- Paperback: 400 pages
- Publisher: MELVILLE HOUSE PUBLISHING (9 July 2009)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1933633646
- ISBN-13: 978-1933633640
- Product Dimensions: 14 x 2.3 x 20.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 110,070 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Review
The only novel reviewed in this Broadcast that one can wax really enthusiastic over. And its history in Germany indicates real sales possibilities, as it has rivalled the success of ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT over there. An intensely poignant story of two young Germans caught in the tide of the unemployment problem in Germany. There is a resemblance to the theme of NOBODY STARVES, but the approach is lighter, the handling is from the human standpoint rather than the laboratory method, and the tone has an upward lilt that is lacking in the American scene. Germany is more accustomed to grinding poverty, in this generation, and more eager to seize on simple pleasures, and the reflection of this is apparent in the book. One feels that at times there is a showing off of the modern spirit in the method of handling unnecessary subjects, but otherwise the book is intuitively human and natural, and in almost no sense sophisticated. The illustrations are misleading - done in a vein of caricature, by Georges Schreiber. They make the reader expect a satirical book in the Thurber and White tradition. A book the staff should read to sell. (Kirkus Reviews)
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Product Description
This is the book that led to Hans Fallada's downfall with the Nazis. The story of a young couple struggling to survive the German economic collapse was a worldwide sensation and was made into an acclaimed Hollywood movie produced by Jews, leading Hitler to ban Fallada's work from being translated. Nonetheless, it remains, as the Times Literary Supplement notes, ""the novel of a time in which public and private merged even for those who wanted to stay at home and mind their own business.""
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
43 of 43 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Hans Fallada is a an absolutely wonderful writer and this is possibly his best-loved and well-known novel.
Hard to believe it was written in 1932. It details the meeting and marriage of a young couple in Berlin a few years before the outbreak of WW2. The birth of their baby, difficulties with finding work and accommodation and their subsequent financial difficulties are set against a background of beautifully drawn characters - family, friends and petty bureaucrats. Mostly these all manage to make life even more difficult for the young couple!
I was cheering on Sonny and Lammchen from start to finish, hoping that their life together could be what they wanted it to be. Rarely did the couple let the myriad obstacles wear them down. Against so many odds, their mutual love shone through and the baby, when it arrived, brought humour, worry and joy in equal measure. Lammchen is an unfailingly loyal and constant source of strength to her husband. Without her support we know for certain that Sonny - a lovely but ultimately powerless young man - would have given up the struggle to achieve the security and simple life they aspired to.
The political situation of the time is subtly but very powerfully brought to life; always brooding in the background or nipping at the periphery of whatever problems they were facing. I felt great sympathy for the adversities they faced.
While I'm here I'd just like to say that 'Alone in Berlin'in UK ('Every Man Dies Alone' USA)is another tour-de-force by Fallada - though a much more brutal portrayal of Berlin life because it's set during the war
'Litte Man, What Now?' is a truly wonderful book, sad, funny, heartwarming, unputdownable - which I cannot recommend highly enough.
Hard to believe it was written in 1932. It details the meeting and marriage of a young couple in Berlin a few years before the outbreak of WW2. The birth of their baby, difficulties with finding work and accommodation and their subsequent financial difficulties are set against a background of beautifully drawn characters - family, friends and petty bureaucrats. Mostly these all manage to make life even more difficult for the young couple!
I was cheering on Sonny and Lammchen from start to finish, hoping that their life together could be what they wanted it to be. Rarely did the couple let the myriad obstacles wear them down. Against so many odds, their mutual love shone through and the baby, when it arrived, brought humour, worry and joy in equal measure. Lammchen is an unfailingly loyal and constant source of strength to her husband. Without her support we know for certain that Sonny - a lovely but ultimately powerless young man - would have given up the struggle to achieve the security and simple life they aspired to.
The political situation of the time is subtly but very powerfully brought to life; always brooding in the background or nipping at the periphery of whatever problems they were facing. I felt great sympathy for the adversities they faced.
While I'm here I'd just like to say that 'Alone in Berlin'in UK ('Every Man Dies Alone' USA)is another tour-de-force by Fallada - though a much more brutal portrayal of Berlin life because it's set during the war
'Litte Man, What Now?' is a truly wonderful book, sad, funny, heartwarming, unputdownable - which I cannot recommend highly enough.
72 of 73 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
In Little Man What Now, we read about life for ordinary people in Germany in the early 1930s. Unemployment has reached frightening levels and inflation is rapidly reducing the value of wages and savings. Berlin is a city in which wages are low and employees have to compete with their colleagues to keep their jobs, breeding mistrust and back-stabbing among the workforce. At a time like this, to get your girlfriend pregnant and have to marry her is a frightening prospect. So sets the scene for the story of Sonny and Lammchen as they embark on marriage and parenthood just before the Nazi Party comes to power.
Hans Fallada's novels were international best-sellers before the war, similarly acclaimed by those of fellow Germans, Thomas Mann and Herman Hesse. In 1932, Hollywood even turned Little Man What Now into a movie, but when Hitler learned that the film had been produced by Jews, Fallada began to attract the attention of the Gestapo leading in 1935 to him being classified as an "undesirable author".
Fallada's characters are not politically-minded as such, but are among the little people, caught up in the round of daily life where politics gradually impinges on them but without attracting their adherence or enthusiasm. They feel affronted by world events which are slowly wrecking their peaceful lives, but do not move into an analysis of why these titanic changes are happening. Fallada's characters are simply trying to make ends meet, to find a room to live in and to put meat on the table two or three times a week.
The book opens in the gynaecological clinic, where Sonny and Lammchen have gone for advice on contraception, only to hear the doctor say, "Its a bit too late for prevention. Beginning of the second month I would say". On the journey home, Sonny proposes to Lammchen who gratefully accepts, and then being the young couple's troubles.
