Occasionally a novel comes along that is so vividly written that it’s hard to believe it’s fiction. I have read two this year. First, The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas, now The House of a Thousand Eyes by Michelle Barker.

Lena lives in East Germany in the early ‘80s. She has it particularly hard. Her parents died in a workplace accident when she was a child. After a time in a psych hospital, she was released to her Communist Party member aunt and given a job cleaning the Stasi headquarters at night. Her one escape was Sundays with her best-selling author uncle across town. Lena and Erich would eat ice-cream and sip Vita Cola, and discuss Lena’s fantastical stories. Stories too fantastic for the Communist Party. It was also where Lena discovered hints of the West and pop culture from Erich’s magazines. Magazines that would result in an arrest if anyone found them. Everyone was a potential spy.

Then one night her uncle disappears. His apartment has a new occupant, who claimed to have lived there for five years. His books were no longer in any stores or libraries. His birth records no longer exist, and her aunt tells her she doesn’t have an uncle.

Michelle Barker added a note at the end of the novel describing what parts are fact and where she took liberties with the facts. I was too young (OK, naive) to really notice a divided Germany but Lena’s experiences feel very real. From her aunt hushing her questions to Herr Dreck, the top Stasi official who molested her each night at work and forced chocolate on her as “payment.”

Making the story feel real was the depth of each character. Auntie had a secret. And others whispered support to Lena, going against Party instructions and risking their lives. We feel Lena’s shock when she realizes she has unknowingly been the Stasi mole, leaking information on her rebellious uncle.

Books are generally published on Tuesdays, but I wonder if September 11 was intentional for The House of a Thousand Eyes. It’s such a significant day in American history, and while this story isn’t directly related to the attacks that day (and the author is Canadian), it is a relevant to current events in the United States and something we can learn from.

* I was sent an advanced readers copy via net galley however this doesn’t not affect my opinion *

3.5 stars

“They’re hunters , Lena. They know how to watch and wait , and they know big game when they see it. Don’t trust anyone. Don’t get caught.”

Trigger warning: This book contains scenes of sexual abuse.

This is a novel set in East Germany in the 1980’s. It follows Lena a young woman who is being raised by her Aunt after her parents died in an accident. She also spends time visiting her Uncle Erich who is an author however one day he disappears along with all traces of him. His books and even record of his birth are missing and every time she attempts to discuss her uncle she is told he does not exist. So she starts her own investigation. Lena works at night in the Stasi headquarters so the people in East Germany do not trust her as they believe she is a spy. In a heart-breaking twist in the end Lena was put back in the hospital and she was not able to escape however after the Berlin Wall fell her Aunt is then able to get her out from the hospital. This is a well written novel that had a tense and moving plot. However it took me a while to get into it and I felt the plot really slowed down in the middle but I became invested in the plot during the last 75% - I was completely gripped and I was hoping that Lena had the chance to escape. I also think that this is a well researched novel. Throughout the whole novel I felt bad for Lena for everything she was going through. I loved the character of Uncle Erich and I was devastated when it was revealed that he had died.

However there were a few comments throughout the book with regards to mental health and body image that were problematic and made me uncomfortable.

Overall this is a well-researched novel that I enjoyed but it took me a while to get into and the plot slowed down in the middle.

The One with the Stasi Office Cleaner
Michelle Barker, The House of One Thousand Eyes (2018)

This YA novel is set in the German Democratic Republic in the early 1980s; but it's democratic only by name. Lena is a young woman who has lost both her parents in a factory accident and who has dropped out of high school. She lives with her aunt who has a good position in the ruling Communist party and who has found her a job cleaning offices by night at the headquarters of the National Security services, a.k.a the Stasi, the terrifying secret police.

But Lena is also a girl who spends her life under a cloud of fear and suspicion. When her parents died she had a mental breakdown and was sent to a psychiatric unit, a terrible place where a lot of abuse took place. She has to behave and toe the party line (and her aunt's) otherwise she might be sent back there. She also has an uncle who writes, has anti-party leanings, and who suddenly disappears...

The book was terrifying and sad and gripping and heartbreaking. Barker has done her research well and it rings very true. Life in East Germany in the early 1980s was not as harsh as in the immediate post-war, or while Stalin was still alive, but it doesn't mean that it was liberal. It doesn't only mean that people couldn't wear jeans, drink Coke and listen to Western rock and roll. It means that everyone could be a police informer, and the slightest critic uttered against the regime (or the simple yearning to something different and better) could change your destiny.

I don't want to spoil anything, but I particularly liked that the ending was not all rosy. People make complex decisions when they are in complex situations, and the novel allowed for this. I believe a lot more in a flawed character rather than in a perfect, fearless hero.

I'd recommend it to large YA audience, but reader's discretion is advised because of sexual assault and abuse.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley, for review consideration.

TW: Sexual assault, child abuse

3.5 stars

Lena is simple. At least, that's what she's been told. After having wasps in her mind and leaving a mental hospital, she lives under strict rules in her Auntie's house, she works as a night janitor in the Stasi Headquarters, she goes to work, goes home, and on Sundays she visits her beloved Uncle Erich.

Then Erich disappears.

And Lena begins to wake up.

