About our Book Club

I am an avid reader who is part of a book club of 12 women who get together once a month at each others homes to discuss various books. We always have delicious food & wine and fabulous discussions! If you love to read then please take some time to peruse some of our book reviews, become a follower, add comments, suggestions or ratings and PLEASE share this blog with your friends too!

Jun 7, 2011

Every Man Dies Alone by Hans Fallada

This book is set in Nazi Germany and follows the lives of several people, particularly Otto and Anna Quangel, loosely based on a real life couple Otto and Elise Hampel.
The Quangels, tired and scared of the Nazi regime, begin to write postcards that are against Hitler and his propaganda and covertly deposit them in various places in hopes that the people who find them will pass them on and an uprising amongst the people will begin to grow.
The book also follows the lives of a variety of other characters from poor working class Germans to Nazi criminals. This is not an easy read, but it's a fascinating one. Our club had mixed reviews due to the brutality and difficult subject matter, but we all agreed that we learned something new about that era. Many of us felt that what happened in Nazi Germany and around Europe during that time has been written about so many times that it's sometimes difficult to go there again and again, yet Every Man Dies alone does not disappoint.
We were also fascinated by the life of Hans Fallada, which is actually the nom de plume for Rudolf Ditzen an extremely disturbed individual who had a long history of mental issues and substance/alcohol abuse. The book does a very nice job of explaining his life's history at the end of the book.
This book is not for the very sensitive and will require your full attention, but once you become invested in the characters you just can't put it down.

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