Shadows of Berlin and its details of Jewish persecution balance the tragedy of the Holocaust with glimpses of hope and redemption, the latter bringing Rachel closer to healing and peace.
Gillham tackles challenging subject matter and treats it with dignity, giving his characters nuance and depth. He successfully portrays Rachel’s interior life as she responds to her memories, experiences and current circumstances. He is at pains here to paint an accurate picture of the lives his characters might have lived, though sometimes, especially when it comes to the use of language, he overreaches a bit ... Fiction about the Holocaust needs to tread very carefully, especially when it’s written by authors who have an outsider's interest or perspective. Gillham almost lets his characters become caricatures a few times but catches himself. There is some melodrama here, along with a couple of almost too-extraordinary turns in the plot. Overall, though, Shadows of Berling is a rich and compelling exploration of survival, guilt, family, artistic expression and healing.
Echoes of Sophie’s Choice reverberate throughout Gillham’s novel, but he makes it his own with both the crisply detailed portrait of postwar New York and the compelling U-Boat story.
Stunning ... Gillham’s use of Berlin’s cafés and New York’s walk-ups, restaurants, and parks is superb, and the generous sprinkling of Yiddish in the text adds a layer of richness. While the story is a tribute to resilience and starting over, it doesn’t shy away from the hurt that adults can bring to children. This is heart-wrenching and memorable.
