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Every Man Dies Alone Audiobook
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(4.00) - 5,494 listener ratings
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Publisher Description
Hans Fallada wrote this stunning novel in only 24 days-just after being released from a Nazi insane asylum. Based on a true story, Every Man Dies Alone tells of a German couple who try to start an uprising by distributing anti-fascist postcards during WWII. But their dream ultimately proves perilous under the tyranny that dominates every corner of Hitler's Germany.
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"About all I can say about this novel now that I've finished it is simply... WOW. Imagine living in a world in which everything you say, every look you make, every thought that crosses your face, is enough to have you reported to the police. This is the world in which the Quangels live, in which the Gestapo and the SS and the SA rule over Germany with an iron fist, ruling through fear and intimidation and brutality. You're accused of some kind of wrongdoing? The police arrest you, take you in, beat you until you confess to SOMETHING, anything, to make them stop beating you. Or they'll twist your words into a confession of some kind when you didn't say anything of the sort. And then whomever you happened to mention during the interrogation is brought in and subjected to the same brutality, until the police get the story they want, whether it's true or not. It's against this sort of insanity that the Quangels rebel by starting a postcard campaign. Each week Otto and Anna discuss and write a postcard or two, postcards detailing various subversive writings, and drop them in places where they're sure to be picked up. In this way, they feel as though they are fighting back against the Third Reich, as much an any individual can fight back.I can see why several reviewers felt this novel(based on a true story, mind) plodded along. It's not a quick detective story with lots of blood and guts and gore. It's a novel that shows ordinary people living ordinary lives, yet doing extraordinary things in a crazy, insane world run by men who enjoy killing and violence and sheer brutality. This book is an excellent reminder that it wasn't just the Jews who suffered under the Third Reich, and why the Third Reich was able to retain power for so long. It wasn't a time in which one person could stand up and say, "This is wrong!" To do that would be to sign your own death warrant, and while many people did exactly that, many more people were simply too frightened. The Third Reich felt that these supposedly "weak" characters were better off dead, that their nation was stronger without these traitors, and so they were more than willing to put anyone who disagreed with them to death. Even those that were innocent were either murdered or tried to take their own lives. Every time I read a book like this, I wonder how anyone survived the Germany of the 1930s and 1940s. May this type of regime never, ever be allowed to resurface anywhere."
— Karyl (5 out of 5 stars)
Quotes
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“This is a novel that is so powerful, so intense, that it almost hums with electricity.”
— Minneapolis Star-Tribune -
“Essential, thrilling.”
— St. Petersburg Times -
“Stunningly vivid characters…gets you inside Nazi Germany like no other novel.”
— San Francisco Chronicle -
“A one-of-a-kind novel…Fallada can be seen as a hero, a writer-hero who survived just long enough to strike back at his oppressors.”
— Globe and Mail (Toronto) -
“One of the most extraordinarily ambitious literary resurrections in recent memory.”
— Los Angeles Times -
“Has the suspense of a John le Carré novel…Visceral, chilling.”
— New Yorker
Awards
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Selected for the April 2009 Indie Next List
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A 2009 New York Times Book Review Notable Book
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A 2011 Audie Award Finalist
Every Man Dies Alone Listener Reviews
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" It was a very slow moving book. "
— Cathy, 2/10/2014 -
" Awesome book, a moment to moment tale of Nazi Germany society for the ordinary man. "
— Zineb, 2/7/2014 -
" Made it 1/2 way through, then had to make a decision. Just couldn't get into it despite all of the glowing reviews. Perhaps a better book to read in the winter. "
— Katrina, 2/5/2014 -
" I will be done by Friday. I'm merely a few pages in, but I can already tell it will hold my attention! "
— Vicki, 1/30/2014 -
