It is not happening every day to read a book by a non-German author, who not even live in Berlin, set in a trans-historical Berlin and keep following the story until the very end.
The Berliners or in my version of the book, Friedrichstraße 19, is following the fragments of life of individuals who happened to live in the same building. There are six separate stories, with six separate voices, set in different times - 1909, 1986, 1948, 2019 etc. - whose destinies meet, directly or symbolically.
The structure of the novel is very interesting: the stories are very atmospheric, inter-twinned, falling one after the other, in a flowing structure that slides almost as a movie. I liked the ideas of following what remains when times are gone, how people do connect in the city beheeve, particularly in cities with such a complex history like Berlin. Not all stories are equal though, and the brevity of the book affects at different extents the quality and clarity of the novel, but as a literary experiment, it is a partial success.
From the local authentic point of view, the novel is very well researched and do recreates times and ambiances with a knowledgeable touch.
As a Berliner by adoption I enjoy the story and the setting, and I recommend it to anyone interesting to reflect about the human networks that connects anonymous lives in the entrails of the big city.
Rating: 3.5 stars
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