Very good book, very well structured. Gives a good view of the Indian dynasties of the 20th century. I read it in one breath.

I recently bought a second-hand copy of this book and read it while travelling from London to New York. At certain points I was laughing so much that the stewardess was concerned for my health. I had no real idea of the inner world of a Trotskyist sect and in between the laughs I did wonder whether the author had gone too far. I am a subscriber to the New Left Review and found the chapter headed "New Life Journal" very entertaining, though I couldn't help feeling that a roman a clef of this sort probably appeals more to those already in the know. Since Trotskyism was very weak in my own country (Italy) I did not appreciate all the humour, but a book to lighten the spirits. One question did bother me. Is it physiologically possible for a man to lactate in extremis or this just Ali-humour?

Tariq Ali has clearly moved a considerable distance from his fiery youth asa student leader - so far, indeed, as to appear at some moments in this book as an apologist for the DDR. Almost every page seems to have some kind of polemical point to make - either for or against the politics of revolutionary and unrevolutionary socialism - but it is there, getting in the way of character development if not plot. All to clearly, it is easy to see the points he is making in this book. Don't blame us, we wanted an idealistic society but somehow it all went wrong. Well, not for nothing was there no equivalent of Hungary 1956 or Prague 1968 in Berlin. Put kindly, perhaps the whole of DDR society was in a state of shock following WWII - but for 40 years? I think not. This could have been a fascinating tale, but as I say, Ali's desperation to make his polemical points gets in the way with depressing regularity.

A book about delusion, fear, and not knowing who is really who, even in one's own family. The narrator tries to tell his son, who is estranged and of another political bent, what was behind his and his parents' generation's idealism for Marxism, something that in 90's Germany seems absurd. Though the book is somewhat of an apology for a Communism gone bad, far from the hopes and dreams of the people who believed so much in what it could bring, it is more than an apology. It is an honest self examination, a study of the need to believe, and what happens when you don't believe in anything anymore. It is also a story of a family, torn apart by communism, Nazism, Stalin's purges and family betrayal. It is both a historical novel and a family epic. I found it moving, compelling, and hard to put down. Clearly non-commercial, it is however of great value and good reading. For anyone interested in real issues of the 20th century instead of fluff or rehashed lawyer stories flooding the best seller list, read this. Your brains will be reactivated and it might make you realize that a lot of people suffered, fought for things they believed in, were betrayed, died and paid for the comforts we live with today, which in the end have not really dealt with the issues that triggered the events of this century, even as we head into the next one. Recommend highly. Compliments to a writer with both a social spirit, a sense of history and self-criticism and a knack for story telling.

I read this book knowing nothing of the author (I stioll don't) and not much of the history of 20th century communism, except that my mother's parents were both members of the Communist Party during the early Thirties. I found this book hypnotic and read it over a weekend. I then lent my copy to my grandma who thought it was 'anti-communist'. We had a big argument and agreed to disagree. The book tells how the communist idea was so attractive to the generations of the Twenties and Thirties and how their hopes were so cruelly betrayed. The narrator, Vladimir Meyer lives in the Eastern part of Berlin and the novel spans the entire 20th century. Ludwik, the Polish-Jewish communist spy almost seems real and is the most sympathetic character in this novel. He is also very filmic. This is a story which my grandma could never tell me...in fact she still doesn't believe it!