The Weather in Berlin - by Ward Just (Paperback)

About the Book

In this astute novel of Americans abroad, Ward Just turns his keen eye toward the dark underpinnings of nationalism, fame, and artistic integrity. When a famous Hollywood director travels to post-Wall Germany to rekindle his genius, he is unexpectedly reunited with an actress who mysteriously disappeared from the set of his movie thirty years before. Masterly and atmospheric, The Weather in Berlin explores the subtleties of artistic inspiration, the nature of memory, and the pull of the past.

Book Synopsis

In this astute novel of Americans abroad, Ward Just turns his keen eye toward the dark underpinnings of nationalism, fame, and artistic integrity. When a famous Hollywood director travels to post-Wall Germany to rekindle his genius, he is unexpectedly reunited with an actress who mysteriously disappeared from the set of his movie thirty years before. Masterly and atmospheric, The Weather in Berlin explores the subtleties of artistic inspiration, the nature of memory, and the pull of the past.

Review Quotes

"One of the most astute writers of American fiction." The New York Times Book Review

"Just writes...smart, well-crafted narratives -- wise to the ways of the world -- that use fiction to show us how we live." The Los Angeles Times

"Just...a virtuoso novelist, never uses two words when one, just the right one, will do." The Seattle Times

"Just writes seamlessly, mixing spoken dialogue, interior monologue, and narrative...the story unreels before the reader as in a film." Library Journal

"Just has never done anything better." Kirkus Reviews

"Just's prose is precise and smooth, A BMW cruising the autobahn." Boston Magazine

"[T]he intelligence that suffuses the narrative creates a compelling dynamic in which the historical forces of the 20th century are embodied in human terms." Publishers Weekly

"Just's imagination guides us on this journey...it's the stops along the way that count as much as the destinations." Newsweek

"Just...a virtuoso novelist, never uses two words when one, just the right one, will do." Seattle Post-Intelligencer

"Another carefully crafted novel of character and manners by [Just]...little happens to the characters externally, while much happens...internally." St. Louis Post-Dispatch

"Elegantly written, strikingly intelligent....an indelible portrait of a man struggling to make sense of himself in this ever-shifting world." Newsday

"Masterful and complex...fiction for thinking adults.... Capturing the sensual subtleties of place and the sensibilities of highly distinctive milieus." Book Magazine

"[A] mature and astute novel...Written with acute observations and lyricism." The Philadelphia Inquirer

A skilled observer of America's top people.
The New Yorker

About the Author

Ward Just is the author of fourteen previous novels, including the National book Award finalist Echo House and An Unfinished Season, winner of the Chicago Tribune's Heartland Award. In a career that began as a war correspondent for Newsweek and the Washington Post, Just has lived and written in half a dozen countries, including Britain, France, and Vietnam. His characters often lead public lives as politicians, civil servants, soldiers, artists, and writers. It is the tension between public duty and private conscience that animates much of his fiction, including Forgetfulness. Just and his wife, Sarah Catchpole, divide their time between Martha's Vineyard and Paris.