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A Guide to Berlin
A Guide to Berlin is the name of a short story written by Vladimir Nabokov in 1925, when he was a young man of 26, living in Berlin.
A group of six international travellers, two Italians, two Japanese, an American and an Australian, meet in empty apartments in Berlin to share stories and memories. Each is enthralled in some way to the work of Vladimir Nabokov, and each is finding their way in deep winter in a haunted city.
A moment of devastating violence shatters the group, and changes the direction of everyone's story. Brave and brilliant, A Guide to Berlin traces the strength and fragility of our connections through biographies and secrets.
A group of six international travellers, two Italians, two Japanese, an American and an Australian, meet in empty apartments in Berlin to share stories and memories. Each is enthralled in some way to the work of Vladimir Nabokov, and each is finding their way in deep winter in a haunted city.
A moment of devastating violence shatters the group, and changes the direction of everyone's story. Brave and brilliant, A Guide to Berlin traces the strength and fragility of our connections through biographies and secrets.
272 pages, Paperback
First published August 3, 2015
23 people are currently reading
640 people want to read
About the author
Gail Jones
39Ìýbooks125ÌýfollowersGail Jones is the author of two short-story collections, a critical monograph, and the novels BLACK MIRROR, SIXTY LIGHTS, DREAMS OF SPEAKING, SORRY and FIVE BELLS.
Three times shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Award, her prizes include the WA Premier's Award for Fiction, the Nita B. Kibble Award, the Steele Rudd Award, the Age Book of the Year Award, the Adelaide Festival Award for Fiction and the ASAL Gold Medal. She has also been shortlisted for international awards, including the IMPAC and the Prix Femina.
Her fiction has been translated into nine languages. Gail has recently taken up a Professorship at UWS.
Three times shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Award, her prizes include the WA Premier's Award for Fiction, the Nita B. Kibble Award, the Steele Rudd Award, the Age Book of the Year Award, the Adelaide Festival Award for Fiction and the ASAL Gold Medal. She has also been shortlisted for international awards, including the IMPAC and the Prix Femina.
Her fiction has been translated into nine languages. Gail has recently taken up a Professorship at UWS.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 115 reviews
July 19, 2015
Written by in 1925, his is a short story; it was translated into English with the help of his son, Dmitri Nabokov and included in a collection of short stories - (published 1976)
Aussie author Gail Jones has written of six travellers who came together in Berlin through their mutual love of Nabokov’s work � Victor, Marco, Mitsuko and Yukio, Gino and Cass. Every so often they would meet in an apartment where each of the friends took turns to relate what they called a “speak-memory� � the story of their lives and how Nabokov’s work influenced them. Mitsuko and Yukio were from Japan; a young couple in love � the other four were strangers initially. Gail Jones� story tells of the deep cold of Berlin’s icy winter; the tentative friendships that formed between the six, drawn together by their memories and their love of Vladimir Nabokov. Their evenings were filled with food and drink; fun and frivolity, but with the seriousness of each “speak-memory�.
But when a sudden, tragic event shattered the friends, it left them to wonder at the fragility of friendship � the insurmountable odds of mending a fracture so complete�
A Guide to Berlin by Aussie author Gail Jones is a deeply interesting look at Berlin and the lives of a few travellers who interacted over a short period of time. Narrated by Cass, the only Australian in the group, it showed her thoughts and feelings; her love of the trains of Berlin and her slow trusting of strangers. I thoroughly enjoyed Jones� writing and could feel the chill of the winter; the interest in memories and the love of Nabokov. I have no hesitation in recommending this novel highly � though not my usual reading I found it to be definitely worth the read.
With thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my copy to read and review.
Aussie author Gail Jones has written of six travellers who came together in Berlin through their mutual love of Nabokov’s work � Victor, Marco, Mitsuko and Yukio, Gino and Cass. Every so often they would meet in an apartment where each of the friends took turns to relate what they called a “speak-memory� � the story of their lives and how Nabokov’s work influenced them. Mitsuko and Yukio were from Japan; a young couple in love � the other four were strangers initially. Gail Jones� story tells of the deep cold of Berlin’s icy winter; the tentative friendships that formed between the six, drawn together by their memories and their love of Vladimir Nabokov. Their evenings were filled with food and drink; fun and frivolity, but with the seriousness of each “speak-memory�.
But when a sudden, tragic event shattered the friends, it left them to wonder at the fragility of friendship � the insurmountable odds of mending a fracture so complete�
A Guide to Berlin by Aussie author Gail Jones is a deeply interesting look at Berlin and the lives of a few travellers who interacted over a short period of time. Narrated by Cass, the only Australian in the group, it showed her thoughts and feelings; her love of the trains of Berlin and her slow trusting of strangers. I thoroughly enjoyed Jones� writing and could feel the chill of the winter; the interest in memories and the love of Nabokov. I have no hesitation in recommending this novel highly � though not my usual reading I found it to be definitely worth the read.
With thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my copy to read and review.
December 13, 2015
This novel is narrated by Cass, an Australian in Berlin. One day, whilst going to see the apartment where Vladimir Nabokov once lived, she is approached by Marco Gianelli. He tells her of a group who meet in the city; all lovers of literature and Nabokov, they meet up to talk and relate their ‘speak memories.� “Speak, Memory,� was an autobiography of Nabokov’s early life, while “A Guide to Berlin,� was a short story, written in 1925 and published in a collection called, “Details of a Sunset and Other Stories,� in 1976.
Despite Cass’s insistence that she is, “not a joiner,� she finds herself meeting the group. Apart from herself and Marco, there is his fellow Italian Gino, Japanese travellers Yukio and Mitsuko and New Yorker, Victor. What follows is an almost deceptively poetic novel about these six travellers and their group dynamics and friendships and the way they are changed by a tragic event.
This will appeal to all lovers of literature, and, of course, Nabokov. It is unusual to find a novel which is so character, rather than plot, driven. Reflective, tentative and featuring the city of Berlin almost as another character, this is a surprisingly immersive novel. Once you have read this, possibly it will lead you � as all good books do � to read further. I am certainly going to find, and read, the short story that inspired this. Lastly, I received a copy of this book from the publisher, via NetGalley, for review.
Despite Cass’s insistence that she is, “not a joiner,� she finds herself meeting the group. Apart from herself and Marco, there is his fellow Italian Gino, Japanese travellers Yukio and Mitsuko and New Yorker, Victor. What follows is an almost deceptively poetic novel about these six travellers and their group dynamics and friendships and the way they are changed by a tragic event.
This will appeal to all lovers of literature, and, of course, Nabokov. It is unusual to find a novel which is so character, rather than plot, driven. Reflective, tentative and featuring the city of Berlin almost as another character, this is a surprisingly immersive novel. Once you have read this, possibly it will lead you � as all good books do � to read further. I am certainly going to find, and read, the short story that inspired this. Lastly, I received a copy of this book from the publisher, via NetGalley, for review.
April 19, 2019
Six foreigners living in Berlin are brought together by a shared admiration of the writer, Vladimir Nabokov.
