Review: The Berlin Letters

 

You know, there were so many compelling, intriguing characters floating around in this book. Our protagonist Luisa was not one of them. She was simply the most generic straight white female protagonist imaginable; there was nothing about her that was memorable beyond the fact that she threw up a lot when she was stressed. Supposedly, she got top marks in her espionage program, but there was nothing she did in the entire book that demonstrated that aptitude to me. 

Again, there were so many potentially compelling stories hinted at throughout the whole book. The one with the most potential was the group of musicians who eventually helped sneak Luisa into East Berlin. I desperately wanted them to show up more, to get a glimpse into their lives, to understand their feelings. But they were a tiny part of the book. It was just so disappointing.

Also, there was surprisingly little action. Luisa just kind of passively bobs along from place to place; whenever anything worked out for her, it seemed like it was because someone else told her what to do. But there was never any point where I felt genuinely tense or worried for her because she just wasn’t doing much of anything. Not my kind of story or character. As a final note – the whole book was so white and so straight.