I mostly enjoyed this look at East Germany in the decade after the wall came down. It was especially interesting to me because I remember watching all the events leading to the fall of the GDR unfold. I even have an authentic piece of the wall a college friend brought me from his trip to Germany in the summer of 1990. He swears he chipped it off himself, lol. I was interested to read more about ordinary people from the East and their experiences. 
 Funder shares stories of people who were persecuted by the Stasi, and stories of people who worked for the Stasi. The stories are really interesting, and it is clear that Funder has the ability to create trust with those she interviewed, as well as the ability to communicate the stories with all their emotion and pathos to the reader. A couple of things bothered me. One was that this is someone not only from the West, but not even from Germany doing the writing, and so, in a way, it's really a research project. I was also a little troubled by the judgmental tone that occasionally came across in the writing. The style is journalistic, but easy to read, and if you're interested in the subject, it's worth your time. 
 From the book, a poem written by one of the victims of the Stasi: 
 In this land 
 I have made myself sick with silence 
 In this land 
 I have wandered, lost 
 In this land 
 I hunkered down to see 
 What will become of me. 
 In this land 
 I held myself tight 
 So as not to scream. 
 - But I did scream, so loud 
 That this land howled back at me 
 As hideously 
 As it builds its houses. 
 In this land 
 I have been sown 
 Only my head sticks 
 Defiant, out of the earth 
 But one day it too will be mown 
 Making me, finally 
 Of this land