Stasiland

Reviews / Votes

These rigorously researched, tenderly told stories of life inside East Germany won the Samuel Johnson prize a decade ago... Funder illuminates her subjects with humanity... remarkable investigative journalism -- Arifa Akbar * Independent * Anna Funder's Stasiland demonstrates that great, original reporting is still possible. She found her subject in East Germany, went for it bravely and delivers the goods in a heartbreaking, beautifully written book. A classic for sure -- Claire Tomalin * Guardian * A brilliant and necessary book about oppression and history ... Here is someone who knows how to tell the truth -- Rachel Cusk * Evening Standard * Superb... Funder skilfully deploys fictional techniques to make the material jump off the page: crafted scenes with their own story-arcs, naturalistic dialogue, fully-realised characters with their own plotlines... Vividly conveyed [with] flashes of humour too -- Brandon Robshaw * Independent on Sunday ***** * A journey into the bizarre, scary, secret history of the former East Germany that is both relevant and riveting -- Anthony Sattin * Sunday Times * In Stasiland, her first book, [Funder] spiritedly plunges herself into "this land gone wrong" and attempts to understand a regime like the German Democratic Republic through the stories of ordinary men and women, "not just the activists or the famous writers". The result is a terrific act of life-giving to a people - 17 million of them - who have hitherto lacked not just a voice but an audience -- Nicholas Shakespeare * Telegraph * Written with rare literary flair. I can think of no better introduction to the brutal reality of East German repression * Sunday Telegraph * Funder is a superb interviewer ... she truly excels in the rendering of her sessions with former Stasi employees.This foreign perspective adds a unique dimension to Stasiland. Funder seems to be asking all the questions East and West Germans should be asking themselves.
In the book's stunning opening, she describes herself being hungover in Berlin and bumping into things on the street: "Tomorrow bruises will develop on my skin, like a picture from a negative." It is a perfect description of the astonishing effect Stasiland has on the reader: a slow-motion understanding of decades of human pain and cruelty -- Elena Lappin * Sunday Times * The best account of the strange, secretive place on the other side of the wall -- William Leith * Evening Standard * These are haunting accounts of an Orwellian time through which no one lived through without paying a high personal price -- Alastair Mabbott * Herald * These encounters with survivors are harrowing and, until this book, almost forgotten -- Fiona Wilson * The Times * Funder skilfully deploys fictional techniques to make the material jump off the page: naturalistic dialogue, fully-realised characters with their own plotlines. It conveys a grim atmosphere - but there are flashes of humour too -- Brandon Robshaw * Irish Independent * Compelling... A fascinating book made all the more affecting by Funder's writing, making non-fiction read like a novel -- SJ Watson 'My six best books' * Daily Express *