The story is told from the point of view of Cass, an Australian woman in her late 20s, who arrives in Berlin on New Year's Day to focus on her writing; essentially she wants to see if she can concentrate and make something of her writerly aspirations. She doesn't expect to be so distracted by her surroundings, experiencing her first real cold winter, learning to live amongst the ice and snow, and also becoming so infatuated with the Berlin public transport system. Taking a photograph of the nondescript apartment building in which Nabokov once lived, she is greeted by Marco, an Italian expat living opposite, and invited to join the group. The other members are Gino, another Italian whom Marco knows from his academic life in Rome, Victor an older American, and Mitsuko and Yukio, a young Japanese couple. Cass, not normally 'a joiner', surprises herself by going along to the next meeting. Over a really short period the group achieves a shared level of intimacy that surprises them all, providing comfort in a city to which they don't belong, but also creating the environment for the tragic implosion that follows. Within 7 weeks, the group is no more.
I really enjoyed this book, the second of Gail Jones' that I have read. Her writing is just sublime, and this time I was struck by how many new words I learned! Instead of capturing quotes as I usually do when reading something I'm enjoying, I built myself a vocab list; parhelia, orrery, distrait, etiolated, kibitzer, and on it goes.
Cass was an interesting central character - something of a kibitzer in life. So outwardly self-assured, but often counselling herself internally on how to conduct herself. Although we get to know the other group members really well from their 'speak-memories', Cass (who is last to speak) feels that she has missed the bar in terms of both revelation and openness, but as readers we get to know her just as well by being privy to her thoughts and observing her actions.
Berlin was almost a character in itself. I've never been there, but I felt a sense of growing familiarity as the group journeyed around on the U- and S-bahns, visited various sites, and discussed many of the city's famous landmarks. I'd love to visit the place myself, although maybe not in the depths of winter.
Highly recommended for lovers of literary fiction. Knowledge of, or interest in, Nabokov is not essential (I had neither), but might enhance enjoyment even further.
The story is told from the point of view of Cass, an Australian woman in her late 20s, who arrives in Berlin on New Year's Day to focus on her writing; essentially she wants to see if she can concentrate and make something of her writerly aspirations. She doesn't expect to be so distracted by her surroundings, experiencing her first real cold winter, learning to live amongst the ice and snow, and also becoming so infatuated with the Berlin public transport system. Taking a photograph of the nondescript apartment building in which Nabokov once lived, she is greeted by Marco, an Italian expat living opposite, and invited to join the group. The other members are Gino, another Italian whom Marco knows from his academic life in Rome, Victor an older American, and Mitsuko and Yukio, a young Japanese couple. Cass, not normally 'a joiner', surprises herself by going along to the next meeting. Over a really short period the group achieves a shared level of intimacy that surprises them all, providing comfort in a city to which they don't belong, but also creating the environment for the tragic implosion that follows. Within 7 weeks, the group is no more.
I really enjoyed this book, the second of Gail Jones' that I have read. Her writing is just sublime, and this time I was struck by how many new words I learned! Instead of capturing quotes as I usually do when reading something I'm enjoying, I built myself a vocab list; parhelia, orrery, distrait, etiolated, kibitzer, and on it goes.
Cass was an interesting central character - something of a kibitzer in life. So outwardly self-assured, but often counselling herself internally on how to conduct herself. Although we get to know the other group members really well from their 'speak-memories', Cass (who is last to speak) feels that she has missed the bar in terms of both revelation and openness, but as readers we get to know her just as well by being privy to her thoughts and observing her actions.
Berlin was almost a character in itself. I've never been there, but I felt a sense of growing familiarity as the group journeyed around on the U- and S-bahns, visited various sites, and discussed many of the city's famous landmarks. I'd love to visit the place myself, although maybe not in the depths of winter.
Highly recommended for lovers of literary fiction. Knowledge of, or interest in, Nabokov is not essential (I had neither), but might enhance enjoyment even further.
July 6, 2016
It's difficult to come to grips with .
The format of six individuals coming together telling 'speak-memories' needs the stories and the voices of the story tellers to resonate and although there are interesting ideas underlying the memory-stories, they don't convince or engage. Sometimes the voices are just flat; sometimes overblown with hyperbole.
There are some connections between some of the individuals who meet for these highly contrived and quite formal 'speak-memories' sessions, but they never get to the stage of being a group, they remain an 'experimental community'.
References to Nabokov abound, from butterfly patterns and reproductive organs at the scientific end, to what I presume are some of Nabokov's theories about writing, focus on detail as a means of understanding the world. Certainly there are moments here of beautifully descriptive writing of the white snow, the ocean sound of cars driving in the wet. But many of the Nabokov references are tedious, intellectualised to the point of incomprehensibility. This may be Jones' intention, as at one point in one of these discussions she writes from the viewpoint of Cass, the main character through whom the whole story is told: 'Such disconnected conversation; such irresponsible idleness...there was a sense they all shared of the dissolution of narrative order; there was a decline to arid blather and unacknowledged tensions'.
Arid blather seems to me to be a perfect description of this next example, which follows the 'wicked act' which broke the group: 'Marco gave a little speech, absurdly formal in the circumstances. He said that the death of any human was without metaphor or likeness. The death of any human was incomparable. It was not a writerly event. It was not contained within sentences. It was not to be described in the same way as an icicle, or three wrinkles parallel on the forehead of a remembered governess, or the play of shadow and light on a swimming body, or the random harmony of trifles that was a parking meter, a fluffy cloud and a tiny pair of boots with felt spats'.
Not surprisingly, Cass 'wasn't sure she could bear it - another set of pronouncements, another articulate statement invoking the inexpressible qualities of death, or of life. A Nabokvian cradle rocking above an abyss'.
'The future had been spoilt. All was aftermath now. Afterwards and aftermath'.
Along with all this WRITING, we are asked to share Cass's fascination with the U-Bahn and S-Bahn maps of Berlins, which somehow are meant to be a metaphor for the city. Are they meant to be a metaphor for the stories as well? For the novel as a whole? I can't guess.
I read this because we have just been in Berlin and I wanted to read something that might help me understand it more. I was able to visualise many of the physical locations and the public transport system because of that, but I didn't learn anything about Berlin itself that interested me (I already know it is freezing cold in winter) nor the people who inhabit this fabricated memory world.
My partner has read everything Nabokov has ever written and he read A Guide to Berlin for its Nabokov associations, but he too found it disappointing.
Here are a couple of reviews from England:
And a kinder one from The Australian:
The format of six individuals coming together telling 'speak-memories' needs the stories and the voices of the story tellers to resonate and although there are interesting ideas underlying the memory-stories, they don't convince or engage. Sometimes the voices are just flat; sometimes overblown with hyperbole.
There are some connections between some of the individuals who meet for these highly contrived and quite formal 'speak-memories' sessions, but they never get to the stage of being a group, they remain an 'experimental community'.
References to Nabokov abound, from butterfly patterns and reproductive organs at the scientific end, to what I presume are some of Nabokov's theories about writing, focus on detail as a means of understanding the world. Certainly there are moments here of beautifully descriptive writing of the white snow, the ocean sound of cars driving in the wet. But many of the Nabokov references are tedious, intellectualised to the point of incomprehensibility. This may be Jones' intention, as at one point in one of these discussions she writes from the viewpoint of Cass, the main character through whom the whole story is told: 'Such disconnected conversation; such irresponsible idleness...there was a sense they all shared of the dissolution of narrative order; there was a decline to arid blather and unacknowledged tensions'.
