"One of the most brilliant satirical novels about life in East Berlin, in the shadow of the wall (quite literally)". -Daniel Kehlmann, The New York Times Book Review
"Compact, charming . . . [Jonathan] Franzen and [Jenny] Watson's translation keeps up an idiomatic swagger and ebullient good humor. Mr. Brussig's upbeat tale of life a few yards behind the Iron Curtain celebrates not the GDR regime but the sheer resilience that allows prisoners-of any system-to find inner freedom behind bars." -Boyd Tonkin, The Wall Street Journal
"A charming comedy of mid-80s East Germany; funny and tender, [this book] damns totalitarianism through its warm focus on ordinary, riotous teenage life." -The Guardian
"A delicious slice of life in 1980s East Berlin . . . Comedy, which comes through perfectly in the sharp translation, is essential to Brussig's project as he subverts the dread and paranoia of East German life by portraying a small world with love, tenderness, and humor hidden within it. There's a lot to love in this flipping of the Cold War script." -Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)
"This novel . . . performs what the author calls 'the miracle of making peace with the past' . . . Jonathan Franzen and Jenny Watson offer a stylish and elegant Sonnenallee." -Maren Meinhardt, The Times Literary Supplement
"An airy, cheerful translation . . . funny [and] rueful."-Nikhil Krishnan, The Telegraph (UK)
"Compact, charming . . . [Jonathan] Franzen and [Jenny] Watson's translation keeps up an idiomatic swagger and ebullient good humor. Mr. Brussig's upbeat tale of life a few yards behind the Iron Curtain celebrates not the GDR regime but the sheer resilience that allows prisoners-of any system-to find inner freedom behind bars." -Boyd Tonkin, The Wall Street Journal
"A charming comedy of mid-80s East Germany; funny and tender, [this book] damns totalitarianism through its warm focus on ordinary, riotous teenage life." -The Guardian
"A delicious slice of life in 1980s East Berlin . . . Comedy, which comes through perfectly in the sharp translation, is essential to Brussig's project as he subverts the dread and paranoia of East German life by portraying a small world with love, tenderness, and humor hidden within it. There's a lot to love in this flipping of the Cold War script." -Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)
"This novel . . . performs what the author calls 'the miracle of making peace with the past' . . . Jonathan Franzen and Jenny Watson offer a stylish and elegant Sonnenallee." -Maren Meinhardt, The Times Literary Supplement
"An airy, cheerful translation . . . funny [and] rueful."-Nikhil Krishnan, The Telegraph (UK)