SYNOPSIS

Peter is smart, popular, athletic and school comes easy for him. He is dad’s, a passionate musician and piano tuner, favorite.

Rudi has none of these traits and even though he tries hard, he lives in his twin brother’s shadow. He is deeply attached to mom.

The family lives in East Berlin in grandma’s apartment in relative peace with varying degrees of distrust in the political leadership.

Peter discovers friendships, romance and a creative outlet performing theater in an underground club.

Rudi befriends a Jewish classmate whose father has been ostracized by the party for “inappropriate” views.

While mom’s mental health deteriorates, dad smuggles Rudi and himself into West Berlin for a new life there, leaving everyone else behind.

Both parents try to address their violent pro-Nazi youth, with their own conscience and with their sons’ judgment.

Rudi resents his father’s decision to move and often sneaks into East Berlin which he misses, while Peter feels deserted on the “wrong” side of town.

Peter’s political views cost him his freedom and future; he makes a desperate attempt to defect to West Berlin which may have cost him his life…

PERFECT AGE 13+

We love

• Thought-provoking choice of time period – before and after the erection of the Berlin Wall.
• The political situation and stark conflicts in ideological beliefs seem more poignant and jarring when seen through the eyes of young adults – perhaps because of their passion and earnest reactions, and perhaps because the impact on their lives is so heavy.
• Lovely and relatable brothers with very different life paths and emotions draw us in equally strong and make us care for them deeply.

WATCH OUT FOR (Language, Big / Sensitive Topics, Outdated Concepts):

• The mom’s mental illness, some dalliances she has outside of the home, her admission to a psychiatric hospital and allusions to abuse there
• Peter is shot at by the army when he attempts to cross the river and may have been killed.

CONVERSATION STARTERS

• Which one of the characters do you understand best? Least? Why is that?
• What is the significance of music throughout the book? How does it impact the twins’ dad in particular, from when he was very young onward?
• How would you describe the uncle’s actions toward the two brothers? What may have given him a premonition about his character?
• Much of the novel is rooted in historical facts. Let’s look for more resources to learn about East and West Germany during Communism!