MixedIrish Times (IRE)Readers may need more than horseradish to stay awake until the end of this solid if unspectacular round-up of Angela Merkel’s career ... What shines through is Merkel’s strong work ethic and sense of responsibility ... The writing continues in this undergraduate thesis style. Her occasional flashes of detail, when they occasionally come, are curious ... All tell, little show, this memoir is strong on what happened but less so on why – and it gets worse as it continues.
Harald Jähner tr. Shaun Whiteside
PositiveThe Irish Times (IRE)Jähner’s book attracted considerable praise in Germany for knitting a coherent narrative out of events previously viewed separately—or ignored entirely. Its English translation is even more welcome, filling the yawning gap on bookshop shelves between a growing number of modern German history and the oversupply of Nazi studies that end in Hitler’s bunker ... thoughtful.
Helena Merriman
PositiveThe Irish Times (IRE)Germans have a saying that you can find the best stories lying around on the streets. Helena Merriman’s lively new book, Tunnel 29, proves that sometimes the best yarns lie beneath ... Merriman’s brisk, present-tense approach rattles along and will keep readers hooked. The flip side is a narrow focus and lack of differentiation that, occasionally, turns the human tragedy of German division into podcast pantomime ... At 279 well-spaced pages, with short chapters, Tunnel 29 is a quick, arresting read that brings to life recent history and will appeal to young readers, perhaps because it often reads like a story treatment for a Netflix series.
