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The Berlin Stories  By  cover art

The Berlin Stories

By: Christopher Isherwood
Narrated by: Michael York
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Publisher's summary

Christopher Isherwood's dramatized memoirs are prophetic images of a country preparing itself to embrace Hitler and the Third Reich. The Berlin Stories includes two works published together: The Last of Mr. Norris and Goodbye to Berlin. These modern classics reveal in poignant detail the tragedy of mid-20th-century Germany.
©1990 Christopher Isherwood (P)2005 Phoenix Audio

What listeners say about The Berlin Stories

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    2 out of 5 stars

unabridged version of Berlin Stories is needed

York's performance is wonderful, but I cannot believe that Audible has not released an unabridged version of this (especially since York apparently narrated all of "Goodbye to Berlin" years back). This is a VERY abridged version of the "Berlin Stories" - as this is central to Isherwood's legacy, listeners should be able to hear the complete work.

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  • 01-19-23

Cabaret

I can tell where some of the stories in Cabaret is from. Helps to hear some of the back stories and where they embellished in the Broadway production. If you are expecting this to be line for line Cabaret, it won’t happen. It jumps around and less about the Emcee and more about Mr Bradshaw. Also, helps to show that history can repeat itself if we are not careful…

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Fresh and relevant

Beautiful and heartbreaking. And also quite funny.

These are 80 years old but feel entirely fresh. Given the current state of the world, tge stories also feel oddly relevant. Now I want to read more things by Isherwood.

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1 person found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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An Excellent Professional Narration by Michael York

This is an excellent narration of very interesting stories about Germany between WWI and WWII. The only reservation I have is that these stories are abridged compared to the substantially longer versions that I obtained on Kindle. I am glad that I have both. Thank You…

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    3 out of 5 stars

Inaccurate

This was narrated great and tells roughly the stories within Ishwerwood’s Berlin Stories but leaves out narration of massive amounts of text throughout the entirety of the book doesn’t exactly tell the story of the full text

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I liked the stories…

The first half is a novella, without which I could have done nicely. I enjoyed the shorter pieces, comprising the second half, far more.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Laughter and chill bumps abound

The Berlin Stories is a roller coaster ride. There are chiefly three parts, his friendship with a kinky Englishman, his friendship with the delightfully brash Sally Bowles, and his last few months in Berlin as the Nazis begin to take hold of the nation and make conspiratprs of the populace. This book is largely anecdotal, as opposed to completely chronological, though it largely moves through one year after the other. It is hilarious, tender, and mournful. It is a work of art, and I recommend it to.anyone, especially if you enjoyed In the Garden of Beasts. Michael York was an exquisite reader.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Great writing

this is great writing. he captures a world, and people, and drama. I really liked the reader's performance.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Berlin just before the Nazi's move in

The Swastika is a little lie as these four or is it five stories are set about 1930s just before or as the Nazi's come to power. The undercurrent is there as is homosexuality and anti-semetic. The Weimar Republic is coming to an end and the Nazi's are still a joke but things are a changing. Well written and Michael York has such a beautiful speaking voice he is a pleasure to listen to, however as I think all these stories are different and are not connected the main characters sound like one and their personalities are almost equal. Still a nice listen to whilst driving the back lanes of Sydney.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Haunting

I could never have finished this book by reading it. It is thanks to Michael York's brilliant mastery of accents and voices that you understand what is going on. This book is subtle, I mean, gay culture in the 30s, it has to be. With York's voices, someone as oblivious as me can understand what is going on. What makes this book so special is the subtlety in which he describes the rise of Nazism and the level of complacency that exists when it's in your every day world.
A must listen, if only for York's performance.

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