Arid blather seems to me to be a perfect description of this next example, which follows the 'wicked act' which broke the group: 'Marco gave a little speech, absurdly formal in the circumstances. He said that the death of any human was without metaphor or likeness. The death of any human was incomparable. It was not a writerly event. It was not contained within sentences. It was not to be described in the same way as an icicle, or three wrinkles parallel on the forehead of a remembered governess, or the play of shadow and light on a swimming body, or the random harmony of trifles that was a parking meter, a fluffy cloud and a tiny pair of boots with felt spats'.
Not surprisingly, Cass 'wasn't sure she could bear it - another set of pronouncements, another articulate statement invoking the inexpressible qualities of death, or of life. A Nabokvian cradle rocking above an abyss'.
'The future had been spoilt. All was aftermath now. Afterwards and aftermath'.
Along with all this WRITING, we are asked to share Cass's fascination with the U-Bahn and S-Bahn maps of Berlins, which somehow are meant to be a metaphor for the city. Are they meant to be a metaphor for the stories as well? For the novel as a whole? I can't guess.
I read this because we have just been in Berlin and I wanted to read something that might help me understand it more. I was able to visualise many of the physical locations and the public transport system because of that, but I didn't learn anything about Berlin itself that interested me (I already know it is freezing cold in winter) nor the people who inhabit this fabricated memory world.
My partner has read everything Nabokov has ever written and he read A Guide to Berlin for its Nabokov associations, but he too found it disappointing.
Here are a couple of reviews from England:
And a kinder one from The Australian:
November 19, 2015
Excellently written and unusual tale of modern Berlin
Gail Jones� story links six travellers who came together in Berlin through their love of Nabokov’s work. The title is taken from Written Nabokov’s 1925 short story "A Guide to Berlin".
Narrated by Cass, the only Australian in the group the six meet in an empty flat where each them take turns to deliver a “speak-memory, essentially the story of their lives. Whilst I know little of Nabokov, the book has made me track a copy of his “guide" (see link below). Gail Jones portrays a Berlin gripped by an icy winter and how their friendship grows through their meetings.
Just when you think the book is taking a predictable route there is a sudden event that changes the whole group and friendship dynamic.
I was drawn to the book as I love Berlin and Jones captures it’s very essence well, particularly the public transportation system that binds the expansive city together.
It’s a not my usual reading, it’s very much about emotions, finding friends and relationship but I found it kept my attention to the end and definitely worth the read.
It's worth looking at this link if you are interested in the Nabokov book
I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Gail Jones� story links six travellers who came together in Berlin through their love of Nabokov’s work. The title is taken from Written Nabokov’s 1925 short story "A Guide to Berlin".
Narrated by Cass, the only Australian in the group the six meet in an empty flat where each them take turns to deliver a “speak-memory, essentially the story of their lives. Whilst I know little of Nabokov, the book has made me track a copy of his “guide" (see link below). Gail Jones portrays a Berlin gripped by an icy winter and how their friendship grows through their meetings.
Just when you think the book is taking a predictable route there is a sudden event that changes the whole group and friendship dynamic.
I was drawn to the book as I love Berlin and Jones captures it’s very essence well, particularly the public transportation system that binds the expansive city together.
It’s a not my usual reading, it’s very much about emotions, finding friends and relationship but I found it kept my attention to the end and definitely worth the read.
It's worth looking at this link if you are interested in the Nabokov book
I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
January 24, 2016
I really wanted to enjoy this book and thought I'd be giving it more than three stars but I just can't. I must say up front Liam introduced me to Gail Jones's writing years ago when he gave me Sixty Lights and told me he found her to be a good writer so I was already primed to appreciate her literary style. Also as Berlin was where Liam had spent his last two weeks before that fateful flight so I was drawn to, and wanted to be, as it were, in the city of Berlin itself. However the narrative arc of the story just let me down, it didn't really get going until about two thirds in and the petered out. Nor did I get a sense of any of the characters as real people: they all felt like one dimensional characters straight from a writers' notebook of preliminary ideas, mere sketches of possible background to go with potential characters. The way each was introduced using the 'speak memories' device felt like a bit of a lazy detour and added nothing to the sense of characters as real people. While I can admire Jones' ability to describe both the physical and interior worlds inhabited by her narrator I was left feeling she had spent too much time crafting beautiful sentences at the expense of a credible and engaging plotline. I learnt a lot of new words while reading this ( and yes I too am an English teacher but I had to reach for the dictionary on more than one occasion). This too seemed incredible, would all these speakers of English as a second language really know and use such arcane words? I doubt it and this detracted from any sense of credibility. I would have liked to have given this book five stars as I know Jones writes beautifully but it didn't work for me. ....How I wish I could discuss this book with my dear brother.
August 19, 2019
Gail Jones's A Guide to Berlin (2015) tells the story of Cass Turner, a young Australian woman who turns up in Berlin on New Year's Day with the vague intention, she says, of writing. What exactly she intends to write is never made clear, and the reader is only given a few clues here and there as to her background. She claims to be from Sydney, for instance, although she is actually from a remote rural community, and her family looks down on her for having followed a boy to London, her sojourn to Berlin following on the heels of the dissolution of that relationship.
Berlin in winter turns out to be bitterly cold and lonely, but Cass makes a new friend while visiting the house where Nabokov once lived. It is there that she meets Marco, a handsome Italian man, who lives in sight of the house and befriends people visiting there. He invites her to join a group of expatriates who meet to discuss the influence of Nabokov's life and work. The group is made up of Victor, an English professor from New Jersey, Yukio, a Japanese man who used to be a hikikomori, Mitsuko, a former Lolita girl who helped Yukio overcome his condition and is now his girlfriend, and Gina, a friend of Marco's, also from Italy.
The group decides to participate in a "speak-memory," named after Nabokov's 1951 collection of autobiographical pieces, in which each meeting will involve one of the group's members sharing a life-changing moment in their life.
At the first such event, Victor recalls his parents, who both survived Auschwitz and immigrated to America. Victor's father worked in an umbrella factory, and after his death his mother became quite peculiar. Victor used to soothe himself by whispering "umbrella, umbrella," replicating a scene from Nabokov's autobiography. After his mother's death, he lived on the streets, but was rescued by a Jewish woman named Leah Rabinovich, who gave him a copy of Nabokov's Lolita.
At the second meeting, Yukio recounts how he was traumatized by the sarin gas attacks that took place in the Tokyo subway in 1995, even though he lived far away. Mitsuko overlaps her story with Yukio's telling how she comes from a rural area named Hagi, and was born into a family of potters. However, she grew up to be a Lolita girl after moving to Tokyo. She hired herself out as a kind of sister/counselor, which is how she met Yukio.
At the fourth meeting, Gino tells how his father was killed by a political bombing at a train station. Gino was emotionally traumatized by his father's death, and has turned to drugs as part of his downward spiral, although he has been clear for a while.
Cass's is the fifth story. She recounts some random memories of life in Australia, but excludes her most important memory: the death of her brother Alexander, who died while trying to rescue the family dog during a cyclone.
