A riveting story about the rivalry between two brothers living on opposite sides of the Berlin wall during its construction in the 1960s, and how their complicated legacy and dreams of greatness will determine their ultimate fate.

A city divided. A family fractured. Two brothers caught between past and present.
Berlin, 1961. Rudi Möser-Fleischmann is an aspiring photographer with dreams of greatness, but he can't hold a candle to his talented, charismatic twin brother Peter, an ambitious actor. With the sudden divorce of their parents, the brothers find themselves living in different sectors of a divided Berlin; the postwar partition strangely mirroring their broken family. But one night, as the city sleeps, the Berlin Wall is hurriedly built, dividing society further, and Rudi and Peter are forced to choose between playing by the rules and taking their dreams underground. That is, until the truth about their family history and the growing cracks in their relationship threaten to split them apart for good.

From National Book Award-nominated, critically acclaimed author-illustrator Vesper Stamper comes a stark look at how resentment and denial can strain the bonds of brotherhood to the breaking point.

I requested to read this because the Berlin Wall—its construction, existence, and destruction—has always fascinated me. As an avid YA reader, I am grateful for these snapshots of history that contemporary writers are not allowing to be overlooked. This is the perfect example of a period in time that needs consideration but is rarely considered. I know my history buffs will find it appealing, but it will also find favor with my students who want a story centered around relationships other than those with a strictly romantic bent. I’ve already purchased a copy for my classroom.

Berliners is thought-provoking historical fiction of a complex journey of fraternal twins and their family fractured by politics and separated by the #Berlinwall. The story is about the aftermath of #WWII, Berlin society with two different ideologies, East and West Berlin culture, totalitarian and controlling USSR leadership in East Berlin, moral and ethical dilemmas, family drama, jealousy, betrayal, and young love.

Writing is poetic and beautiful told from twin brothers, Rudi and Peter’s perspectives that shows how different they are and so their beliefs and ideologies. The pace is too slow but plot is interesting written past and present of the twins with no distinct separation.

The family story, relationships, and two different ideologies is at the center of the story. I loved the secondary characters and their family’s stories. It gave layer to the story and also showed the ugly side of the party.

I absolutely loved the way city was described and the historical aspect was best part of the book. It was super interesting and thought-provoking to see the city and people’s lives change with soon to be formed Berlin Wall.

Why 3 stars- There is lots of build up here. Pace is very terribly slow. I find the main point and interest came very late in the story. I hated Rudi and there is almost no development in his character. I could see his guilt at the end but I don’t feel it was to the point of satisfaction. I would have liked to have few more pages focusing on that or an epilogue.

Overall, Berliners is thought-provoking and touching historical fiction about Berlin Wall, family and moral and ethical dilemmas but I didn’t enjoy this as much as I would have liked.

Trigger Warnings: anti-semitism, descriptions of WWII, loss of a loved one, violence, coming-to-term-with-the-fact-that-your-parents-were/are-Nazis, attempted suicide, racism

My Rating: 3/5 Stars

My Review:

I received a digital arc of this book from the publisher via TBR and Beyond Tours in exchange for an honest review and place on this blog tour – thanks!

I’m having a hard time deciding where to start with this review because this book was a lot, and not always in a positive way. I personally do not know a lot about the socio-political climate of Berlin in the sixties. I am not going to pretend to be an expert; however, I think there is a line between portraying the situation as it was and being critical of it, and this book skirts around the middle of that.

Peter and Rudi are as different as they come, and their POVs are really at an extreme end of one another by the end of the book. Peter was my favourite of the two of them, and was definitely the one who was most grounded in his reality. I honestly would have loved the book to just be from his POV. But alas, we also have Rudi’s POV, which as a critical reader is engaging, but for the most likely audience of this book could certainly be confusing. I think there could have been more exploration of the grey area between the brothers, more dialogue, instead of the first half of the book building up to their split.

Because, yes, though the book’s synopsis says the entire story is about the pair being on opposite’s sides of the wall, it doesn’t happen until two-thirds into the book. This story does drag, a lot at times, and there is a lot of unnecessary scenes (I think the opening scene is very triggering and completely unnecessary to include such details, for example). I think that has more to do with the lack of chapters in this book, as it is split into months which go back and forth between the POVs in no discernible order. In between though, which I did like, were the inclusion of illustrations of a given scene from the book. It was nice to be able to visualize the characters.

