Cesare: A Novel of War-Torn Berlin
The Nazi regime may have had pillage, plunder, and genocide as its raisons d’etre, but Jerome Charyn’s Cesare reminds us that the overarching principle was hate. The exalted ideas of Schiller, Rilke, and Brecht could not compete with the hatred that stirred the blood of this society.
The protagonist of Cesare is Erik Holdermann. Erik is enlisted in the Abwehr, German military intelligence, after he rescues its chief, spymaster William Canaris, from a beating by some street thugs. Though Erik despises the Nazis, he becomes a skillful hitman of the regime’s enemies. When the girl Erik loves is sent to Theresienstadt, he has to go against the regime he has served so well.
Charyn has created a terrific cast of original characters who speak in a language that reflects the selfish and predatory nature of that time. Threats and insults are hurled with chilling casualness. The narrative is propulsive but often feels as if it is racing too fast. The reader does not get a chance to digest ideas and information before more historical facts and bits of exposition are piled on. At times, the writing sounds like that A-student who’s frantically waving his hand to get the teacher’s attention. But Charyn has clearly done his homework on the rise of the Nazis and the manner in which they conducted World War II, and he tells a fascinating story of resistance against evil with a great deal of energy.