The various "speak-memory" parts are punctuated with scenes from Cass's life, particularly her burgeoning love affair with Marco, including an awkward date at the Pergamon Museum when he has an epileptic fit, Gino's creepy attempts at seduction, and a trip to the zoo with Victor. At the zoo, the two of them might have seen the same tortoise that Nabokov saw when he visited.
The story takes a bizarre turn at a later meeting at Cass's house. Gino, back on drugs, throws Victor off her balcony, killing him. The group, enlisting the help of the building manager, Karl, and his epileptic son, Franz, disposes of the body instead of reporting it to the police. Later, Gino commits suicide at Marco's place by overdosing on drugs. Marco arranges to meet with Cass, but he never shows up.
Jones wrote A Guide to Berlin as the result of a fellowship she spent there. Unfortunately, there is no critical distance from either the city nor Nabokov: both are forced down the reader's throat as being of unquestionable brilliance, but without ever providing a way for us to understand this for ourselves. This is not Nabokovian writing - it is faux-Nabokov, for although it deploys some of his methods, it removes their ironic core. Nabokov is always playing with us as readers, whereas Jones is deadly (and dully) serious throughout.
Berlin in winter turns out to be bitterly cold and lonely, but Cass makes a new friend while visiting the house where Nabokov once lived. It is there that she meets Marco, a handsome Italian man, who lives in sight of the house and befriends people visiting there. He invites her to join a group of expatriates who meet to discuss the influence of Nabokov's life and work. The group is made up of Victor, an English professor from New Jersey, Yukio, a Japanese man who used to be a hikikomori, Mitsuko, a former Lolita girl who helped Yukio overcome his condition and is now his girlfriend, and Gina, a friend of Marco's, also from Italy.
The group decides to participate in a "speak-memory," named after Nabokov's 1951 collection of autobiographical pieces, in which each meeting will involve one of the group's members sharing a life-changing moment in their life.
At the first such event, Victor recalls his parents, who both survived Auschwitz and immigrated to America. Victor's father worked in an umbrella factory, and after his death his mother became quite peculiar. Victor used to soothe himself by whispering "umbrella, umbrella," replicating a scene from Nabokov's autobiography. After his mother's death, he lived on the streets, but was rescued by a Jewish woman named Leah Rabinovich, who gave him a copy of Nabokov's Lolita.
At the second meeting, Yukio recounts how he was traumatized by the sarin gas attacks that took place in the Tokyo subway in 1995, even though he lived far away. Mitsuko overlaps her story with Yukio's telling how she comes from a rural area named Hagi, and was born into a family of potters. However, she grew up to be a Lolita girl after moving to Tokyo. She hired herself out as a kind of sister/counselor, which is how she met Yukio.
At the fourth meeting, Gino tells how his father was killed by a political bombing at a train station. Gino was emotionally traumatized by his father's death, and has turned to drugs as part of his downward spiral, although he has been clear for a while.
Cass's is the fifth story. She recounts some random memories of life in Australia, but excludes her most important memory: the death of her brother Alexander, who died while trying to rescue the family dog during a cyclone.
The various "speak-memory" parts are punctuated with scenes from Cass's life, particularly her burgeoning love affair with Marco, including an awkward date at the Pergamon Museum when he has an epileptic fit, Gino's creepy attempts at seduction, and a trip to the zoo with Victor. At the zoo, the two of them might have seen the same tortoise that Nabokov saw when he visited.
The story takes a bizarre turn at a later meeting at Cass's house. Gino, back on drugs, throws Victor off her balcony, killing him. The group, enlisting the help of the building manager, Karl, and his epileptic son, Franz, disposes of the body instead of reporting it to the police. Later, Gino commits suicide at Marco's place by overdosing on drugs. Marco arranges to meet with Cass, but he never shows up.
Jones wrote A Guide to Berlin as the result of a fellowship she spent there. Unfortunately, there is no critical distance from either the city nor Nabokov: both are forced down the reader's throat as being of unquestionable brilliance, but without ever providing a way for us to understand this for ourselves. This is not Nabokovian writing - it is faux-Nabokov, for although it deploys some of his methods, it removes their ironic core. Nabokov is always playing with us as readers, whereas Jones is deadly (and dully) serious throughout.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 25, 2016
‘And it was then, resting on the brink of disclosing conversation, that Marco changed the subject and told her of his group.�
Five international travellers, Marco and Gino from Italy, Yukio and Mitsuko from Japan, and Victor from America meet regularly, inspired by a shared interest in the work of Vladimir Nabokov. Marco invites Cass, from Australia, to join their meetings. It is winter in Berlin, and Cass finds the city somewhat inaccessible. Cass has come to Berlin to write. She hasn’t started writing yet, and perhaps this meeting with its possibility of literary fellowship may provide her with momentum. Marco tells her where and when to meet, and that at the next meeting ‘they would begin a ‘speak-memory� game in which each would introduce themselves with a densely remembered story or detail.�
Cass joins the group, at 5pm the next day, and Victor is the first to speak. He tells the story of his life and of Nabokov’s influence on him. There are more meetings, and at each one a ‘speak-memory� is shared. Friendships are formed between different members of the group, and winter in Berlin becomes more bearable. But memories are not always safe, and sometimes the past can intrude on the present in unexpected ways.
The group is destroyed by a sudden, tragic event. Lives are changed unexpectedly. Friendships are challenged and stretched. Can the individuals in the group move on?
Cass (together with the shade of Vladimir Nabokov) is central to this story, and we share her perspective of events: of life in Berlin � from the discomfort of her leaking boots in the snow, her pleasure in developing friendships and the impact of tragedy.
‘I like this idea � that an object sucks in the memory of its use.�
I enjoyed this novel, and will reread it at some stage. Not so much for the story (or stories) of the travellers but for the hints of Nabokov.
Note: My thanks to NetGalley and Random House Australia for the opportunity to read an advance copy of this novel.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
Five international travellers, Marco and Gino from Italy, Yukio and Mitsuko from Japan, and Victor from America meet regularly, inspired by a shared interest in the work of Vladimir Nabokov. Marco invites Cass, from Australia, to join their meetings. It is winter in Berlin, and Cass finds the city somewhat inaccessible. Cass has come to Berlin to write. She hasn’t started writing yet, and perhaps this meeting with its possibility of literary fellowship may provide her with momentum. Marco tells her where and when to meet, and that at the next meeting ‘they would begin a ‘speak-memory� game in which each would introduce themselves with a densely remembered story or detail.�
Cass joins the group, at 5pm the next day, and Victor is the first to speak. He tells the story of his life and of Nabokov’s influence on him. There are more meetings, and at each one a ‘speak-memory� is shared. Friendships are formed between different members of the group, and winter in Berlin becomes more bearable. But memories are not always safe, and sometimes the past can intrude on the present in unexpected ways.
The group is destroyed by a sudden, tragic event. Lives are changed unexpectedly. Friendships are challenged and stretched. Can the individuals in the group move on?
Cass (together with the shade of Vladimir Nabokov) is central to this story, and we share her perspective of events: of life in Berlin � from the discomfort of her leaking boots in the snow, her pleasure in developing friendships and the impact of tragedy.
