hans Fallada, best known for the runaway success of Alone in Berlin recently republished, and whose 'Nightmare in Berlin’ is the story of a married couple contending with a devastated postwar Germany.

Hans Fallada’s 1947 novel Alone in Berlin was the hit book of summer 2010, selling 300,000 copies and making a bestseller of an author who had been largely forgotten. In 2018 the late German author’s Nightmare in Berlin, an autobiographical novel beginning on the day the war ends, was published in English for the first time.

Keith, ever diligent, read it twice. This is writing as therapy, he announced, before lavishing a murderous 7/10

The rest of HBG were generally positive, albeit with some misgivings. It has an immediacy and is full of great details, however is also a tad repetitive and meandering. Overall though the consensus was it’s worth a read but it’s no ‘Alone in Berlin’, which many HBGers resolved to read at the earliest opportunity.

Keith tries to forgive Hans Fallada's murderous childhood

Tristan 6/10
Keith 7/10
Robin 6/10
Roland 6/10
Nigel 8/10
Nick 6.5/10

FILM: Heavenly Creatures (1994) directed by Peter Jackson

Peter Jackson’s 1994 feature film features a pair of murderous school girls. It is based on a true story. New Zealand was unsurprisingly stunned in 1952 by a brutal murder carried out by two girls, ages 15 and 16, who crushed the skull of one of their mothers with a rock. 

To varying degrees we loved it

MUSIC: Keith’s “All That Glitters…” playlist 

Keith went through the rap sheet of all the miscreants on his playlist and used this as a springboard to debate the extent to which their work is separate from their crimes.

So what’s on it?

Gary Glitter - I’m the leader
Phil Spector - To Know Him
Sex Pistols - Something Else
Babyshambles - Pentonville
Ian Brown - My Star
Jonathan King - Everybody’s Gone To The Moon
Wham! - Bad Boys
2Pace - Me Against The World
Culture Club - Do You Really Want To Hurt Me
Jerry Lee Lewis - Great Balls of Fire

Jerry Lee...Keeping it in the family

ENDORSE IT

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