A Man Without Breath by Philip Kerr

This is an awesome book for the confirmed, mystery reader, who has the self-confidence to lay their values out for self-examination and live with the results of reviewing the past century from a different viewpoint.

I’ve tried Kerr’s “Gunther” books before, without success.  My old radio partner, Pat Nolan, raved about this guy for years.  Maybe I didn’t have, or devote, the time to get “into” Kerr’s style.  Maybe the style wasn’t in vogue, though now that I understand it; it will never be in style.  I’m writing this review based on my German ex-wife’s recent e-mails about the resurgence of socialism in German political life.

[Germany gets first socialist state governor since reunification
http://gu.com/p/44vee/sbl ]

Even my post-modernist Berkeley-Intellectual daughter has chimed in (see below)[1].

And now, Yahoo interrupts me with, “Poland unearths one of WW-II’s darkest secrets.”

[ http://news.yahoo.com/poland-unearths-one-of-wwii-s-darkest-secrets-161947503.html  ]

 

O.K

This is a novel about the Nazi era.!!  Right there I’ve probably lost 2 out of 3 readers.  That was enough for me a decade ago when Pat was extolling the virtues of this writer.  But that’s not really the point.  It’s like, Science Fiction is often just a device, to take the reader so far away from their current reality, that they can more clearly examine the inter-relationships between people.  In my favorite, JCO’s writing, she delves into the mind of her psychopaths and perverts.  Kerr uses the viewpoint of a Berliner: 1930’s noir detective, Bernie Gunther, and plops him into the cesspool of early 1940’s Germany.  Not as an American hero [Herman Wouk’s horribly miscast Winds of War, 1983], but as a seasoned German beat cop, over-promoted to lend credence to – some really, really bad people.
How does he act.?  He’s a German authority figure, a cop, in an evil dictatorship.
How would you act.?  Bernie’s scared all the time; but makes time for some beautiful women.
Would you; could you, execute a man.?
Would you make a deal with Göebbles.?  Bernie steals his schnapps and cigarettes;
Would you smoke a cigarette with Himmler.?
Would your dust be being exhumed these days in Eastern Poland.?  and to what end.?
 

Bernie Gunther has no political position.  He’s a cop and distrusts everyone.

Bernie Gunther, loves Bernie Gunther, first and foremost.

In this day and age;

  we may all be Bernie Gunthers: trust no one; get what you can; scam the system; get the girl.
 

This book is an examination of that position.  It will obviously never be a movie.

    Philip Kerr goes into Communism vs Fascism vs Capitalism
    Kerr dabbles with war, religions; national traits; and sado-masochistic penchants.
 
This is definitely a euro-centric novel,
   no American good guys.
 
Hey, a German point of view,
    and they lose the war.

---

[1] “I think that the waning of Cold War mentalities has opened up an arena within which Marx's ideas can be taken on their merits and applied to societies in a constructive way. During the Cold War he was so demonized. Now that we are not afraid to utter his name, some reasonable people are actually finding that they can give his ideas a serious listen and that maybe, just maybe he had some useful things to say about the way capitalist economies work. So yay for Germans for having the guts to elect someone who might be able to bring Marx's voice into serious political debate in post-Cold War Germany!”