‘I like this idea � that an object sucks in the memory of its use.�
I enjoyed this novel, and will reread it at some stage. Not so much for the story (or stories) of the travellers but for the hints of Nabokov.
Note: My thanks to NetGalley and Random House Australia for the opportunity to read an advance copy of this novel.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
June 21, 2016
I thought I’d at least like, if not love, Gail Jones’s A Guide to Berlin. I have intellectual respect for Jones and I love the dreaminess of her voice. I adore Nabokov who is one of the main subjects of this novel and is intrinsic to its main premise, and I love books set in, and engaging with, major European cities. But this book was a crushing disappointment. It was pretentious, felt emotionally untrue, its main protagonist was a precious, irritating, self-important woman whose predicaments held zero interest to me and the book was utterly humorless. And maybe even more importantly, the moral backbone of this novel was disturbing. There is a murder at the centre of this story and the murderer, in my view, gets away with too much empathy from the narrator and, I am afraid to say, the author. The only few redeeming qualities this (unnecessary) book had were some lovely snippets of prose and some playful references to Nabokov. But really, the author could have written an essay on Nabokov, and I’m sure it’d have been a much better thing to read.
July 1, 2016
While the first part of this novel is sometimes a little tedious and self-indulgent, it may be worth persevering. Some of the ideas raised are really interesting. Gail Jones explores how memories are often made up of small observations, like the tiles on a train station wall; how courage may be more a matter of putting yourself in a position where you can't turn back; how it is to grow up with silent holocaust survivors as parents and how a recluse 'hikikimori' can be lured from his bedroom by his future wife. Unfortunately these ideas are bogged down in protagonist Cass' riveting, repetitive musings about such concerns as the hole in her boot, which I suppose may have been symbolic for something.
The latter part of the novel was more compelling and, frankly, pretty eerie. Think 'Crime and Punishment' and 'The Secret History'.
The latter part of the novel was more compelling and, frankly, pretty eerie. Think 'Crime and Punishment' and 'The Secret History'.
December 1, 2016
Disclaimer, I got a e-copy of this from Netgalley for review.
Oh. Berlin. How I love that city and when I saw the title of this book I couldn't wait to read it. And also Nabokov, whom I admire.
Then I started to read and was semi interest.
It's about Cass who has moved from Australia to Berlin and finds a group of Nabokov fans (the title comes from Nabokov's short story with the same title). They meet and share a "speak memory" where each of them share a part of their life, usually with how they found Nabokovs writing included.
In between the meetings Cass walks Berlin and tries to find her place and spends time with one from the Nabokov group, Marco.
The story is slow. There isn't really much happening, which is something I usually don't mind but something happens about two thirds into the novel that changed the whole set up for me. A part where things happen which I didn't really understand and felt strange about.
Without spoiling it, it felt like that part wanted to be a bit like beginning of
I didn't enjoy my time reading this book. The language is good and some of the "speak memories" I found interesting but mostly I was glad that this book was as short as it was.
Fro me this didn't hit home, but if we had it in the bookstore where I work I would be able to recommend it to costumers with other tastes. I understand that others would get more out of this, specially if you read more Nabokov than I have.
I liked this for the Berlin romance, I mean the way Jones writes about the city Berlin, which I miss on a daily basis.
If you like slow moving books, where the main character grows with good language and with a hit of a mystery, this book might be for you.
Oh. Berlin. How I love that city and when I saw the title of this book I couldn't wait to read it. And also Nabokov, whom I admire.
Then I started to read and was semi interest.
It's about Cass who has moved from Australia to Berlin and finds a group of Nabokov fans (the title comes from Nabokov's short story with the same title). They meet and share a "speak memory" where each of them share a part of their life, usually with how they found Nabokovs writing included.
In between the meetings Cass walks Berlin and tries to find her place and spends time with one from the Nabokov group, Marco.
The story is slow. There isn't really much happening, which is something I usually don't mind but something happens about two thirds into the novel that changed the whole set up for me. A part where things happen which I didn't really understand and felt strange about.
Without spoiling it, it felt like that part wanted to be a bit like beginning of
I didn't enjoy my time reading this book. The language is good and some of the "speak memories" I found interesting but mostly I was glad that this book was as short as it was.
Fro me this didn't hit home, but if we had it in the bookstore where I work I would be able to recommend it to costumers with other tastes. I understand that others would get more out of this, specially if you read more Nabokov than I have.
I liked this for the Berlin romance, I mean the way Jones writes about the city Berlin, which I miss on a daily basis.
If you like slow moving books, where the main character grows with good language and with a hit of a mystery, this book might be for you.
October 9, 2015
Stunning writing. Didn't feel like the protagonist was 26, she seemed much older. The 'speak-memory' speeches were gorgeously written but didn't ring true as dialogue at all. The twist felt unnecessary and overwrought. Surely a quieter ending would have better suited the first 2/3 of the book.
October 5, 2015
A fascinating puzzle of a book.
June 15, 2017
I really loved this novel. I thought the prose was beautiful. I have not read any Nabakov for decades so don't really recall the detail of his work and I have not visited Berlin, however these deficits did not detract from my enjoyment. I liked the premise of the story and the way we get to know the characters through "speak memory". The novel also shows that often it is the things that are not spoken that have the most influence on a individual's life, and there is a very unexpected twist at the end which I also feel is representative of the "unspoken and unrevealed", and which is only fleetingly referred to prior to the event occurring. Many people have described this book as pretentious, and while I can understand why the novel is described in this way, I have read many far more pretentious books than this, and personally feel it was a lovely literary piece of work. I have only read one other of Jones's novels - Sixty Lights - and did not rate it as highly, but feel compelled to revisit it now, as well as her other works. For me there was a lovely quietness and understatement in the novel, a quality I enjoy in both books and films. So I thoroughly enjoyed immersing myself in the beauty of the words contained within the pages of this book.
September 25, 2015
There is much to enjoy in this poetic, literary, philosophical and meditative novel.
Many writers have used the device of a group of people who meet to share stories with each other, and this conceit is used very cleverly by Jones. The group consists of six people: the Italian Marco, who is the convenor of the group, and his Italian friend Gino; the American Victor; the soul-pair Mitsuko and Yukio from Japan; and the Australian girl Cass. All find themselves in Berlin, in the dead of winter, with the only link between them a shared love and passion for the life and writings of the Russian-American novelist Vladimir Nabokov. They decide to meet on a regular basis in various locations to share what they call “speech-memories� of their personal histories and interests. In the process we witness a sense of growing connectedness despite the widely differing circumstances of their personal lives.
The six protagonists are the main focus of the novelist, but there are a few others included, some shared only between certain members, others linked in circumstantial ways to all. However, all of these are presented essentially through the eyes of Cass, and it is her mind and commentaries that pervade the novel. At the same time, towards the end of the book, the Author interposes herself between the reader and the work with occasional phrases like “…Cass will remember…�. The use of the future tense simply and effectively reminds the reader that Cass herself should be included in the six as a subject of as much scrutiny as each of the others� Thus, if there are some things Cass will remember later, then perhaps there may be many things she will forget, or things which she might overemphasise � so just how accurate or trustworthy can her recollections be? For that matter, just how truthful or selective are the details of any of the protagonists “speech-memories�?
