started reading a really cool book today, Cafe Berlin. it's an autobiographical account of a Syrian Jew...who spoke seven languages...grew up in the spice trade...moved to Germany in 1929 (at the age of 18)...bought a cabaret the next year...transformed it into the place to be seen...ended up going into hiding (a la Anne Frank) in December '41...and survived the war.
it really is a captivating book. the writing is superb; the transition, flawless. this is one of those books that you read from cover to cover, neglecting everything else until the last period. i literally had to tear myself away so i could actually get something to eat. dogs were lookin' pretty pissed; they hadn't eaten either.
the neatest thing about the book is that it was a personal diary that the protagonist, Daniel Saporta, had started 23 months after going into seclusion. he effectively recounts the last 15-20 years of his life in great detail - outstanding imagery.
ironically, the diary wasn't known to the public until the early '90s, after the fall of the Berlin Wall. you see, after being liberated by the Allies in April 1945, Saporta left his diary in the attic. it wasn't recovered until German demolition crews came upon it (intact) while they were razing old abandoned buildings in East Berlin...in 1991. luckily, Mr. Saporta was still alive and residing in Los Angeles, when the German gov't returned his war diary.
think our blogs will survive almost 50 years online? exactly.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment