Alone in Berlin by Hans Fallada

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

(Warning: may contain spoilers)

This is a book about an old couple from 1930s Berlin who, after losing their only son in the front, decide to fight against the Nazi government. Based on the true story of Otto and Elise Hampel, the couple starts their lone resistance by writing postcards with anti-Nazi messages and leaving them in public buildings, in a hope that people read them and pass them on.

I like the fast paced style of this book, maybe derived from the fact that Fallada wrote it in around four months only; the author doesn’t lose time with unnecessary words or details and still you get a really good picture of the characters in this story and the atmosphere of misery, fear and paranoia.

This isn’t the typical story about wartime heroes, full of charisma and ending up inevitably in success. No, these heroes, Otto and Anna Quangel, are rather uninteresting and even dull.

Their risky fight seems to have been in vain but that’s not what the book is really about. This novel is about keeping one’s dignity, it is about not being corrupted only because there’s a corrupt government and society around us. It shows us that if you do something to change that situation, even if it has no direct effect or if you pay with your lives, you have won!

I really enjoyed this book and how it’s written. I was touched by the story and the message it gives and also by the author’s tragic life that is briefly described in the book’s afterword, so, I’m giving this book 5 stars.

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Mutiny on the Bounty by John Boyne


My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book was offered to me and, having read some good critics about the author’s previous books, specially “The Boy in Striped Pajamas”, I was looking forward to check how this book was and put my dislike of nautical adventures behind my back.

The books tells the (mis)adventures of 14 year old John Jacob Turnstile on board the HMS Bounty from his own thoughts and words. Turnstile gets the position of Captain’s servant boy as an alternative to spend time in jail after getting caught in an act of thievery. While the ship heads towards Tahiti, the young boy shows the reader how hard life on the sea can be and how harder it seems to have been in the 18th century.

While all this seems like an interesting adventure to read about, I found most of the book quite boring. Page after page I was think there were more words used to make it sound like 18th century’s English than actually to tell interesting events and catching the attention of the reader. Things move really slowly in the book. I was urging for the mutiny to happen in hope that the book got more interesting.
Surprisingly, a while after the mutiny (you realize I’m trying to avoid any spoilers here by not mentioning what exactly happened that while after), the events seem to suggest that then would come some new and interesting things but it seems the book enters in fast forward mode and the whole story is finished in just a few pages leaving you with a feeling that either the pages number was too much for the author to keep writing or he was running out of time and had to rush things.

I would recommend this book only if you are a fan of reading about sea adventures in past centuries. If you do not specially enjoy such a scenario for an adventure, then do not read this book, the pace is slow and and it make you feel you are wasting your time.

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Hi,

I have registered in Goodreads a while ago but never really cared about it.
Today I thought I should start making a better use of it so here is a review for a book I read.

Scratch Beginnings: Me, $25, and the Search for the American Dream by Adam Shepard

My rating: 3 of 5 stars
An amazing and brave idea that shows how a man in America can rise from having virtually no money at all to afford a home to live in. The secret was actually no big secret: work, work, work and save, save, save!

I had bigger expectations for the book, the writing seems sometimes so vague that you get bored. (Well, the author warns that he is no writer but still, I expected a bigger effort.)
The book has a sad end due to the author’s private life and this can be the reason why the book ends leaving you with a thought of “is that it?” on your mind.

Still I’m giving it 3 stars as it has a few funny and incredible stories but above all because it reminded me how lucky I am to have a place to live, food to eat and people who care about me.

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Me and my friends on NEEI have this deal with O’Reilly so we write book reviews for them.

Here’s mine on a Ruby book:
Everyday Scripting with Ruby

And some others by my friends:
Linux Kernel in a Nutshell
Python in a Nutshell