She spends much of the book playing defense on her record, with little self-criticism or regret ... Merkel also tells her personal story in this book, and it is these sections where we see most clearly her fact-oriented temperament ... Convincing ... Reminds us that another politics, humanist and humble, can exist. We owe it to ourselves to chart our way back — not to Merkel’s policies, but to her style of responsible and reliable leadership.
Merkel clearly fears for her legacy ... Those who slog through these well-worn justifications are rewarded with flashing glimpses into the former chancellor’s decision-making, as well as the inner workings of geopolitics. But Freedom is unlikely to lend Merkel a Churchillian place in modern German history.
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.
Surprisingly blunt ... There is little to stylistically differentiate it from any other mainstream politician’s memoir. Early biographical sketches are followed by the slow formation of influences ... Anyone searching for fresh insight into Merkel’s thoughts on Israel or Palestine will be disappointed ... Highly competent, occasionally gripping.
The second half of the book, which deals with geopolitics, is more breathless ... At its worst, Freedom is as patronising towards the European states to Germany’s east as her male colleagues were to Merkel ... All the human qualities that made Merkel a likable and liked leader are in this book: the lack of showmanship, the understated sense of humour, the dedication to building alliances and forging compromises. And yet you finish Freedom asking yourself whether good human beings automatically make good decision-makers.
Uneven English translation ... Here, then, is the story of the triumph but also the tragedy of this truly remarkable, strong, thoughtful, principled, decent East German woman who led the West.
The dullness of her political utterances is faithfully reproduced in this volume of memoirs ... This is a book free from literary artifice, avoiding personal insights ... Despite the occasional self-criticism in this book, Merkel’s failure to see the bigger picture testifies to her limited, pragmatic and detail-obsessed perception of political realities: realpolitik involves much more than just solving problems on a practical basis. Perhaps the things we learn about her are not really the ones she wanted us to learn.