Jones’s writing is cool, crisp and clear as when snow has just fallen, and all is shrouded in its fresh, white mantle; in a sense this could suggest a certain coldness and hardness, yet there is much poetry and delicacy as well, much like the snowflakes comprising the snow. Apart from the descriptions of historical and other locations in Berlin, many literary, philosophical and social issues are also bandied about by all the protagonists, and provide much that is stimulating and provocative.
The last half-dozen or so chapters with their confronting and disturbing events unfortunately create a kind of disconnect with the reader’s suspension of disbelief: the events and their consequences seem to be too artificially constructed and even unjustified to be entirely believable. They tend to raise more questions than answers, which I feel is a pity.
Despite this, these last chapters also serve to present a re-evaluation of all that has gone before as regards relationships, friendships, connections and even meanings, making the whole book a kind of meditation on all these issues. I would even suggest that for a sensitive, intelligent reader, the book is, in some special way, quite beautiful; yet contained within that beauty are the seeds of something dark and mysterious which could (and will?) flower into the stuff that nightmares are made of�
Many writers have used the device of a group of people who meet to share stories with each other, and this conceit is used very cleverly by Jones. The group consists of six people: the Italian Marco, who is the convenor of the group, and his Italian friend Gino; the American Victor; the soul-pair Mitsuko and Yukio from Japan; and the Australian girl Cass. All find themselves in Berlin, in the dead of winter, with the only link between them a shared love and passion for the life and writings of the Russian-American novelist Vladimir Nabokov. They decide to meet on a regular basis in various locations to share what they call “speech-memories� of their personal histories and interests. In the process we witness a sense of growing connectedness despite the widely differing circumstances of their personal lives.
The six protagonists are the main focus of the novelist, but there are a few others included, some shared only between certain members, others linked in circumstantial ways to all. However, all of these are presented essentially through the eyes of Cass, and it is her mind and commentaries that pervade the novel. At the same time, towards the end of the book, the Author interposes herself between the reader and the work with occasional phrases like “…Cass will remember…�. The use of the future tense simply and effectively reminds the reader that Cass herself should be included in the six as a subject of as much scrutiny as each of the others� Thus, if there are some things Cass will remember later, then perhaps there may be many things she will forget, or things which she might overemphasise � so just how accurate or trustworthy can her recollections be? For that matter, just how truthful or selective are the details of any of the protagonists “speech-memories�?
Jones’s writing is cool, crisp and clear as when snow has just fallen, and all is shrouded in its fresh, white mantle; in a sense this could suggest a certain coldness and hardness, yet there is much poetry and delicacy as well, much like the snowflakes comprising the snow. Apart from the descriptions of historical and other locations in Berlin, many literary, philosophical and social issues are also bandied about by all the protagonists, and provide much that is stimulating and provocative.
The last half-dozen or so chapters with their confronting and disturbing events unfortunately create a kind of disconnect with the reader’s suspension of disbelief: the events and their consequences seem to be too artificially constructed and even unjustified to be entirely believable. They tend to raise more questions than answers, which I feel is a pity.
Despite this, these last chapters also serve to present a re-evaluation of all that has gone before as regards relationships, friendships, connections and even meanings, making the whole book a kind of meditation on all these issues. I would even suggest that for a sensitive, intelligent reader, the book is, in some special way, quite beautiful; yet contained within that beauty are the seeds of something dark and mysterious which could (and will?) flower into the stuff that nightmares are made of�
October 19, 2015
Despite being well written I found the story itself to be flat and uninspiring. Six people meet regularly in an apartment in Berlin, drawn together (rather flimsily) by their love for Vladimir Nabokov. Much of the book is contained within the characters' "speak-memories", expository lumps (as Ursula Le Guin called them) detailing their past. Instead of facts and information being revealed as the story unfolds I felt more like I was attending a lecture that was feeding me pertinent information. I also found it difficult to feel much for the characters, who appeared wooden and stilted.
July 1, 2019
The author's prose is mesmerising in places, but becomes contrived and overdone in others. The frankly dull protagonist is clichéd, and the plot is somehow both boring and unbelievable at the same time.
September 28, 2020
So, this one was definitely not for me. I really liked some of it, but it just couldn't keep me interest in the book club/group thing. I would've happily just read all the beautiful descriptions of Berlin and been done with it.
August 24, 2020
Tedious, unintentionally pretentious and a tone shift so absurd it made me wanna stop reading.
January 15, 2020
A Book Featuring Your Favourite Country
A glance at my list of books read for 2019 would reveal that I am currently undergoing a fascination for Germany, a country we visited in Late December 2018 and into Early January 2019. It's an interesting exercise to start seeking out novels about European cities that aren't Paris. You find all sorts of things. With Germany, though, I tend to find the same sort of things. I keep hoping for a gushy romance set beneath the glittering leaves of Unter Den Linden as Modernism starts making itself heard in the most exciting city of the 1930s, but this bunch of thugs in brown shirts keeps getting in the way.
Frames are great.
It's just possible that there are people in the world who go into art museums and galleries not to look at the artworks themselves - which, let's face it, you can find in Google Images - but rather to look at the frames that the artworks are held in.
Sometimes, the frames are actually better than the artworks. In Opp Shops you can see bins full of frames for sale on their own, with their Holly Hobby artwork discarded.
Frames are important. They give a thing its boundaries, for a start. As narrator Cass reflects early on in the frame-story of this novel, they define us.
It was a new kind of community, not academic, not social, but some new species linking words and bodies with an occult sense of the written world.
p14
This is the "speak-memory" group she's talking about. A group of foreigners brought together in Berlin by their shared interest in the Russian writer Nabokov, he of Lolita fame/infamy. The novel is named for a short story he wrote in Berlin in the pre-war days, in which he itemised in microscopic detail the fascinating beauty of the minutiae of everyday life.
It was like entering the luminous room of an imagined Europe, seeing a pre-war world intact, particularised, densely notated, that my parents, or my grandparents, or my aunts and uncles, might have known.
p27
While the frame-story - the narrative in which things happen in the "now" - is set in a Berlin that I certainly and readily recognise from my time there, from the geography of streets and Platz names down to the announcements on the U-Bahn as the Zug pulls into a station, the novel's putative main concern is with the past histories of the small group of Nabokovians, who meet in empty "for lease" Wohnungen (apartments) to share their stories in a new sort of literary ritual. Jones makes it very clear that this is the focus of the literary novel she's written, but she also keeps the door - or perhaps window - open as to what the ultimate discovery will be, as in this metaphoric foreshadowing of the narrator's true destination:
It was an unanticipated pleasure that the studio faced a space, and not a building, that it had a view not to other windows and balconies and furtively glimpsed lives, but to weather and perspective and poetic conceit.
p34
So Berlin keeps intruding into the stories of people who had rubbish childhoods, ended up as , and other things that have nothing much to do with Berlin. Except, of course, that Berlin is a palimpsest of history, and thus representative of a human life being lived:
This was, he announced, an unconcluded city, all open systems, broken circles, damaged stars, ravaged ‘scapes, so that the polluted past wafted like toxins into the atmosphere of the present.
p69
Being a literary text, Jones is constantly finding symbols and signs for us. The literary minds of the group members - Cass the narrator especially, as we see through her POV entirely, except for when she speculates on what others are experiencing - find meaning in things that are perhaps not meant to have meaning. Nabokov in his short story would just describe the beauty of a thing, the story assures us, without it having to mean anything. This text challenges the literary reader to consider if that is possible, for something to mean nothing.
