2.5 🌟
In Berlin had the potential to be layered, exploration of trauma, identity, and human connection but imo it stumbled. The storyline, centered on Anna, a young paralyzed software engineer, and Batul, a Syrian immigrant and aspiring doctor, was rich with themes but the execution felt flat.

Despite the emotionally heavy subject matter, the writing lacked depth and feeling. The timelines was also confusing and i felt like the author was trying to tackle too many serious topics—disability, immigration, queerness, religion, and tech culture—resulted in none being handled real well.

The characters, while flawed(ig in good way) came off as underdeveloped and somewhat shallow. It felt like it would've been better if they focused more on friendship and growth than make it what it is. Also i don't understand why it was classified as a mystery/thriller.

Anyway thank you to NetGalley and publishers for this review copy, but this one fell a bit short, in my opinion.

I’m so grateful for the chance to read and review In Berlin by Eric Silberstein. This was a rich emotional journey featuring complex characters and interpersonal dynamics. The depiction of Anna’s paralysis and of Batul’s immigrant story were handled with such care and nuance and humanity. I loved reading this book and will be looking into Silberstein’s other work.

A wonderful journey of two characters that I enjoyed exploring. People is what makes a place its own disintct character.

In Berlin is the story of two people starting over: Anna, rebuilding her life after a serious accident, and Batul, adjusting to Germany after leaving Syria. I especially admired Anna’s strength, optimism, and determination. As someone living in Vienna, I appreciated the perspective on the immigrant experience in Germany and the complexity of holding onto identity, hope, religion, and tradition. Overall, this was a moving and memorable read.

This was a slow, steady burn. I loved the development of the main character's relationship. The cultural taboos addressed in the novel as well as the eye-opening discrimination against people with disabilities as well as the blatant racism made my blood boil and gave me even more compassion for the characters involved. A page-turner? Maybe not, but I connected with the people and cheered them on through the very end. The science and technology portion also gave me hope for what's to come in the future. Is this book for everyone? No. But it's beautifully done. A solid four-star-read for me.

You know, this sat on my TBR for months and I knew I had time to read it - but now that I did, I am so sad it took me so long to pick up. This one, a love story/science story/novel about the heart is so compelling - the characters are woven together and the timeline is impeccably done. In Berlin combines our changing world with AI and technology with full body paralysis and the …humanity of it all. Highly recommend.

I really enjoyed this read from Eric Silberstein. Set in Berlin, it features Anna, a software engineer, who suffers from a rare spinal stroke, becoming tetraplegic. Overnight her life, career and love life are changed irrevocably. Batul is a young Syrian immigrant determined to pursue her dream of becoming a doctor. She befriends Anna working as her aide in the hospital. Their relationship develops and slowly becomes something different. Set against the backdrop of the Arab Spring, this novel explores issues around disability, identity and cultural differences. I would recommend this very accessible read and wish to thank @netgalley and @ericsilberstein for an advance copy in return for my honest review. In Berlin is published on 5 August 2025.

This is a truly wonderful novel, in which two women from very different backgrounds find themselves drawn to each other through an unexpected set of circumstances.

Batul was studying to be a doctor in Syria, but had to leave suddenly with her family during the Arab Spring uprising, and desperately wants to continue her medical studies in Germany despite her lack of German language. Anna is brilliant computing developer working on high-level AI possibilities, with a bright future, until her life suddenly takes a completely unpredicted turn.

No spoilers, but the women find themselves mutually supporting each other and a great friendship develops despite cultural differences.

This is tale of huge positivity, overcoming great obstacles, romance, and above all, never giving up hope. It reads wonderfully, written with great style and empathy, and I read it avidly in 2 days. Highly recommended

At 24 years of age, Anna Werner is in the prime of her life - living in Berlin as a software engineer at DDB, a firm pushing the precipices of AI/ML, she has a clear vision of her future career and life. Until she unexpectedly almost collapses after getting out of the subway station and goes to the hospital to receive a life-changing diagnosis: a spinal stroke, and one that leaves her almost completely paralyzed from the neck down.

Her physical condition causes her entire life to change, putting her work on pause as her family and friends begin to convalesce around her as Anna attempts to navigate life in her new body. It is from her hospital bed that Anna first meets Batul, a young Syrian immigrant who has taken work as a janitor at the hospital. For Batul, who's put her dreams of becoming a doctor on hold due to the chaos in her home country, Anna slowly becomes more than just a patient and the two grow closer over repeated conversations and interactions. Yet, it's clear that the two come from very different backgrounds and beliefs, and both Anna and Batul must learn to navigate the complexities of religion, ethnicity, and sexuality - all in the context of Anna's disability and their differing roles as patient and caregiver.

I thought "In Berlin" had a fascinating concept nad set up both Anna and Batul's characters well, and it was clear Silberstein had done a great deal of research on the physical and medical details of Anna's condition, including the requisite physical therapy, medication, and constant care required for a tetraplegic individual. The writing was well-developed and layered, and the pacing of the novel moved smoothly between the present and flashbacks to the past. What I struggled with however was the complicated relationship that developed between Anna and Batul, and how forcibly Anna refused to acknowledge or understand Batul's background and upbringing; even towards the end of the novel, it appears she still hasn't grasped the boundaries set for her and the respect she should have for her friend's decision.

