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A powerful story of the shattering effects of the First World War on both a family and a country - from Hans Fallada, bestselling author of Alone in Berlin'This remarkable work, now complete after 76 years, could well be one of the finest novels any of us will ever read' Irish TimesGustav Hackendahl's will is law. Known as 'Iron Gustav', he runs his family and his Berlin carriage business with stern, unyielding discipline. But his children have wills of their own, and soon they slip from his control - some to better lives, some towards disaster. As war breaks out and Gustav's beloved Germany is devastated by hardship and violence, he finds everything he believes in destroyed. Can the man of iron endure, or even change?Brutal and moving, written with Hans Fallada's gift for capturing the small tragedies of ordinary lives, Iron Gustavis a heartbreaking family chronicle and an unflinching portrayal of the First World War and its aftermath.… (meer)
Even superficially as a chronicle of a Berlin family living through WWI and its aftermath, the novel excels in the scope of its humanity vividly covering the minutiae of everyday life and motivations. Symbolically and metaphorically, the novel exposes the cultural mindset that led Germany into its roles in both WWI and II through the titular patriarch and the various paths that his children undertake.
Despite the uneven time/character/event jumps between the chapters, the short episodic sub-chapters kept the story fast-paced while the 50-page chapter might only be covering a day, and provided a good balance of character rotation. I also enjoyed the occasional authorial interjections and musings on contemporaneous politics and human nature.
I particularly appreciated (and found it brave?) that Fallada did not try to resolve everything to be upbeat or hopeful and allowed everyone to carry on as established by their personalities and history. In the same way that Mahfouz's Cairo Trilogy was a masterpiece in illustrating Egyptian history and culture through one tyrannical patriarchal family, Iron Gustav is equivalent German masterpiece of the same period.
Aside: I need an update on Gertrud and I need it to be good, but I also fear it for her with rise of the Nazism and the imminent threat of WWII and how Gustav and Otto will almost definitely be conscripted.
In many ways a fascinating book, covering as it does an interesting period in German history. The family saga is a good vehicle for exploring this, but the book starts too late - for four of Gustav's five children, the direction of their lives is already set (or set within the first couple of chapters) and thereafter dictates much of their response to events. Gustav himself only seems to change as a character towards the end of the book, as the regrets of old age start to mellow him. For the most part, they seem like anchored floats - moved a lot by the wind and tide of history but not actually going anywhere. So, fascinating but I'm not convinced it has got me closer to understanding the German nation. 14 August 2017 ( )
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Vielleicht war es das Pferd im Stall gewesen, die Schimmelstute, das Lieblingstier des alten Hackendahl: Es ließ pausenlos die Halfterkette durch den Krippenring rasseln und schlug, sein Futter fordernd, unablässig mit dem Huf gegen das Stallpflaster.
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Und damit verschwindet der kleine gekränkte Mann, läßt ohne Umstände den berühmten Droschkenkutscher als Wachtposten bei seinem Korbe – und die Leute rennen vorüber, sie stoßen Gustav Hackendahl an, sie haben es eilig, ihre Züge zu bekommen, sie sehen ihn nicht an, sie haben ihn schon wieder fast vergessen: den berühmten eisernen Gustav!
A powerful story of the shattering effects of the First World War on both a family and a country - from Hans Fallada, bestselling author of Alone in Berlin'This remarkable work, now complete after 76 years, could well be one of the finest novels any of us will ever read' Irish TimesGustav Hackendahl's will is law. Known as 'Iron Gustav', he runs his family and his Berlin carriage business with stern, unyielding discipline. But his children have wills of their own, and soon they slip from his control - some to better lives, some towards disaster. As war breaks out and Gustav's beloved Germany is devastated by hardship and violence, he finds everything he believes in destroyed. Can the man of iron endure, or even change?Brutal and moving, written with Hans Fallada's gift for capturing the small tragedies of ordinary lives, Iron Gustavis a heartbreaking family chronicle and an unflinching portrayal of the First World War and its aftermath.
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Despite the uneven time/character/event jumps between the chapters, the short episodic sub-chapters kept the story fast-paced while the 50-page chapter might only be covering a day, and provided a good balance of character rotation. I also enjoyed the occasional authorial interjections and musings on contemporaneous politics and human nature.
I particularly appreciated (and found it brave?) that Fallada did not try to resolve everything to be upbeat or hopeful and allowed everyone to carry on as established by their personalities and history. In the same way that Mahfouz's Cairo Trilogy was a masterpiece in illustrating Egyptian history and culture through one tyrannical patriarchal family, Iron Gustav is equivalent German masterpiece of the same period.
Aside: I need an update on Gertrud and I need it to be good, but I also fear it for her with rise of the Nazism and the imminent threat of WWII and
Further aside: Hans Fallada's wiki page is a wild read. (