Goodbye to BerlinGoodbye to Berlin
Score Classic
What it's about
Set in 1930s Berlin, it captures the glamour and sleaze of a society threatened by the rise of the Nazis, through people like a Jewish heiress, a gay couple and the self-indulgent Sally Bowles. It inspired the musical Cabaret.
Why it's worth reading
It's on the Guardian's list of 1,000 novels everyone must read. George Orwell called it brilliant sketches of a society in decay.
You'll love it if you liked
The Last of Mr. Norris
A Single Man
Suite FrançaiseGood to know
It's short and made of linked sketches. It's also collected in The Berlin Stories.
By the numbers
- Readers38 out of 100 · counts 42%
- Critics30 out of 100 · counts 34% (its stronger lane)
- Bestseller8 out of 100 · counts 14%
- Buzz0 out of 100 · counts 10%
Critics and Bestseller are two ways to earn a place: a book's stronger one counts more. Buzz rewards recent bestseller weeks and prizes, so older books start at zero. The parts combine into the Must-Read Score, shown on a scale where the best book we found scores 99 and the last book to make the ranking scores 50.
Where it ranks
Why it made the list
Reads as
Dark
More by Christopher Isherwood
A Single Man
The Berlin StoriesIf you like this, read next
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The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York
A Brief History of Time
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany
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All 47 best-of lists →
Classic booksTop 25 · 924 ranked
Books of the 1930sTop 25 · 59 ranked
Fantasy booksTop 25 · 504 ranked
Mysteries and thrillersTop 25 · 623 ranked
Literary novelsTop 25 · 325 ranked
Pulitzer Prize-winning novelsTop 25 · 63 ranked
Memoirs and biographiesTop 25 · 290 ranked
Science fiction booksTop 25 · 333 rankedQuick answers
Is Goodbye to Berlin worth reading?
Yes. It's on the Guardian's list of 1,000 novels everyone must read. It ranks #2,430 of the 3,057 books in our ranking, with a Must-Read Score of 61.0 (the best book we found scores 99).
What is Goodbye to Berlin about?
Set in 1930s Berlin, it captures the glamour and sleaze of a society threatened by the rise of the Nazis, through people like a Jewish heiress, a gay couple and the self-indulgent Sally Bowles. It inspired the musical Cabaret.
How long does it take to read Goodbye to Berlin?
About 7 hours (262 pages), or about 2 weeks at 30 minutes a day.
What should I read after Goodbye to Berlin?
If you liked it, try The Last of Mr. Norris by Christopher Isherwood, A Single Man by Christopher Isherwood or Suite Française by Irene Nemirovsky.