Overall an enjoyable read, though I do have some qualms withe the ending and the protagonist's seemingly limited development.

I found this to be a very odd novel about a woman hospitalized with a serious condition leaving her paralyzed. Her attitude is more positive than mine was reading the book. Her experience with a hospital worker was interesting especially with the worker’s background and religious convictions. Unfortunately, this is not a book I can recommend and do not know why it was classified as a mystery/thriller. I thank NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book prior to publication.

Huge thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Anna is a software engineer who lives life at high pace, always ready to meet high demands with high energy, until she suffers a rare spinal stroke that leaves her paralyzed from the head down. Her incredibly rare condition has no known causes, and very low chances of recovery. While she is in the hospital, she meets Batul, a Syrian refugee who works as part of the janitorial crew but has aspirations to become a doctor. Their unlikely situations lead to an unlikely friendship, and we follow both characters as they navigate the cards that life has dealt them.

I enjoyed the idea behind this book, but the characters fell flat for me. The characters, while complex, also felt very flat and not very engaging at times. The chemistry between the two main protagonists fell flat for me, and unfortunately stayed that way. I enjoyed some of the banter and conversations, and the opposing ideals that they both had in regards to their lifestyles, but at the end, the relationships fell a bit too monotonous and repetitive. The ending felt unsatisfying, but predictable.

Overall, an enjoyable read, but not a perfect one.

Reading In Berlin by Eric Silverstein, I was convinced I was reading a memoir. The female voice was so layered and authentic, I had to remind myself it was fiction—5 stars for that alone.

At 25, Anna—a brilliant, athletic, gay woman—suffers a catastrophic stroke that leaves her paralyzed. Abandoned by her lover and misunderstood by her parents, she finds an unexpected ally in Batul, a devout Muslim and Syrian immigrant working as a hospital janitor. As Anna fights to regain independence, the two form a powerful, complicated bond.

This isn’t a new story, but it’s told with honesty, depth, and care. As someone who’s helped a loved one relearn basic tasks after a stroke, I found Anna’s journey deeply moving. Every micro-milestone felt like a victory.

Thank you, NetGalley, for the advance copy. A must-read.

Wow - this book is a masterpiece. Weaving together so many aspects of differing communities, sharing the perspectives of two wonderful character - I am genuinely in awe. Anna and Batul are two amazing characters and I didn’t want to stop reading about them.

Also the last section was VERY interesting, but the tone was super different! I liked that it kind of veered off into speculative mode a bit. All together, this book was terrific.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

In Berlin by Eric Silberstein is a touching story about Anna, a newly paralyzed woman living in the hospital, and Batul, an aspiring medical student working as a janitor in the hospital. A central theme is rebirth; it's found in Anna as she works determinedly to regain her strength and advocate for her independence, and in Batul as she reconciles her trauma from her family's sudden emigration from Syria, which ended her medical studies, with the possibility of a brighter future in Germany. A friendship blossoms between the women, and we watch as it evolves amid the turmoil of their struggles. I love this novel and wish it much success!

Thank you to NetGalley for this advanced reader copy in exchange for a review.

Thanks to Net Galley for providing me an Advance Reader Copy. I am glad I went into this with no idea of what to expect because this was an extremely pleasant surprise. Itwas full of emotion and sensibility, but at the same time well-documented on both data analysis and medicine. I deeply loved and rooted for the characters, together and on their own. And SPOILER ALERT what a heartbreaking ending, but I wouldn't have liked it any other way. Great work by Eric Silberstein.

An unlikely friendship: Anna was living a high-speed life until a medical crisis knocked her off her feet—literally. And Batul had her life planned out, medical school and all, until the war in Syria derailed her plans. They meet in the hospital where Anna is stuck in bed, at the mercy of the overworked medical staff, and Batul is using a job with the cleaning staff to improve her German while trying to get her education back on track—and their chance connection will change both their trajectories.

This is a very contemporary Berlin, and I'm here for it. What works so well for me is the way both characters are told by the people around them to limit their expectations, to give up on their dreams. It's so different and yet so alike: Anna, who wants nothing more than to do all the physical therapy she is physically capable of and eventually get back to her job, is told that she should move into a group home and be cared for by the state; Batul, who just wants to continue the education that was disrupted by war, is told that it is too difficult for a foreigner—a refugee, at that—to not only meet the requirements but to overcome the prejudice (bureaucratic and otherwise) that stands between her and medical school. Silberstein takes care not to put too fine a point on it, but there's something really lovely about these two women, whose circumstances are so different, nonetheless seeing potential in each other when nobody else cares to. (And, o irony: the same people who are telling Batul that she is a parasite for existing in Germany and trying to contribute would probably be the same ones telling Anna to give up on her dreams and let the state take care of her.)

