Breaking Down the Wall

This is the second book in a duology, new word to me, the first being The Boy Behind the Wall, set in West Berlin a generation before this title. The setting here is East Berlin in 1989, the year the Berlin wall came down. Greta, who is 13, and whose father is in prison for helping people to escape East Germany, lives with her mother. Greta’s great friend is Christian, a boy who is doing all the right things, joining the Pioneers and following the party line. A new girl, Lilli has arrived at their school from Hungary where rebellion against Russia and the authorities is more advanced than in East Germany. Lilli encourages Greta to join a protest and then print leaflets which they leave in the park, but they are nearly arrested and this scares both of them. But when Greta discovers her aunt is spying on them for the Stasi things begin to change and Lilli, Greta and Christian resolve to take action and steal some of the Stasi files. What follows is part of history when the Berlin wall comes down.

The reader feels clearly the claustrophobic nature of life in East Germany, and the oppression of the regime. The drudgery of life, the greyness comes through very clearly, and it is easy to see why young people particularly would begin to chafe against this complete control of their lives. However, it is hard to  believe that Greta, with the example of her father in prison, whom she sees only once a month and then under guard, would so quickly join in with Lilli and the protesters. It would have been more credible for the two authors (and others responsible for this book), to take their time allowing her disillusionment to grow, but also giving her time to weigh up the consequences for her family.

The excitement builds as the story progresses, partly because most readers will know of the fall of the Berlin Wall, though parts of the story will stretch the credulity of the reader too far. Witnessing the fall of the wall would have been enough to end this story and been a more satisfying ending.