The Oppermanns: A Novel

Rating:
Summary: Eerily foretells the events to come in the Nazi era
Review: I'm amazed this book doesn't have more glowing reader reviews as it is an absolute standout for many, many reasons, not the least of which is the author's amazing ability to predict the events to come, even before they've fully occurred! Written in 1934, the novel follows the life of one family, the Oppermanns, and the increasing restrictions and hatred they face in their daily lives. Unwilling to believe these rejections and restrictions are anything but "temporary", they are unprepared for the the way "their" community turns against them, but forced to deal with the inevitable consequences. I found this a very believable work, impossible to put down. The introduction by Ruth Gruber (she spoke with the author) helps place this work into a historical perspective.

Rating:
Summary: Well-written, thought-provoking
Review: If you've ever wondered how a modern, civilized country begins the slippery slope to cave-man barbaric behavior, this book is a must-read. It's an fast read too -- goes by very quickly, especially towards the end.

Rating:
Summary: A psycological testimony of the begining of fachism
Review: This book gives you the authentic voice of an intellectual feeling the buds of oppression and fear anouncing themselves with the rise of the fachistic regims in Europe of the 30s. It tells the story of one family that is subjected to the sign of those dark times. It shows how profound the social disintegration was by illustrating how it penetrated the very family fabric itself. A book about the detorioration of values and the tearing of the mask of civilization. A must read in order to understand how close we are to the brink.

Rating:
Summary: SHOCKING
Review: This book is outstanding, beautiful and skocking. It is a creation of a master.

Rating:
Summary: SHOCKING
Review: This book is outstanding, beautiful and skocking. It is a creation of a master.

Rating:
Summary: Well-written, thought-provoking
Review: This novel recounts the experiences of a fictional Jewish family in Berlin in the early 1930s, as the Nazis take over Germany. An omniscient narrator relates the perspectives of both the Jewish Oppermanns and the National Socialists as Jewish stores are boycotted, as people are arrested in the middle of the night, and as some even commit suicide or find themselves in new concentration camps.

This is not Feuchtwanger's most-read work but it's worth reading if you're interested in Feuchtwanger, in modern literature, or even German history. Feuchtwanger accurately and sometimes painfully depicts the very feelings of people astonished at what was happening in their own country, and it's the novel's gripping reality that provides the reader with a fuller, more personal perspective not available in history books.

This edition includes an introduction written by someone who knew Feuchtwanger and also a reprint of the first review of the novel by the New York Times.