Forever Street

As an American that once lived a number of years in Vienna, Frederic Morton's continued ability to capture the intimate nuances of the streets, the sounds, the culture and the conflicted personalities of the Viennese draws me on through his novels. Not all of the characters, including Berek, are people you get close to or admire, but then that is part of the realism of the book. We are not entranced by everyone we know in our journey through life. The ultimate cruelty of their lifelong neighbors, partners and friends is all the more thought provoking for Berek's stubbornly human failings. Morton's books have taught me a great deal about the history and culture of the city of the Viennese. The reasons behind many of the disasters that grew out of the reign of Emperor Joseph II over the Austrian Hungarian Empire began to make sense in all of their horror through Morton's telling of small events occurring during minute slices of time and place. Unlike his previous books, though, which taught me the history of the region, this book is a chronicle of a displaced family during an era of hardship. It places us squarely in the lives of people forced to leave everything they know and love in order to survive. The story of people coming to the big city of Vienna for work magically brings to life the day to day struggle of staying alive, keeping faith, finding friendship and love, building something of substance, and ultimately letting go of everything we believed in and all we know once more. If you want to understand the historical background of the conflicts that erupted in Europe, dragging the rest of the world into one of the darkest moments of history, Morton's histories of the period are a must. If your goal is simply a great read, The Forever Street can take you there.