One of Isherwood's classic 'Berlin' novels ... but rather different from much of his work in that, although still told in the first person, the narrator is not 'Christopher'; however he is still principally an observer and, despite his different name, recognisably the author.
The narrator observes the action, tolerating and accepting the various characters, none of whom are upstanding moral citizens. For most of the book it is a bit of a mystery how Mr Norris makes money but it is clearly through immoral and probably illegal means; he is an intriguing mixture of camp and nervousness. He enjoys being dominated and whipped by Anni, whose 'protector' is Otto. The severely monocled but "fishy" Baron 'Kuno' van Pregnitz has a predilection for young men; at one point the narrator goes on holiday with him and the suggestion is that they share a bedroom. They become involved in the struggles of the communist party against the growing power of the Nazis.
I think what makes this book so good is the the way the author explores the complexity of the main characters and the empathy he shows. There is no judgement. This extends to the poverty-stricken environment. We're in a world in which anything goes and people do what they can to survive. The reader is seduced by the seediness of the society. And, of course, you keep reading because you too, like the narrator, want to understand exactly how Mr Norris makes his living.
Selected quotes:
- "An unpleasant thought seemed to tease him like a wasp; he moved his head slightly to avoid it." (Ch 1)
- "Anni's beauty is only sin-deep." (Ch 3)
- "I was as hurt as a spinster who has been deserted by her cat." (Ch 8)
- "Like most people who still contrived to earn a living in those bankrupt days, she was a woman of numerous occupations." (Ch 8)
- "And morning after morning, all over the immense, damp, dreary town and the packing-case colonies of huts in the suburb allotments, young men were waking up to another workless empty day to be spent as best they could contrive; selling boot-laces, begging, playing draughts in the hall of the Labour Exchange, hanging about urinals, opening the doors of cars, helping with crates in the markets, gossiping, laughing, stealing, overhearing racing tips, sharing stumps of cigarette-ends picked up in the gutter, singing folk-songs for groschen in courtyards and between stations in the carriages of the Underground Railway." (Ch 8)
- "His voice stopped like a gramophone from which the needle has been lifted." (Ch 11)
- "I tried to look Arthur in the eyes. But no, this time-honoured process didn't work. Here were no windows to the soul. They were merely part of his face, light-blue jellies, like naked shell-fish in the crevices of a rock." (Ch 12)
- "My throat had gone dry. I tried to clear it and made an absurdly loud, grating sound." (Ch 14)
- "I think you'll find that the soft ones object to being cheated even more than the others." (Ch 14)
- "Remorse is not for the elderly. When it comes to them, it is not purging or uplifting, but merely degrading and wretched, like a bladder disease." (Ch 15)
April 2023; 191 pages
Other novels by Christopher Isherwood reviewed in this blog:
- Goodbye to Berlin: a sort of companion to this book, which introduces the fabulous Sally Bowles
- Prater Violet
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