nicknicknicknick reviewed Berlin by Jason Lutes (Berlin, #1)
Berlin: City of Stones
4 stars
1) "'Forgive me. It's easy for me to get carried away, talking about it. I've lived there for some time, you see... I've watched it grow and change immensely in the past ten years... There is more of everything, and everything moves faster than ever. Of course, this means that there's plenty for a new arrival to be excited about. It is, as so many people are fond of saying, second only to Paris as the cultural center of Europe. The theater, the arts—while I've been out of town they've released the first German 'talkie.' Can you imagine? There are something like, I don't know, 3,000 newspapers and magazines published right in the city, so for me...' 'I suppose your discontent must have a lot to do with your profession.' 'Don't get me wrong, fräulein Müller; I have many misgivings... There is much about it that troubles me. But in …
1) "'Forgive me. It's easy for me to get carried away, talking about it. I've lived there for some time, you see... I've watched it grow and change immensely in the past ten years... There is more of everything, and everything moves faster than ever. Of course, this means that there's plenty for a new arrival to be excited about. It is, as so many people are fond of saying, second only to Paris as the cultural center of Europe. The theater, the arts—while I've been out of town they've released the first German 'talkie.' Can you imagine? There are something like, I don't know, 3,000 newspapers and magazines published right in the city, so for me...' 'I suppose your discontent must have a lot to do with your profession.' 'Don't get me wrong, fräulein Müller; I have many misgivings... There is much about it that troubles me. But in the end, I can call no other place my home.'"
2) "'I think of where these words will find purchase in several weeks' time, reproduced a thousand, ten thousand, a hundred thousand times. Who will read them? What effect will they have? An ad for cigars appears in 100,000 newspapers; sales of that brand increase by 3% for a short time thereafter. A new play receives a viciously negative review in a theatrical journal that prints 500 copies; the playwright shoots himself. Who's the better writer?'"
3) "'The first snow of winter—it's like waking up in a beautiful foreign country. What time can it be? I feel wide awake and suddenly excited, like I did when I was a little girl. I have to get out into it! 'The air is more cool than cold, and the usual smells of oil and ash are replaced by a sweetness that fills my lungs. The sky is luminous with the pink light of the city, the buildings pregnant with people oblivious to the new day that will greet them, the train bed filled by an untouched, heavy blanket. The world is replete. It changes all the rules... frees the city from logic and geometry. Edges are blunted, open spaces blur into their surrounding obstacles; the snow mitigates and unifies. Overnight, the laws of perspective have been rendered useless.'"
4) "'What's keepin' y'up?' 'Know what day tomorrow is?' 'Y'r weddin' anniversary?' 'It's May First. May Day. Workers' Day.' 'You have t'work?' 'Do I ever.'"