Sonny's employers taunt him with threats of redundancy, and in any case, his job seemed to depend on him marrying the bosses daughter forcing Sonny to conceal his recent marriage. The truth comes out before too long and the inevitable termination follows soon after.
They move to Berlin where life continues to be fraught with difficulties and disappointments. but among these events, Fallada is able to find space of humour and satire. Some classes of people never suffer whatever happens in the world around them, Sonny's mother being an example of someone who lives between the cracks, holding invitation-only parties at which men come to meet attractive young women who are clearly available for more than just socialising. Her boyfriend, Herr Jachmann is the classic wide-boy, wheeling and dealing his way through 1930s Berlin, a roll of money in his pockets one day, destitute the next, but with a constant optimism which draws others to him, despite his propensity to remove the contents of their wallets from them.
Fallada's books give a fascinating glimpse of what life was like on the ground level while national leaders prepared for war. Fallada's books are immensely readable, and with both Little Man What Now and Alone in Berlin, I found myself speeding through them to find out what happened next. I would highly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in Europe between the wars.
Hans Fallada's novels were international best-sellers before the war, similarly acclaimed by those of fellow Germans, Thomas Mann and Herman Hesse. In 1932, Hollywood even turned Little Man What Now into a movie, but when Hitler learned that the film had been produced by Jews, Fallada began to attract the attention of the Gestapo leading in 1935 to him being classified as an "undesirable author".
Fallada's characters are not politically-minded as such, but are among the little people, caught up in the round of daily life where politics gradually impinges on them but without attracting their adherence or enthusiasm. They feel affronted by world events which are slowly wrecking their peaceful lives, but do not move into an analysis of why these titanic changes are happening. Fallada's characters are simply trying to make ends meet, to find a room to live in and to put meat on the table two or three times a week.
The book opens in the gynaecological clinic, where Sonny and Lammchen have gone for advice on contraception, only to hear the doctor say, "Its a bit too late for prevention. Beginning of the second month I would say". On the journey home, Sonny proposes to Lammchen who gratefully accepts, and then being the young couple's troubles.
Sonny's employers taunt him with threats of redundancy, and in any case, his job seemed to depend on him marrying the bosses daughter forcing Sonny to conceal his recent marriage. The truth comes out before too long and the inevitable termination follows soon after.
They move to Berlin where life continues to be fraught with difficulties and disappointments. but among these events, Fallada is able to find space of humour and satire. Some classes of people never suffer whatever happens in the world around them, Sonny's mother being an example of someone who lives between the cracks, holding invitation-only parties at which men come to meet attractive young women who are clearly available for more than just socialising. Her boyfriend, Herr Jachmann is the classic wide-boy, wheeling and dealing his way through 1930s Berlin, a roll of money in his pockets one day, destitute the next, but with a constant optimism which draws others to him, despite his propensity to remove the contents of their wallets from them.
Fallada's books give a fascinating glimpse of what life was like on the ground level while national leaders prepared for war. Fallada's books are immensely readable, and with both Little Man What Now and Alone in Berlin, I found myself speeding through them to find out what happened next. I would highly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in Europe between the wars.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This story of young love during the Depression in Berlin truly tugs at the heart strings. It tells the tale of two young people who try their hardest to survive and make a life for themselves and their unplanned child, fighting against the odds. It is funny, endearing, and sad at the same time. You cannot help but be drawn into the crazy world of poverty and indifference which they encounter. Peopled with many an unforgettable character, this book is both entertaining and enlightening and is a story that will stay with you for a long time. One of my all-time favourite books.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
WONDERFUL
Brilliant read, would recomend all Hans Fallada books.
A must read for anyone interested in the Germany of the 1930,s.
A must read for anyone interested in the Germany of the 1930,s.
Published 2 months ago by Colingalle
"Something can always happen that we have no way of dealing with."
Hans Fallada's seminal 1932 story of Herr and Frau Everyman trying to survive in the great financial crisis in Germany. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Blue in Washington
An engaging novel with both historical and universal appeal
This is an excellent novel which brings alive the struggle for survival of the 'little man' (and woman) in times of economic hardship. Read more
Published 12 months ago by Pablo
Mesmerising Read
Having read the wonderful, recently-translated 'Alone in Berlin' I decided I wanted to read more Hans Fallada. Read more
Published 14 months ago by Martin Noon
"The only ones we can get at are the ones we don't want to get at"
It is a book about a poor young couple ("Sonny" and "Mannchen" are nice, honest and basicaly good people) trying to stay above the bread line in 1932 Germany, where there were 6... Read more
Published 15 months ago by Knut
Parallels with today
Excellent, well written book which is very easy to read. Fallada tells the story of a young, newly wed couple in 1930's Germany as they struggle to build their life together in a... Read more
Published 17 months ago by MartyMac
Truly Outstanding.....
I simply cannot recommend this novel enough...it will take you on a profound journey, you will meet outstanding characters, be engulfed by the landscape and will be mesmerised by... Read more
Published 18 months ago by John Lacey
Brilliant!
I'm always impressed by the talent of Hans Fallada. This book is a tale about two struggeling newly-weds with a baby on the way. Read more
Published 19 months ago by faerievampyr
Berlin misery in the thirties
This is Berin in 1932. There was terrible poverty and unemployment and almost total misery.
Falada does not connect this explicitly with the rise of Hitler but it is hard not... Read more
Falada does not connect this explicitly with the rise of Hitler but it is hard not... Read more
Published 22 months ago by Martin Tucker
A glimpse of our future?
A very powerful and well-written book describing daily life in Germany between the wars from the viewpoint of one working man. Read more
Published on 11 Mar 2009 by Lazy Kipper
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