My biggest issue/concern with this book is with how the Holocaust is spoken about, or rather the lack of speaking about it. Though one of the messages of the book is that N@zi’s are bad, I don’t think Stamper provides enough nuance for younger readers to understand that there are no exceptions to this. And sure, this could be made an excuse of through the fact that this was the reality in Berlin after the war; however, this is a book being published in 2022, amidst the rise of white supremicist/N@zi groups across the world. She attempts to make Rudolph and Ilse seem more human, even after the gruesome opening scene and when Rudi and Peter put together the truth. And throughout the story, Rudolph is shown to be grappling with his past and his role in the war; while Ilse continues to be well, a N@zi. Rudi, especially, shows anger toward his father, but somehow continues to show sympathy for his mother, who does not demonstrate any remorse whatsoever. I just hope that when this book went through its final edits, that there were some sensitivity readers involved.

All in all, I did find this book interesting, slightly informative. However, I cannot comment entirely on the representation included in this book, nor could I find any own voice reviews to reference. If I do find any, I will be sure to come back and leave a link below.

Berliners releases October 25th, 2022

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

A story of two brothers, with two different perspectives of their world, living in East Germany in the days before the Berlin Wall was erected. Their family was founded during the turmoil of Berlin at the end of World War II with their parents finding each other in the chaos, violence and heartache. They may not be the best match for each other, but they still raise twin sons in East Berlin under the eye of the Communist Party. One of the boys, Rudi, thrives under the order and ideals of the Party, while Peter is less sure the ideals align with what he sees in Berlin. The summer before their last year of high school exposes them both to the complicated socio-political climate that has developed, furthering reinforcing their different beliefs. Suddenly their family is separated by the wall and despite their care for each other, they are not sure how to reconcile their differing views.

The twins were well-developed characters, with plenty of believable flaws. The author does a good job introducing the political climate and belief systems of East Berlin in ways that feel natural, but also expose unfamiliar readers to the topic. The ARC did not include a glossary or appendix translating the German used throughout. It was not impossible to understand the text without such a companion, but it would have helped clarify some of the Party's ideals. The additional family members were less developed and less compelling, but provided decent support and complications to the twins' understanding of the political climate. The history of the state is built into the narrative in believable and coherent ways that inform the readers without being didactic. It was an interesting story overall and I could see fans of historical fiction finding this underexplored time period interesting.

Berliners was a wonderful read, set in a time and location that I haven't read much fiction about! Rudy and Peter represented two very different sides even within the same family; one boy who had fully swallowed what the government had been putting out, and one who had been raised the same way by the same family and yet was not so sure. It was easy to feel for both boys and their struggles, and this read kept me turning the pages throughout!

I really enjoyed this book, even though it took longer than I thought it would to get to the action described in the description! There is a lot of build up as you learn about the year Peter & Rudi turn 16 and the wall goes up through Berlin. Rudi is more who I am (trying my best, often failing), while Peter is the golden child, successful, smart, funny, and passionate. As I followed them through their story, here are some of my favorite quotes and why I loved them:

“The Western sectors may have had better movies and pastries. But that wasn’t going to save the world.” pg 35
It’s such a Western brain to want to change the world and save the world, but think that some of the least consequential things ever would do that.

“He preferred to get the day into his bones so he could be equal to its challenges.” pg 46
As a NOT morning person, I totally agreed with Peter on this one. Let’s ease into the morning, the day, and the challenges. (My friend Tori, on the other hand, is full speed ahead into the day).

“This was it, his answer. But he found, now that it was in his hands, that he couldn’t bear to open the envelope.” pg 107
Have you ever gotten a piece of mail you’ve been dying to get, but when it shows up, you’re not sure you REALLY want it? That’s Peter here and me about 9/10 of the time I get mail.

“This girl was unafraid to stand out, to be new and see it as adventure instead of terror.” pg 144
Maybe this also more who I’d like to be. The performer in me is this, but the real Emily is very much a blend in and not be pushed kind of person.

“You were always the minimalist, but now it’s me, the last one standing in an empty house.” pg 277
Peter is rage-cleaning everything, and finally finds himself like his brother.

The quotes stop there because I sped through the rest of the book. The wall has gone up both physically and metaphorically and the journey toward breaking it down was too interesting for me to keep remembering to write down the quotes I loved.