I'm curious about the choice to set this in Berlin (as far as I can tell, Silberstein is American, though his last name suggests German heritage), but it's an excellent choice for the setup, because the context matters so much for the options Anna and Batul have. German bureaucracy hinders Batul in a different way than, say, American bureaucracy would, and speaking excellent English is helpful, but without German, her options remain limited. The book is also set in 2015, timed to coincide with the European migrant crisis. Anna, meanwhile, has better state support than she would in the US, but—like Batul—limited options in a country often tied up in red tape. (And, again, 2015: when she dreams of returning to work, she dreams only of an in-person return; remote work is not the possibility it is in 2025.)

There is a romance in the book; without getting into the details, I'm still not certain whether it was necessary...although maybe that's just me being characteristically unenthusiastic about surprise romances in books. Give me more solid-friendship books! It does go in a different direction than I anticipated, which I am glad of (that is: it is complicated rather than a happily-ever-after, when a happily-ever-after would have felt very pat). I am still less certain about the very end of the book; again, without getting into the details (no spoilers!), some (not all) of it *does* feel a bit pat.

Overall, though, this was wonderfully solid and engaging. Anna and Batul are both such smart, determined characters, each with her own goals and way of seeing the world. In other circumstances they wouldn't even meet, let alone form a connection, but—perhaps because they've both been written off by most of the world—they're each able to look a little closer at the other, to listen a little harder. I don't read enough science fiction to look for Silberstein's first book, but I'd read more contemporary fiction from him.

Thanks to the author for providing a review copy through NetGalley.f

Reading Eric Silbersrein’s, In Berlin, I thought I was reading a memoir of a woman who suffered a catastrophic stroke that left her a tetraplegic. It had layering and the nuance of a truly believable female voice! At times, it was hard to believe this was a novel. For this alone it is worth 5 stars.

At twenty-five an extremely bright, energetic, athletic, gay, independent woman finds herself in a hospital bed paralyzed, unable to do anything for herself including scratching an itch or moving or turning over to avoid bed sores. Her lover leaves her and her parents cannot understand her desire to push through and become somewhat independent again. The only person who seems to get her is a young woman, Batul, a Syrian immigrant, who is working as a hospital janitor in hopes of getting back into medical school here in the U.S.

A bond develops between Anna and Batul while Anna is pushing herself to leave the hospital and get back to her job as a software engineer. Batul, a devout Muslim cannot understand her feelings, but knows they are in opposition to everything she believes. This is not a new story but it is done with a caring heart.

Silverstein takes the reader on a health, mental, physical, spiritual and political journey while doing it with honesty and aplomb. The realism is incredible. I had to help teach my husband how to hold a fork to feed himself and a pencil to write following a stroke. I cheered every micro-move in Anna’s quest for freedom. A must read.

Thank you NetGalley for this advance copy.

In Berlin is a beautifully written, atmospheric novel that captures the essence of a city steeped in history and transformation. Eric Silberstein weaves a thoughtful and layered narrative, balancing personal drama with the cultural and political complexities of Berlin.

The characters feel authentic, their struggles and relationships reflecting the tensions of a place caught between past and present. Silberstein’s prose is evocative, bringing both the streets of Berlin and the emotional landscape of the story vividly to life.

A moving and intelligent novel — perfect for readers who appreciate literary fiction that explores identity, memory, and place.

This novel takes place in Berlin where two very strong willed and determined women meet by coincidence. Anna has suffered a rare and serious stroke at a young age when starting her career in internet technology. This leaves her completely paralyzed. While in the hospital she meets Batul an immigrant from Aleppo who is determined to become a doctor. Her family has come to Berlin to escape the war in Syria. Batul knows she needs to work and learn to speak German to fulfill her dream. Her friend suggests she get a job as a cleaner in the hospital where Anna is trying to regain independence. It is here that she meets Anna and they become fast friends while she helps Anna to regain some semblance of this independence, and Anna helps her prepare to apply to medical school.

The plot encompasses the determination to achieve what they set out to do and the clash of two very different cultures: European and Arabic. It forces them to come to terms with the fact that they come from very different backgrounds. Batul whose family is very supportive of her goals which is unusual for a woman in this culture, is torn between Anna and her family. For Anna, her choice is not as hard because her family accepts her for who she is. This is why she cannot understand why Batul cannot make that choice too especially after helping her so much.

The story takes place over 25 years. At first Anna believes that she will be just a memory of a person who helped Batul through some difficult times to realize her ambitions., Did she, did Batul make the right decisions 25 yrs. ago? What does Anna think. It is up to the reader to decide.

This was a very thought-provoking read on many levels, but as the reader, I felt there was too much information on what Anna was working on and too much detail on the foods that Batul was always making. I felt these were a distraction from the plot.

I received a free DRC of this book through Netgalley. There is a lot going on in this book, but it is written so wonderfully that it all flows well together. We have serious medical issues, coming of age/moving out of parents' home, LGBTQ, refugee and racism issues and probably more. The author has written a very compelling story about overcoming adversity. I had a hard time putting it down.