Berlin Shuffle by Ulrich Alexander Boschwitz

Berlin Shuffle (Ulrich Alexander Boschwitz). This is another book that passed across my desk at the library and piqued my curiosity. Since I've been interested in German history more in the last five years than any time in my life, I placed a hold on it.

This promises to be another of my "word vomit"-type book reviews. I want to get my thoughts down before I forget. Since Berlin Shuffle is a novel, I will avoid spoilers. 

Allow me to cut to the chase and declare my enjoyment of this book.

Berlin Shuffle, written in 1937, takes place in approximately 1929. At this time, Germany is a country reeling from World War I and the Treaty of Versailles, buried by draconian reparations it can't hope to repay, struggling with inflation and unemployment.

So in this setting, we have several characters who for various reasons are beaten down by life in post-Great War Germany: 

Fundholz is an older man (between 65-70) who is possibly/probably an alcoholic. He is unemployed (like almost everyone else in the novel). He is described as wearing ill-fitting, badly-worn trousers. Later on in the novel, we discover he had an ugly divorce twenty years earlier and never recovered. All that said, Fundholz is one of the few characters to display compassion towards others.

Grissmann is a younger man. He is a schemer as well as just a bit of a horndog. Perhaps a bit weasel-like. He has a plan to steal the wife of...

...Sonnenberg. Sonnenberg is described as a large, burly man who lost his eyesight due to a devastating wound in the Great War. This has not only left him physically wounded, but perpetually angry. Sonnenberg sells matchsticks to scrape by, as well as playing accordian at a bar called the Jolly Huntsman. (More about that place later).

Elsi is Sonnenberg's wife. She was a sex worker (or "prostitute"), but it seems she was able to quit upon marrying Sonnenberg. She's decribed as homely, though attractive enough to strike Grissmann's fancy. Sonnenberg treats her horribly, so she doesn't mind Grissmann's interest. Of all the characters in the book, I felt the worst for poor Elsi.

Tonnchen is a mentally-impaired man about 40 years-old. He is described as quite overweight. (I'm not sure what constituted "overweight" in 1920s Germany. I suspect it would be "normal" size in the 2020s United States). I couldn't help but picture him looking like Curly from The Three Stooges. He is looked after by Fundholz, who--for whatever reason--shows considerable compassion for the "feeble-minded" Tonnchen. Tonnchen's main concern is the consumption of any available food. (In one of the saddest passages of the novel, we discover the childhood trauma that forever changed Tonnchen's life).

Other major characters are Wilhelm Winter, a handsome young man who finds himself after a series of personal setbacks as a not-so-enthusiastic pimp. Minchen Lindner, a young, attractive, high-class sex worker who makes a good living in her trade--enough to provide financial assistance for her disgraced, unemployed father. Wilhelm and Minchen have, in modern parlance, a "meet cute" in the final half of the novel.

Frau Amalie Fliebusch is an older woman (about 60 years old) who was born into privilege and married a law clerk named Wilhelm. Wilhelm died in the Great War, and Frau Fliebusch was never the same. She lost all her money after the war and is in denial that her husband is dead. (The fact that her husband's first name is the same as Wilhelm Winter comes into play later in the novel. No spoilers).

Walter Schreiber is a kindly grocer who appears early in the novel. He rents out a tiny basement room as lodging for Fundholz, Tonnchen, and (unintentionally) Grissmann. I'm not sure why Ulrich Boschwitz decided to cut Schreiber out of the last 2/3 of the novel.

We follow these characters as they struggle to survive in economically devastated Weimar Germany. The specter of impending fascism is just under the surface--and then made explicit when a conpiracy theory-spouting future de facto Nazi talks at (not "too," but "at") Tonnchen in a city park. Tonnchen has no idea what the man is going on about. This is maybe the only time Tonnchen's intellectual impairment works to his benefit. This guy's bullshit goes in one ear and out the other.

It all comes to a head in the final half of the book that takes place at the Jolly Huntsman. Most of our characters convene there, culminating in a tragic event that you'll have to read the book to learn about.