This book was wonderfully written and dealt with some very tricky and interesting part of history through the eyes of the main characters, Rudi and Peter as well as looking back to what came before through the character of Rudolf and Ilse. The characters were complex and the journeys they went on equally so, showing the different sides to what was happening to Germany after the war and under the USSR leadership in the East and then the other countries in the West. Rudi and Peter, the two twin boys were so different from each other and I think that it was their final moments in the book that really cemented this for the reader. They also had two distinctive voices from which the story was told and I think that this was something that really added to the story. In addition to this, we had the adult character who represented the difficult past of Germany in WWII and I also think that, Rudolf and Ilse in particular, were very well written.

The story itself follows the course of history from the very end of WWII to the building of the Berlin Wall and then the shutting of the borders. All focusing on one family and their relationship with the city and the ideologies that resided within it. This book is a story of one family and one city and all the complexities that come when the past and the present, and even the future are called into question. This is something that makes this book so brilliant is that wrapped up in the story about the city that is divided we see a family divided and have to try and reconcile that among themselves. And the ending was so heartbreaking yet beautiful all at the same time.

The writing, and the illustrations also, told this story wonderfully. I was taken in by the descriptions of the city and the family that we were following. I felt that the characters were all very distinctive and I really liked how the illustrations furthered the story by enabling me to imagine some of the settings more vividly.

I have loved all of Vesper Stamper's books due to their intriguing and original plots and the wonderful illustrations. There is no author like her and I always recommend her to all ages. This book might be her best yet, and I was impressed by the historical research that went in to creating this novel. It deals with the ties of brotherhood, and made me think of the relationship I have with my own. A very good read and HighLY recommended!

Things are heating up in Berlin. Fraternal twins Rudi and Peter are complete opposites. Rudi is all about toeing the line, doing what’s best for the party. But he’s sick of living in his brother’s shadow. Peter is the golden child, and great things land in his lap. An aspiring actor, Peter has big dreams. But when he joins an underground cabaret and starts to understand what is really going on in Berlin, he sees their world in a new light.

Meanwhile, Rudi turns introspective. His feelings towards his family start to turn sour. He doesn’t understand what’s going on with his brother. And then, his parents decide to separate, and Rudi’s life takes a dramatic turn with drastic consequences.

While reading, I definitely related more to Peter. He was nothing like what I first assumed. Peter and Rudi’s story of their family wasn’t uncommon. Some people knew what was really going on, and others bought everything they were told. Even when faced with evidence, they refused to see what was right in front of them. Rudi is such a person, and that’s why I didn’t much care for him. But his character is representative of so many people of the time.

I think what happened in Berlin was such a shocking time in the world’s history. Germany was just coming out of a war, and they went from one horrible situation to another. People were tired, and fighting an enemy that followed your every move was hard. This novel only touches the surface of what was going on. How terrible the Stasi was, the poverty in the East, and the lengths people went to, to get to the West aren’t really covered. I think that works here because this is a YA book. I appreciate that Stamper included mental health issues in the book, though it isn’t deeply explored, and again, I feel that it was a choice to keep the material engaging enough for its target audience.

I am a bit disappointed by the ending. Honestly, I was reading in the Netgalley app, and the book didn’t have a page-turning option, so it was an endless scroll. You had to click around to find where you were in the book. So imagine my surprise when I reached the end of the book. I feel like this novel could be the start of a series. There is more story and depth to the situation that can be explored because the reader is left in limbo.

But otherwise, this is an engaging read. Once the story found its groove, I didn’t want to put it down. I think all readers will find enjoyment in Berliners. Thank you, Random House Children’s/Knopf, for sending this along.

“Berliners” is about fraternal twins who are part of a fractured family during the time when Germany was divided in 2 due to the construction of the Berlin Wall. Both brothers will soon discover something about their family that might separate them for good.

I’m interested in everything related to WWII and the Berlin Wall, and I always think that you can never learn enough about these topics. Which is why I was so excited when I got a spot on this tour. The book also did not disappoint and met most of my expectations. I found some parts to be a bit slow, especially as we expect both brothers to live on opposite sides of the Wall, hence this only happens somewhere in the middle.

Other than that, I absolutely enjoyed my time reading “Berliners” and found it interesting to read the story in the P.o.v.s of Rudi and Peter. I found this book to be thought-provoking, which is all you need in historical fiction. Therefore, I can only recommend this novel to all post-WWII historical fictions fans out here. This one should definitely find a place on your TBR.

The writing style was also very fluent and quick to read.

I liked this book. I found it interesting, and obviously loved the premise. I really enjoyed getting into the East versus West, and how different Berlin was based on where you were. I also really enjoyed that it started in the East, I feel like I have read more books on the subject that started in the west.

