Berlin: City of Stones presents the first part of Jason Lutes' captivating trilogy, set in the twilight years of Germany's Weimar Republic. Kurt Severing, a journalist, and Marthe Muller, an art student, are the central figures in a broad cast of characters intertwined with the historical events unfolding around them. City of Stones covers eight months in Berlin, from September 1928 to May Day, 1929, meticulously documenting the hopes and struggles of its inhabitants as their future is darkened by a glowing shadow.
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It's difficult to think of a story with a greater sense of elegant, nuanced foreboding than Jason Lutes's Berlin, Book One: City of Stones. Set in the Weimar Republic-era of German history, Lutes's story takes an unimaginably large and historically important time and observes it through the small lives of a band of sympathetic protagonists. The author spends the most time with his main characters, Kurt Severing and Marthe Müller, but the quality of Berlin is such that the reader cares emphatically about the fate of the rest of the cast: the lovelorn dyke art student, the recently separated single mother, even fleeting characters like the street policeman or the overworked newspaper editor. Even so, the shadow of the coming war cautions us not to get too attached to these people. They are imperfect, bickering, and naïve in their ideologies--just like real people. Brutality will soon follow, and the vulnerability of each of the characters haunts the pages.
Using the graphic novel form to tackle an issue like the rise of Nazi Germany is fraught with traps, not least of which are comparisons to other works, such as Maus, as well as literary criticism for minimizing such an important topic. Lutes navigates these hazards well, creating sparse black-and-white sketches that often render a mood wordlessly. Whole pages go without text, and it serves the story well. As much can be told by showing a character in a window's evening reflection, eyes inked as darkened sockets, than through retelling details of (now) familiar historical events. The story itself has a rambling and philosophical feel, focused on details that become all the more poignant for their insignificance. One segment--where Lutes shows Marthe's walk onto a newly snow-covered street--tells us everything we need to know about this character, without much actual action occurring. Lutes doesn't use moments of transcendence to make a point or add sentimentality; instead, he firmly grounds us in this time and place.
Without knowing more about the next volumes, it's impossible to say whether Lutes will use this attachment against the readers later, knocking down his characters cheaply, allowing the shortcuts demanded by the burden of history. The last pages of this book--with a disappointingly predictable resolution--hinted in that direction, but the overall tone of the book indicates that something much richer and deeper will happen along with the inevitable loss. --Jennifer Buckendorff
About the Author
Born in 1967, Jason Lutes is an American cartoonist whose work includes the ongoing Berlin trilogy, and the graphic novel Jar of Fools. Jason lives with his partner and daughter in rural Vermont, where he teaches at the Center for Cartoon Studies.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By Thomas Niksa
Format:Paperback
I picked up "Berlin: City of Stones" and immediately fell in love with it. The art is outstanding and the human interest is unsurpassed. Even minor characters who have but a few frames seem to have Tolstoy-novel vividness to them. For instance:
1) A traffic director whose intestinal constipation makes him see the vehicles he's directing as loathsome insects.
2) A physically vigorous fifty-ish newspaper distributor who likes making fun of the Nazis.
3). A schoolteacher who faces down her dochstoss-spouting student by telling her pupils that November, 1918, was a good month for the German people, as it was the month that brought democracy.
The book is full of these, along with major characters you'll care deeply about. The end - involving a single mother's vision of her now-estranged husband - very moving.
I can't wait for the second installment of a story of individuals in this politically ablaze city. Mr. Lutes, please hurry!
By MrPolyester
Format:Paperback
Lutes makes history human. He shows it doesn't just happen to people - people do it themselves. 1920s Germany comes alive, and Lutes shows politics wasn't something separate, left to politicians: it was life & death to everyday people. Lutes' Communists & fascists are real, and we feel their motivations. The love affair brought a lump to my throat. City of Stones is proof that education and emotion don't have to be separate.
Finally, as a student of socialist history, I can vouch for Lutes' accuracy. The fascist street gangs with their wealthy backers, the communist cooperatives, rising anti-semitism set against revolutionary fervour - it's all there, drawn in beautiful, spare lines.
By s.5
Format:Paperback
This is a graphic novel for people who like to think -- a complexly connected set of stories that move together in productive, thoughtful ways. Lutes takes full advantage of his spare, generous style of drawing in the creation of this graphic novel ... once you read it, you'll be dying for the next one to come out. It's historically and psychologically rich; a tremendous addition to this growing genre.
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