Synopsis:
"Dr Max Aue is a family man and owner of a lace factory in post-war France. He is an intellectual steeped in philosophy, literature, and classical music. He is also a former SS intelligence officer and cold-blooded assassin. He was an observer and then a participant in Nazi atrocities on the Eastern Front, he was present at the siege of Stalingrad, at the death camps, and finally caught up in the overthrow of the Nazis and the nightmarish fall of Berlin. His world was peopled by Eichmann, Himmler, Göring, Speer and, of course, Hitler himself.

Max is looking back at his life with cool-eyed precision; he is speaking out now to set the record straight.

Currently reading this book and I am amazed. Like it lots.
I won't be able to finish the paper edition before that travels on to a new reader, but there's always the audio version, to continue listening where I stopped flipping the pages.

Wow, what a book!
Around page 200 I switched to the audio version, because the physical book I had was a gift for someone else.
This was the first time (as far as I can remembers) That I read a book about WWII with this point of view, at least, with this much detail. As if the characters were actually living and as if I was part of the scenes.

It gave a disturbing look at things. It was cruel, explicit, also sexually and gave a good idea of how things worked at the German side of the war. What I liked best was the absence of a condemning know it all voice (at least I couldn't detect it).
Shifting to audio made the experience a different one. I didn't very much like the voice of the narrator (quite crucial when you have a book that's over 30 hrs of listening...) and sometimes I got annoyed, distracted a bit.
As you can probably detect from my text, I have difficulties trying to catch in words the thoughts and feelings that this book awoke in me. I don't think I'll try. I liked it, I hated it, it was a very interesting read and it left me dizzy.
I will just end with the first word I started with: Wow!

This book is travelling with me to Mainz, as a wishlist surprise / present for ....?....
I hope you enjoy the book!

Happy bookcrossing :-)

Thank you so much for this wishlist book, what a wonderful surprise!

I read the first 100 pages, but my interest in WWII isn't quite deep enough to finish all 1000 pages of this very detailed description, so I'm afraid it's time to give up...

** no one has picked this up at previous meet-ups, but now it's reserved for Nordpirat

For Nordpirat in Stockholm!

Thank you! It was so nice seeing you and have a fika.