It was an enthusiasm they shared: the circuit delight of a train map, its multi-coloured intersections, its neat calculus of routes and connections and oblong-symbol change overs.
p89
Berlin itself is a city of symbols and signifiers. Choosing this city for the frame-story's ur-character was an interesting choice. When you walk the streets of that city, in a way that doesn't happen as readily in, say, Melbourne, you are aware of the things that have happened there, and the way that the history clings to the place. I've only been there in winter, so I can't comment on the accuracy of Jones' pronouncement of the different cities that Berlin can be. The fact that the observation is still operating in the metaphoric would imply that it probably doesn't matter.
What nobody tells you is that Berlin is haunted in winter, truly haunted. You need to see the city in the spring, when all the ghosts move on, when they’ve all gone on vacation, somewhere else. In spring the city’s full of blossoms and bright light, and people eating ice-creams on the pavement... It’s another city entirely.
p139
It's said by some that Nabokov's "A Guide to Berlin" was written by an emigre who kept within his compatriot community and knew little of Berlin itself, certainly not the people. The reflection of a twig in a puddle may be a beautiful thing when written just right, but is it somehow "true" of a Berlin twig? Gail Jones is an Australian who travelled to Berlin on a grant to write this novel. She approaches the city as I did, as a tourist from far away in distance and history. I've read many novels by actual Berliners, and this one is lacking something of the sense of the city that those other novels have. What it's not lacking, though, is a capacity for insight into a character, which is essential in a literary text. And perhaps that's more important.
Gradually the city was unfolding for her; she saw that she might know herself more subtly here, that the pressure of history, imposed like a spy mission, required her to develop a kind of inner sincerity. Small in the face of a terrible history, foreign, young, uncool, Antipodean, she might find here an expression of her accumulated questioning. It was a challenge, she decided; there was a logic she must achieve, there were encryptions, there were passwords, there were possible solutions. Not only the train system, but literally everywhere: signs and symbols, implications.
p196
The speak-memory tales aside, the frame-story of this novel eventually evolves into a mystery that - thankfully - cannot be solved. Someone does something terrible, for no apparent reason. Then someone else does something terrible, for no apparent reason. And so on. And that is Jones' point, perhaps. That in real life, things happen
for
no
apparent
reason.
They had been tricked into believing that the speak-memories had told them everything, but in all that mattered, finally, there was no trustworthy knowledge there. The most earnest and open story still meant nothing assured. This was the surprise of other people: their wealth of remorseless secrets. And this is what she had learnt: the failure of any tale.
p254
So, finally, we see that frames are crucial in the telling of a story. Not just for defining the thing, or setting boundaries, or even for providing the setting, as Berlin does at a surface level, but for what is left out of the frame, intentionally and unintentionally.
December 30, 2015
Cass has fled her Australian home and arrives in Berlin at the beginning of January not expecting it to such freezing cold. In front of a memory plate for Vladimir Nabokov she encounters Marco who invites her to a strange group. Apart from the Italian, there is an American, Victor, another Italian, Gino and a Japanese couple, Yuki and Mitsuko, who all gather in vacant apartments to tell stories of their lives. They are linked by the love for Nakobov’s work and when seeing each other outside their somehow close to self-help group meetings, they walk in the author’s footsteps and search for traces of Berlin of the 1920s.
I was really carried away by this novel which offered much more than I expected. First of all, I was interested how a non-German would perceive our capital without all the historic weight that we Germans perceive all the time. Gail Jones� picture of Berlin is really different from what you find in German novels and I enjoyed reading about this other way of seeing the town. Especially Cass� way of taking the U and S Bahn system as a way of orientation and the skeleton was an interesting picture. Additionally, I think Jones perfectly transmitted Berlin winters in the novel, it can be awfully cold and the way the cold creeps into Cass� body is more than authentic.
The way the famous author Nabokov was integrated was also a very interesting and convincing construction of the plot. To me it was not that obvious taking the Russian for a tour through Berlin, but it works and also offered a new perspective. The characters were also captivatingly drawn; they all have their little secrets and only offer small insights in their lives. Most remains unsaid but nevertheless this is much more than details, because it fits absolutely to the plot of a brief and temporary encounter during which you never really get to know somebody.
I was really carried away by this novel which offered much more than I expected. First of all, I was interested how a non-German would perceive our capital without all the historic weight that we Germans perceive all the time. Gail Jones� picture of Berlin is really different from what you find in German novels and I enjoyed reading about this other way of seeing the town. Especially Cass� way of taking the U and S Bahn system as a way of orientation and the skeleton was an interesting picture. Additionally, I think Jones perfectly transmitted Berlin winters in the novel, it can be awfully cold and the way the cold creeps into Cass� body is more than authentic.
The way the famous author Nabokov was integrated was also a very interesting and convincing construction of the plot. To me it was not that obvious taking the Russian for a tour through Berlin, but it works and also offered a new perspective. The characters were also captivatingly drawn; they all have their little secrets and only offer small insights in their lives. Most remains unsaid but nevertheless this is much more than details, because it fits absolutely to the plot of a brief and temporary encounter during which you never really get to know somebody.
March 6, 2016
I seem to being drawn lately to books about grief. I've read a few of Ms Jones books and have enjoyed them all. This book follows an ex-pat Aussie writer who has traveled to Berlin to rediscover her muse. As the story unfolds it becomes clear she is also running away from grief. The book opens as she is approached by a young man as she is taking a picture of an apartment block that former housed Vladimir Nabokov. The man, Marco is de-facto leader of a small group of ex-pats who's common thread is their love of Nabokov's writing, thus the book's title (Nabokov wrote a short piece called the same, while his highlights were sewer pipes and telegraph poles, etc). The story then follows the friendships and secrets that unfold. The main character, Cass, falls in love with snow, but hates winter, she falls in love with the trains and stations, but wonders why the ruins aren't replaced. While having coffee with another in the group, Gino, the conversation comes around the a recent event of refugees drowning in the Mediterranean "'In Australia,' she added, 'we have a government policy of hard hearts. In Australia we are meant to accept such calamities as inevitable. To enjoy our good luck.' She retrained herself. How national shame diminishes us all, she thought. How brutally the lucky country guards its unearnt luck."
After the inevitable falling in love with one of the group, she asks herself: "What do any lovers of any arrangement, most truly exchange? She had enough experience not to fret, but was still uncertain of her feelings He reminded her of areas of dissatisfaction in her own life: not enough sexual elation, not enough untrammelled joy."
There are unexpected twists and turns and more wonderul sections as above. I really loved this book. Highly recommended. I leave with one last quote: "This was the surprise of other people: their wealth of remorseless secrets."
