'Berlin Alexanderplatz' by Alfred Döblin

Come here to discuss and comment on this 1929 novel, i.e. Berlin Alexanderplatz

I've just finished THE FIRST BOOK of Berlin Alexanderplatz, and I'm not sure what I think of it. It seems to be an interesting story about Franz Biberkopf and his life in Berlin after his release from the Tegel prison.
I'm still a little confused, especially about Döblin's rather curious style, but I hope to get more used to it during my further reading of the novel.

Quite exciting what will happan to Franz B. ... ??

I've ordered it from Amazon, but I don't think I'll be able to start it for a while, as I'm in the midst of a very long contemporary novel (2666 by Roberto Bolano. But once I start, I'll be coming back to see what you ad others thought of it.

I'v read three "books" of the novel. I'm not sure if I like it. All the same, I'll postpone further reading of this book for some months. Maybe I'll continue later this year, if somebody else (rebeccanyc?) read it.

As mentioned elsewhere, I hope to re-read this in March, after which I'll post my thoughts and perhaps kick off a conversation on it. I can understand the difficulties in reading it, by the way, but I do think it's worth it, for an insight into the fascinating (under)world of Berlin in the 1920s... More later.

Well, I have now finished Berlin Alexanderplatz and it is truly a remarkable book. On the surface, the story of an "ordinary" man and his descent into petty crime and madness, it is really a portrait of Berlin in 1928, in the midst of economic problems, political stirrings, the aftermath of the first world war, growing modernity, etc. Döblin mixes narrative with headlines, a somewhat gruesome description of how animals are butchered, weather reports, mythological/religious reflections, and popular/military ditties worked into the text so it takes a while to realize what they are (amazingly translated so that they retain the meter and rhyme that must have been present in the original German). Although it was written in 1929, it is clear to a contemporary reader that the seeds of Nazism were already planted; reading this book, I could also see the connections with the world and writing of Hans Fallada's Every Man Dies Alone. This book will stay with me.

ETA Touchstones are touchy today.