Crazy in Berlin — Thomas Berger

Crazy in Berlin is the first volume in the saga of Carlo Reinhart. As an army medic stationed in Allied-occupied Germany, Reinhart is a young man of large bulk (two hundred pounds, plus) -- good-hearted, intelligent, and something of a fool. He pursues with anxiety and bewilderment his custodial role over a shattered and noxious civilization, accompanied by an assortment of influences: Nathan Schild, an American Communist acting as a U.S. intelligence office; the war waif Trudchen, an accommodating Heidi; Schatzi, a charter-member Nazi, now a Russian courier and black market virtuoso. Crazy in Berlin is a lusty tale, full of irony and wit, of a stumbling American Odysseus.

Praise for Crazy In Berlin
 
“Thomas Berger is a name to remember. . . . A novelist with a great career before him.” -- Harvey Swados, The New Leader

“One of the best war novels, and one of our best novels no matter what kind.” -- W.G. Rogers, Associated Press

“An ambitious mixture of high moral earnestness and knock-about farce.” -- Pearl Bell, Commentary