" It certainly was gripping, and some of the awkwardnesses (neologisms, clunkiness) are probably translation, but after I read the author's biography, the book fell at least a notch and a half for me. He was your ordinary Ordinary German, whose taste for addictive substances landed him in trouble with the uber folk from time to time, but mostly he wrote to please them. And he survives, quite handily. Then the war is over, and he's pleasing and appeasing his new Soviet overlords and he writes a heavy handed tale of Good Germans tragically bucking the regime and taking pity on old Jews, with some healthy socialist realist love for the worker and the peasant thrown in. At least as problematic as Irene Nemirovsky and no where as well written. "
— Elaine, 1/20/2014 -
" A tough and emotional read that will stay with you long after it's finished "
— Rachel, 1/15/2014 -
" I couldn't put this book down. I'm hard pushed to think of another well written, terrifyingly emotive book I've ever read before this one. "
— Lisa, 1/9/2014 -
" An amazing work of fiction that tells the truth about the Nazi regime in Germany as only a detailed, layered story can. Written in a few short weeks before the author died. "
— Christine, 12/27/2013 -
" Significant and absorbing, strange days to write of so soon afterwards "
— Justin, 11/24/2013 -
" The style reminded me very much of Kafka's "The Trial". A very interesting read, despite a few plot elements that didn't seem too significant, and a few strange and almost unrealistic scenes. Then again, "reality" in WWII Berlin was probably something not very categorical. "
— Paul, 10/25/2013 -
" Could not stop reading this book. "
— Anna, 12/26/2012 -
" What an incredible book, but certainly not for everyone--not exactly the feel-good hit of the year. If you want to get a glimpse into what WW2 was like for everyday Germans, this is fascinating. "
— Nancy, 10/11/2012 -
" New title is "Alone in Berlin". "
— Patricia, 2/20/2012 -
" I've been on another WWII kick. Though this is a fiction novel, the author wrote it during and after the war and it covers the German resistance to the Nazi regime. "
— Becky, 8/22/2011 -
" This book is such a traumatic read, but so worth it. I still think about it now even though it is a while since I read it - a story of ordinary people trying to do their bit towards the destruction of the nazis. Everybody should read this! <br/> "
— Julie, 5/23/2011 -
" one of the saddest books i've ever read but it painted an almost too-real picture of nazi germany. i loved all the characters and the way they intertwined. i still can't believe fallada wrote this book in 72 days. an incredible story, i couldn't stop once i started. "
— Leah, 5/22/2011 -
" Astonishing read so far. Not hugely original in literary terms - a lot of Dickens, Dostoyevsky and a bit of Kafka in there - but incredibly powerful and engaging. "
— Benplouviez, 5/15/2011 -
" A gripping and atmospheric depiction of life in a country ruled by fear. This edition includes details from the real-life case on which the story is based. "
— Bobo, 5/4/2011 -
" Well-written but brutal account of institutional violence as delivered on an individual level. By individuals. A quick (and timeless) read. "
— Maxine, 5/3/2011 -
" A very interesting story of post cards as a small act of rebellion. "
— Raisonbr, 5/3/2011 -
" A great book about life during the second world war in Germany. "
— Kmkoppy, 5/3/2011 -
" The actions of individuals during WWII interest me more than the tales of military actions. The stories are continuing. This book describes the the actions around one family. I enjoyed the perspective that was given. There were no easy times or actions during the war. "
— Ants, 5/2/2011 -
" gosh, so depressing how mean people can be! finally galloped through the last quarter of the book just to get it done with! no surprises at the end "
— Innes, 4/23/2011 -
" One of the most thought-provoking emotional books I have ever read. Especially interesting for me as I have studied Nazi Germany extensively "
— Heather, 4/22/2011 -
" Fantastic book! Really gives the reader an idea of how a Fascist state exerts it's power over a population. "
— Brian, 4/22/2011
About Hans Fallada
Hans Fallada (1893–1947) was the pen name of German author Rudolf Ditzen, whose books were international bestsellers on a par with those of his countrymen Thomas Mann and Hermann Hesse. He opted to stay in Germany when the Nazis came to power and eventually had a nervous breakdown when he was put under pressure to write anti-Semitic books. He was cast into a Nazi insane asylum, where he secretly wrote The Drinker. Immediately after the war, he wrote his last two novels, The Nightmare and Alone in Berlin, but died before either could be published.
About George Guidall
George Guidall, winner of more than eighty AudioFile Earphones Awards, has won three of the prestigious Audie Award for Excellence in Audiobook Narration. In 2014 the Audio Publishers Association presented him with the Special Achievement Award for lifetime achievement/ During his thirty-year recording career he has recorded over 1,700 audiobooks, won multiple awards, been a mentor to many narrators, and shown by example the potential of fine storytelling. His forty-year acting career includes starring roles on Broadway, an Obie Award for best performance off Broadway, and frequent television appearances.