David Burke (8) (1934–2026)

I am not sure what I expected from this, I grabbed it because I enjoy the play Copenhagen and also have enjoyed Frayn's other writing but it was an odd one and I am not really sure I enjoyed it. During the production of the play Frayn starts to receive documents that could have been written by the German physicists who were interned in England after the war. Where it goes from there is strange and not really all that interesting and ends up being treated with much more seriousness than I show more think is really deserved. The chapters are written alternately by Micheal Frayn and David Burke, the actor who plays Bohr in the play and for reasons that quickly become clear is rather important in the narrative. I don't think I really enjoyed it and it spun off way too much in philosophical musings at the end that the weight of the story really didn't really warrant but I did finish it and thought about it alot. I think I would just rather see a good production of the play instead. show less

During the performance of his play 'Copenhagen' the writer of the play is given some papers from a country house in England where German scientists were held prisoner at the end of WWII. 'Copenhagen' the play has only three characters, based on real life people, one of whom was the German physicist Werner Heisenberg, who was kept at the country house in question. Do these papers reveal insights into the conundrum at the heart of 'Copenhagen'?

This book is about a lot more than just the show more history of nuclear physics or WWII. Written in alternating sections by Michael Frayn and David Burke, who played Niels Bohr, another character in 'Copenhagen', this soon becomes an exploration about the craft of writing, belief, and interpretation. Despite the deep topics, there is a lot of humour in this book, and it is written with a light and very readable touch.

While having seen 'Copenhagen' is a great advantage to enjoying this book (and the made for television version of the play is superb), it is really the interplay between the two writers that gives this book its appeal. Highly recommended show less

What a romp! Having been in the play some time ago, I really enjoyed this book. It was playful and intelligent. I highly recommend it.

Sorry, my very dear Michael Frayn, but this book is a serious piece of wankery if ever I saw one.

There is also a dreadful piece of proofreading, a whole page appearing at page 76 and then again at page 96. Page 76 is entirely missing, it is correctly placed at p. 96, should you possibly care.

But I can see that you don't.