The Drinker

The Drinker

Hans Fallada

Written in an encrypted notebook while incarcerated in a Nazi insane asylum and discovered after his death, The Drinker may be Hans Fallada’s most breathtaking piece of craftsmanship. It is an intense yet absorbing study of the descent into drunkenness by an intelligent man who fears he’s lost it all.

The Drinker - In the press

“While confined in a Nazi insane asylum Hans Fallada wrote The Drinker. Now, with the publication of ...

“He shot his wife and was sent to an asylum where he wrote The Drinker in a code which was deciphered...

The Drinker - Reviews

“This excellent and brilliant book should be read as a counter-reaction to the banal and depressing bourgeois life. A recommended book for anyone who likes a drink.”

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Nissim Catz, Yakum Tarbut

“While confined in a Nazi insane asylum Hans Fallada wrote The Drinker. Now, with the publication of the Hebrew-language edition, his son attempts to shed light on his controversial father.&#...

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Lee Feller, Time Out Tel Aviv

“Hans Fallada’s books, which are enjoying a tremendous international and local success in recent years, portray Nazi Germany as seen by from the viewpoint of the individual citizen. The...

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Yaniv Magal, Globes

“Hans Fallada tells with sad irony the story of an alcoholic, in fact his own personal one, from the comfort brought by the early stages of drinking to the total loss of independence.”

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Amit Marcus, Haaretz

“The Drinker is, in my opinion, the best book by Fallada translated into Hebrew.”

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Amihai Shalev, YNET

“Doubtless, the most honest and courageous of all his books.”

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Yonathan Geffen, Maariv

“Hans Fallada’s Nazi Germany, as described in The Drinker and Alone in Berlin, isn’t a society of efficient bureaucrats or fervent ideologists, it is a criminal one, pathetic and ...

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Eric Glassner, Yedioth Aharonot

“[The Drinker] shows you Hans Fallada was a genius whose every book is worth a read… Perfect.”

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Adi Shtamberger, Jerusalem Post

“The Drinker is a tragic and beautiful book, a scathing social critique with an anti-Nazi subtext, which makes use of many psychological tools and provides a sharp and accurate description of...

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Shai Doron, Nana 10

“The Drinker, which Fallada wrote in 1944 while he was locked up in a criminal asylum for attacking his estranged wife, is a memoirish novel in which a country merchant describes his unrepent...

New York Times