With that being said, I feel like the book dragged on for quite some time. It really took probably 80% of the book before I felt fully engaged, I also felt that some of the book was quite predictable, and so that was a bit of a bummer.

I am glad I read this book, as I love the topic area. However, I do not think it is a book that I would recommend to others.

I found the Holocaust content triggering, so I was unable to finish this title. That is my issue, and not a comment on the quality of the writing. I will still recommend that my library purchase this book. The three star rating is just because I can't objectively give it either a higher or a lower rating based on the part that I read.

In 2019, before the madness of the Covid-19 pandemic, I got the chance to visit Berlin for a conference. I wasn’t there for long, but it was magical. I got to walk the bridges, stand under the Brandenburg gate, see some castles, and eat currywurst (all kinds of wursts!)

So when I saw this novel, I was immediately intrigued. The contents did not disappoint. But, first, a caveat: This is a Young Adult novel. The primary characters around which the story revolves, the brothers, Rudi and Peter, are in their early-mid teens and the story does not progress far into their adulthood. The prose, language, structure and so on are clearly written for a YA reader, but the historical and emotional content is potent and will suit a more mature reader.

The story is told from the two brothers’ perspectives; it is the tale of their parents and their lives after WWII has ended and German society — Berlin society — has settled into a kind of uncomfortable holding pattern, caught between the two ideologies and cultures of the American West and the Russian-controlled East. Vesper focuses on the interior perplexity in the boys’ minds: in a period of their lives when they are already grappling with puberty and teenage crises of identity, they are forced to also wrangle with the localized manifestations of external pressures of international politics, Cold War propaganda, and collective post-WWII German angst. They struggle with what anti-semitism means in this age, what Nazism had been and is now (Vesper makes this point clear: the end of the Second World War was now the end of Nazism or the hate that that regime promulgated. It lives on and remains as insidious as was), what socialism is and truly is, what the Russian and American regimes represent.

One brother awakens to an understanding that the Russians are selling them a false promise. The other brother believes the Americans are doing the same. One brother seeks the freedom of the West, the other seeks the stability and order of the East.

In the mean time, they are struggling against one another as well; competing as siblings for the attentions of their parents, for a kind of childish glory, for a sense of belonging within their own world.

They wrangle with the more mundane things of teenage life as well: understanding love in all its conflicting forms. Their parents are products of the war as much as they are; their relationship is fraught with tension, not unlike the kind of tension between the East and West: irreconcilable, ideological, built on a history that was not of their own making and borne out of the War. The brothers are also young men, their minds and bodies are tangled in novel feelings of love and sexuality. They are on the edge of adulthood and are testing out how they might victorious in this new domain; they experience losses, betrayals, and grief as the story unfolds — and failure, that first, very painful sting of rejection that is inevitably accompanied by new experience.

The novel follows Rudi and Peter as they navigate their parents’ and the city’s divergence. They eventually find themselves on opposite sides of the Berlin Wall, erected one night in secret.

This is a powerful YA novel that is also fulfilling for an older, more experienced reader. The moral and ethical dilemmas embedded in the politics and social interactions in this novel are ones that might be introduced to us at the YW stage of life, but they remain tangled in later adulthood too, so much of the conflict will be recognizable and moving for a maturer reader.

A photographer and an actor. Two brothers, one dedicated to the party and one not. Berlin, 1961, the Berlin Wall goes up. What happens when the brothers get separated on opposite sides of the wall?

This is such a different take on WWII historical fiction than the many I have read before. It focuses on a different decade, a different aspect of the war. It gives a lot of insight into those topics I've only learned briefly about in my German classes and not read about in books - the Hitler Youth, the resistance, the secret cabarets. And I learned a lot from reading this book too.

I really enjoyed how this is written in dual POV from each of the brothers' POVs. It really captures the stark differences in opinion regarding the war, the party, & the war. It was very captivating writing and hard to put down. Both brothers were created in such ways that make you feel for them - whether that's because they're doing good resistance work and you want them to succeed, or because they're so strongly loyal to the party that you want to will them away from it, regardless, you'll feel for them.

It was also very surreal, having been to Berlin, to read about these places in history where I have been before. It was just as surreal, if not more, to actually be there, standing there, knowing the history of the places, but to read it and say "wow, I've been there, I've seen it" brought an additional element to the reading experience.

