Bookworm in the City

The banned books of Berlin / Daisy Wood
What it is: historical fiction with a solid alliteration title
Did I like it: so-so

I gave this a so-so because this book has two storylines, and one felt weaker than the other.
Let’s dive in.

This book starts off with an author note to provide historical context and then we’re off to Berlin, 1930, where Freya is losing her mother to cancer. Ingrid has been her ally, has made sure Freya gets to continue her studies, and Freya knows that everything will change once her mother is gone: she will be expected to quit school and take over Ingrid’s sewing business and the running of the household, leaving her without time to study and write, which is her biggest passion. All Freya’s fears come true, and to make things worse, the dire economic circumstances in the country mean that people can no longer afford to splurge on new clothes, and business goes down fast. So, she fires her assistant, closes the sewing room, and instead makes it available for rent. A lodger allows for a steady income and gives Freya a chance to explore the world outside of the suffocating house, finding employment as a seamstress and costume designer at a cabaret theatre. Although this is still far from being her dream job, it allows her a level of freedom, and a social circle of openminded free spirits.
Her new friends encourage her creativity, and she starts to write short stories. It is her dream to get published but when the nazi’s order a book ban, she learns how dangerous writing can be.

Then there is the story of Madeleine, who lives in the present in Los Angeles.
Madeleine is a journalist, and she got trolled after a story she wrote was not as well-received as she had hoped. One troll in particular is posting hurtful messages and Madeleine can’t deal with it. Instead of turning off social media and moving on with her life, Madeleine hops on a train and travels home to LA. Home is not quite the calm and relaxing environment though, as her mother and brother are at odds and her grandfather is freaking them out with his death cleaning. Madeleine is a little bit more accepting of this and helps him and even goes along on a trip to a Death Café where they meet Eva and her grandson Daniel. During the cleaning they have found letters and papers belonging to her great-grandmother, but they are in German which neither of them can read. When they learn that both Eva and Daniel can read German, this meeting turns out to be very lucky.

Unfortunately, one of these timelines was much stronger than the other and I wonder if it might have worked better if the weaker one got scrapped altogether as it didn’t seem to add much. The biggest reason the LA setting didn’t work for me, was the Madeleine character. I got rather annoyed by her: she’s paranoid and suspicious about anyone and anything even though she does exactly what she assumes and fears people will do with her; researching them online. This adds hypocritical to the list of traits I disliked her for. And while Madeleine is intrigued by Freya’s story and wants to be like her, she misses Freya’s fierceness and never truly stands out as a headliner. Madeleine’s grandfather and brother are the more interesting characters in the LA storyline, and they drive that storyline and thereby create Madeleine’s story. There also was more growth and development in their characters than in Madeleine’s.
Freya’s story in Berlin is set in a time and place that is as intense as it gets, yet this story still is more driven by character than setting. It takes a lot of a character to achieve that, and Madeleine pales by comparison.
The difference in storylines was not just about the characters, but the Berlin storyline also stood out due to the tension and action built up gradually. The LA storyline has no real tension built up and the big reveal in the ending felt rushed.

I really wanted to like this book, but it ended up never being more than an “it was okay”.