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4.5*

Brilliant. How all short novels should be. Poignant, with a strong message and perfect ending.
This was another one of those books that I had no idea how they ended up on my TBR. I’ve never heard of the author or the novel but there it was, staring at me, somehow calling to me. So glad I answered.

From the book’s introduction, I found out that Address Unknown was written in 1938 and it was very successful in the States at the time it was published. After WW2, it was also translated in many languages but it slowly lost its popularity with the passing of time.

The novel is written in epistolary form and it consists of letter exchanges between two former friends of German origin. They jointly own an art Galery in New York and in 1932. One of them decides to return to Germany with his family while the other friend is a Jew. The correspondence that follows, between November 1932 and March 1934, shows the change in the behaviour of a normal person who falls prey to Nazism. The ending was so strong and ironic, pure perfection.
What is fascinating about this novel is its prescient character. It writes about pogroms before they happened. The author had the idea to write this book after discussing with Jewish friends who lost friends to Nazi ideology and who could not explain how someone can turn so much towards evil. It was quite extraordinary that the American public knew almost nothing about what was happening in Germany and this book took them by surprise.

The writing might not be the most literary, but its impact and structure makes up for it. Highly recommended.