The biggest thing I disliked though, was the mental illness plotline. Mental illness was used in a way that it aided one of the plotlines and make the plot easier. I do feel as if something else could have been the explanation into why the plot was able to happen as it did. For spoiler purposes, I won't give more details than this. And I cannot speak to the historical accuracy, if this would have been a very real thing to occur. But what I can say is it disrupted my reading experience and I personally would prefer to go without the mental illness plot whether it be historically accurate or not.

rep: MC with migraines, Black SC

CW: war, guns, WWII, intoxication, physical abuse, self harm, suicide attempt, blood, racism, food, depression

Rating system:
5 - absolutely love, little-to-no dislikes that did not impact my reading experience

4 - great book, minor dislikes that did have an impact on my reading experience

3 - good/decent book but for some reason did not hook me or there were some problematic things that just were not addressed or greatly impacted my reading experience

2 - is either a book I did not click with and did not enjoy, problematic aspects are not addressed and severely impacted my reading experience, or I DNF'd but think it has potential for others

1 - is very problematic, I would not recommend the book to anyone

An interesting historical fiction about twin brothers in Berlin before and after the Berlin Wall is erected. One brother is a devoted Soviet party enthusiast while the other appreciates the freedom and ease of Western Berlin. When their parents divorce, the brothers are divided and they live in different sections of Berlin. Tensions increase and things ratchet up when the Wall goes up. This was a fascinating glimpse into life in Berlin during the early Cold War years and how its citizens were divided, both literally and figuratively.

As someone who loved Stamper’s book about Greta, I loved the follow up with Berlin and the man who turned her in. What a powerful story about family, resilience, and our history.

In this book a family in 1960s Berlin is separated by ideologies, history, and eventually the wall. Can twin brothers with different beliefs on opposite sides of Berlin manage to cope with their parents' past and their own present? I was not expecting this book to be as exceptional as it was, or for the ending to be such a twist. This book was engrossing, the characters were well done and multi dimensional, and there was so much emotion without being trite or overdone.

Berliners allows us to "live" with teenage twins in Berlin before and after the wall is built. We learn of the personal, political, and family struggles of post-WWII Germany where so many secrets change lives. Who can you trust, who tells the truth, and who are your friends and family? I have read lots of Historical Fiction, but nothing on this time period and not often books about boys. Berliners gives us insight, compassion, and understanding to lives fraught with secrets in the early 1960s Berlin.

In Berliners, Vesper Stamper has given readers a glimpse into the stark and painful division of Berlin after World War II, and she has used the division of twin brothers to emphasize this intense period of history. Her story is well-paced, rich with character and conflict, and full of meaning in a world torn by deep political rifts.

Twins Rudi and Peter have grown up in the Soviet sector of Berlin, and as they look to their high school graduation, they see the world very differently. Peter, artistic, confident, and popular, chafes under the limited and controlled life in eastern Berlin, especially when he can walk into the American sector and see thriving shops and restaurants and people living freely. Rudi has always lived in Peter's shadow, craving his brother's popularity and easy successes. He sees his future as one of devotion to the Party, obedience to the expectations, and protection from the dangerous western influences everyone has warned him about. When their parents separate, Rudi's father takes him to western Berlin, while Peter stays in the east with his mother, but when the Berlin Wall is erected overnight, the brothers must decide what they want and what they will risk to have it.

Stamper's story begins in a gentle way, paced slowly and quietly to allow readers to "see" life in eastern Berlin, feel the lack of consumer items, the loss of freedom, the feeling of being watched, questioned, and evaluated by the Stasi, or secret police, who make sure everyone remains in line with the Party's expectations. As the story develops slowly and quietly, readers see the turmoil in the brothers. Rudi's resentment of his perfect brother grows real through average, daily interactions, and Peter's frustrations with the Party are equally real. Once the stakes reach their highest pitch and both boys are at risk, Stamper draws on this deep characterization to create even more suspense.

Readers will walk away from this novel with a real, personal sense of what life in post-war Berlin was like and a painful grasp of how deep the divisions went once Berlin was divided. Even more, they will have seen the growth of two teens through terrible hardship. Stamper shows readers that we are all able to choose, even when choice has been limited. And those choices determine our trajectories, Hardship can make people bitter and resentful or ambitious and driven. Rudi and Peter are excellent examples of how differently life can develop based on choices.

I recommend this book to readers who enjoy YA/ new adult novels set in history and for teachers looking for additional titles to bring the post-war period to life in their classrooms. This would be an excellent novel to accompany a study of the years following WWII, but even readers who do not love historical fiction will be drawn to the layers of conflict in this story.