This was an incredibly difficult book to get into. I'm not sure if it was because of the narrative style, which is told in deep third person POV from Lena's viewpoint (she talks to herself, calls herself Mausi, has a wall of protection to insulate her mind, and repeats images/events and also dips into an imaginary land/fantasies occasionally), or because Lena spends half of the book slowly coming out of her self-induced fog of protection. (view spoiler)

It wasn't until around the halfway mark that I became invested, and even during the heightened scenes of tension I wasn't incredibly interested in the fates of the characters. Part of it was because everyone was so guarded (one of the themes of the book is that you can never really known anyone), and also because Lena did some incredibly frustrating decisions (for one, it's like she's aware people might be watching and then she just...forgets). There's also a kinda love-triangle with two dudes—neither of whom were particularly interesting.

Regardless, it was a fascinating look into live in East Berlin in the early 1980s—in the height of the Cold War—where everyone was careful because anyone could be an informer. And where people who were attempting to flee or suspected of unsanctioned words/actions/thoughts were arrested or worse, disappeared.

An interesting read that takes place in East Germany. It was a surprisingly well done story that I found myself enjoying far more than I thought I would.

Enjoyed this story. Great read for high school or older, While historically accurate a few things are too real for my middle schooners. I do recommend for high school studies of that period in history..

Lena is an orphan who has lived with her aunt since her parents died in a factory explosion. Her aunt is an unsympathetic character who is committed to the Communist Party line, so Lena loves to visit her warm and doting uncle, a famous author. When her uncle disappears, not only from his apartment but also from any public record, and his books disappear as well, Lena is determined to find out why and where he is. Her perseverance gets her in trouble with government officials, and she is urged by many to give up her quest. Her situation becomes increasingly dangerous, not only for her, but also for her acquaintances and family. Although this novel is fiction, it serves as a dramatic portrait and reminder of the repression imposed by the Russians in East Germany, and the loss of human rights there following World War II.

The House of One Thousand Eyes is a compelling and disturbing read; this is historical fiction at it's best. Lena is a teenager in 1980s East Germany when she is suddenly thrust into living with her staunchly communist aunt after her parents both die in a factory accident. Life with her aunt on the Eastern side of the Berlin Wall is full of strict rules and regimented routines and the only thing that brings Lena joy are visits with her uncle, a radical free-thinking author. When her uncle goes missing and seems to have been erased from ever existing in the first place, Lena decides to try to uncover what has happened to him. Of course, since she works at the Stasi, this is an unbearably complicated and nerve-wracking task to undertake.

Michelle Barker clearly did a lot of meticulous research to write this book. The setting is very real and the situation feels entirely tenable, which is what makes this such a gripping read. It's unsettling to think that all of this took place in the not so distant past, and reading it now in the current political climate, it felt all too uncomfortably plausible.

The entire reading experience for me was tense and claustrophobic which added to the overall atmosphere of the story. I found that I couldn't put this down once I started it and I'm looking forward to reading whatever Barker does next.

I received this ARC as a courtesy from NetGalley & the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I was debating between giving this book three and four stars... I did enjoy it, and I think that it's an important book, but there were some elements that were not for me, which is why I eventually gave it three stars instead of four. That doesn't mean that this won't be a great book for many people though.

The concept of this book is outstanding, and really important for people to read about. Lena was living in East Germany in the early 1980s. It was a time when Germany was ruled by the Stasi, or German secret police. Her uncle had some thoughts that were not approved by the government, and was made to "disappear". It was as if he had never been born. He didn't even have a birth record. People had to talk as if he never existed, or else the government might think that you have wrong thoughts too.

Things like this actually did happen. Which is why I think that it's an important book, especially if you don't remember a time when there was such a thing as East Germany. Overall, this was an enjoyable book.

There are a couple elements of this book that caused me to eventually give this book three rather than four stars. I thought that the main character, Lena, could have made some wiser decisions. I think that if someone actually did grow up in East Germany during that time, they would not have been that clueless about how to behave if someone disappeared like her uncle did. I also thought that she probably would have been a little more careful later on in the book regarding certain things that she did at work, if this was an actual story. Also, the final decision that she made before the chapter about the sleeping girl (not giving away spoilers which is why I'm wording it this way)... to me, it also doesn't seem like the decision she would have made, especially after taking all of the risks that she did throughout the rest of the book.

There are some scenes in here that I did find disturbing regarding sexual assault. Readers that are triggered by that sort of thing might want to avoid it. It also may not be appropriate for younger YA readers. I didn't enjoy this element of the story, although it probably added to the realism, because in that type of society, I'm sure that things like that did happen.

I did enjoy the story, and I think that it is an important book, especially if you don't know much about this era of history. It is not something I will probably reread though.

Every once in awhile you read a novel that stands out from the rest, sticking in your mind for good. The House of One Thousand Eyes is one of those standouts. I would give this ten stars if I could.

Set in East Germany in the 1980s before the Berlin Wall comes down, this novel focuses on Lena, who was orphaned when her parents were killed in an industrial accident and she is being raised by her aunt, who is a devout member of the ruling Communist party. Lena lives for the visits she has with her uncle, a writer and anti-communist, but when he suddenly disappears, her world falls apart.

Not your usual setting, not your usual story and certainly not the usual ending. I don't want to give it away because reading this novel is such an immersive experience. Nuanced character development, atmospheric, well-researched. Bravo Michelle Barker!