The Berlin Stories: The Last of Mr. Norris & Goodbye to Berlin - Classic Literature Novel by Christopher Isherwood | New Directions Books | Perfect for Book Clubs, Literature Lovers & Historical Fiction Readers

Having seen Cabaret, I was certainly aware of Christopher Isherwood. After reading a biography of Joel Grey, my interest was further piqued and I decided to buy Isherwood's "The Berlin Stories," upon which "I Am a Camera" and "Cabaret" were based. Isherwood is a wonderful writer and stylist. The second paragraph in his novel, "A Berlin Diary" (the second novel in this book) is one of the most finely crafted paragraphs I've ever read: "I am a camera with its shutter open, quite passive, recording, not thinking. Recording the man shaving at the window opposite and the woman in the kimono washing her hair. Some day, all this will have to be developed, carefully printed, fixed."The characters are wonderfully developed. Isherwood does a masterful job of describing their everyday lives against a background in which the Nazi presence is at first only fleetingly acknowledged and then steadily becomes a larger and more menacing presence as the stories progress. His ability to focus on everyday life while merely implying the terror that is about to engulf their society gives that threat of terror even greater impact. This book is a masterpiece of style and great story-telling.