After the inevitable falling in love with one of the group, she asks herself: "What do any lovers of any arrangement, most truly exchange? She had enough experience not to fret, but was still uncertain of her feelings He reminded her of areas of dissatisfaction in her own life: not enough sexual elation, not enough untrammelled joy."
There are unexpected twists and turns and more wonderul sections as above. I really loved this book. Highly recommended. I leave with one last quote: "This was the surprise of other people: their wealth of remorseless secrets."
October 21, 2015
I have followed this Australian writer since reading Sixty Lights a few years ago. While that novel is still my favourite of Jones� work, I was very taken with this one. It is intellectual and highly literary � until a dramatic and violent event three quarters of the way through the novel turns all its (and our) assumptions upside down.
Vladimir Nabokov wrote a short story called A Guide to Berlin and in this novel Jones has six characters (all foreigners living in Berlin) who become unlikely friends through their interest in the Russian writer. Nabokov also wrote an autobiography called Speak, Memory and Jones has each of the characters speak their memories in a form of storytelling. But how much of their personal histories are they really willing or able to reveal? How will their friendship develop � or end?
I have only visited Berlin once, and only for a day, yet the descriptions of the city, particularly through the eyes of the young Australian character, Cass, brought much back to me. Jones creates a strong sense of the city and its winter landscapes, with darkness, ice and snow being strong presences in the novel.
Apart from reading Lolita over forty years ago, I am not familiar with Nabokov’s work and felt that had I been, I would have gained even more from this novel. Occasionally I felt that it was a bit pretentious, particularly in its vocabulary. However, as the last quarter of the novel reveals, words and our belief in words can only take people so far in dealing with life’s dramas and grief.
A very unusual , thoughtful and thought-provoking novel.
Vladimir Nabokov wrote a short story called A Guide to Berlin and in this novel Jones has six characters (all foreigners living in Berlin) who become unlikely friends through their interest in the Russian writer. Nabokov also wrote an autobiography called Speak, Memory and Jones has each of the characters speak their memories in a form of storytelling. But how much of their personal histories are they really willing or able to reveal? How will their friendship develop � or end?
I have only visited Berlin once, and only for a day, yet the descriptions of the city, particularly through the eyes of the young Australian character, Cass, brought much back to me. Jones creates a strong sense of the city and its winter landscapes, with darkness, ice and snow being strong presences in the novel.
Apart from reading Lolita over forty years ago, I am not familiar with Nabokov’s work and felt that had I been, I would have gained even more from this novel. Occasionally I felt that it was a bit pretentious, particularly in its vocabulary. However, as the last quarter of the novel reveals, words and our belief in words can only take people so far in dealing with life’s dramas and grief.
A very unusual , thoughtful and thought-provoking novel.
December 27, 2015
A Guide to Berlin by Gail Jones immersed me in Berlin and the intricacies and beauty of snow. Jones writing is powerful. Her phrases leap out, to be reread and tasted over, to ascertain their meaning. Unusual analogies and associations, gentle phrases, questioning paragraphs, an insight into others' thoughts.
The idea of a group of foreigners forming a bond, befriending each other and becoming close knit in a city far away is full of intrigue. Nabokov, a famous author, is the common denominator, a fascination held by each of the six players in the story. Speak memory is an interesting phenomena; telling your story, others listening, a showing of your inner self, a letting go.
The narrative moves gently, gradually reeling the reader into the web of friendship. The climax hits late in the story. I feel like I know a little more about Berlin, the darkness of winter, the beauty of snowdrift, the inconvenience and parallels of weather and existence. A great story.
The idea of a group of foreigners forming a bond, befriending each other and becoming close knit in a city far away is full of intrigue. Nabokov, a famous author, is the common denominator, a fascination held by each of the six players in the story. Speak memory is an interesting phenomena; telling your story, others listening, a showing of your inner self, a letting go.
The narrative moves gently, gradually reeling the reader into the web of friendship. The climax hits late in the story. I feel like I know a little more about Berlin, the darkness of winter, the beauty of snowdrift, the inconvenience and parallels of weather and existence. A great story.
March 13, 2016
This is one book that is easy to judge by its cover. If, like me, you find the image beautiful, evocative and promising, then press on. However, if you find it bleak and depressing, then don't bother.
This is an eloquent, elegant and thought-provoking story of a group of six strangers who find themselves in Berlin and meeting in a literary group through their love of writing and, in particular, Vladimir Nabokov. Characters are slowly and beautifully drawn, but, we are still left with some secrets to sort out for ourselves. Fabulous descriptions of Berlin and a great ending. "Sixty Lights" is still my favourite book by Gail Jones but I do really recommend this.
This is an eloquent, elegant and thought-provoking story of a group of six strangers who find themselves in Berlin and meeting in a literary group through their love of writing and, in particular, Vladimir Nabokov. Characters are slowly and beautifully drawn, but, we are still left with some secrets to sort out for ourselves. Fabulous descriptions of Berlin and a great ending. "Sixty Lights" is still my favourite book by Gail Jones but I do really recommend this.
March 19, 2021
The most helpful comment I've read about this book is that Gail Jones had some sort of fellowship to live and write in Berlin. Aha - this, at least makes sense! She felt she had to write a book about Berlin but her heart wasn't really in it. So she gives us a book with much beautiful writing, some (not enough) evocative descriptions of Berlin, six mysterious characters, and no real heart. Despite each character sharing an autobiographical segment, they do not really come to life, even Cass from whose point of view everything else is told. Their heartless responses to the tragedy, which is the only thing that actually happens, says it all. A bleak and disappointing book.
November 29, 2015
halfway through this book, you could tell it was something the author felt she was obliged to try & write whilst on a travel grant to Berlin. the characters are underdeveloped, the links to Nabokov are strained & dull, & the evocations of Berlin amount to name-dropping and not much else. this makes the climax irredemably unbelievable and unlikely - oh, I've just seen someone thrown off a balcony, so I think I'll go to the aquarium to watch some jellyfish. also, the characterisation & dialogue of the Japanese 'lovers' is just ugh. "we go see music, so super-cool!" i mean REALLY.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 9, 2016
I was totally enraptured and enchanted by A Guide to Berlin, my first foray into Gail Jones' work. I was a little worried that, having not read any Nabokov, much would go over my head - and perhaps it did, but there is still much to be enjoyed here for the uninitiated as I. This novel is powerfully character driven, and captures a cold, wintery Berlin in much the same way. A mesmerising exploration of story and place.
January 4, 2016
Another take on The Secret History, which seems to be a popular source of inspiration. Too short to really say anything too meaningful (I don't like short novels anyway) but had some lovely moments and made me itch to travel, to explore and to explore myself. A beautiful atmosphere and a good ending. Way overwritten, florid and teeming with adverbs. None of the characters had much depth or a voice of their own, and the dialogue is less believable than that in The Secret History!
December 8, 2019
I'm abandoning this at 40%. It is the most pretentious thing I've read in a long time, and so ridiculously over-written. The faux profundities are stuffed into every paragraph, and every single thing has to be imbued with deep, deep, deep signifcance. I tried, I really tried - but if no plot has appeared by the 40% mark, I have to assume there isn't one. A collection of character studies linked by lots of tedious allusions to Nabokov's stories does not a novel make.
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