Reviews

Stasiland is a collection of extraordinary stories from the underbelly of the most perfected surveillance state of all time, the former East Germany. It is a lyrical, at times funny account of the courage some people found to withstand the dictatorship, and the consequences for those who collaborated. Funder explores the daily chaos and harsh beauty of Berlin, a place where some people are trying to remember, and others just as hard to forget.

Stasiland is one of the few books detailing life in the former East Germany. It is a sometimes comical, sometimes gut-wrenching account of a world where everyone either spied or was spied upon. Funder's voice is slight to be narrating such a big subject, but the power of the story sweeps you along.