Review: "In Berlin" by Eric Silberstein

In Berlin by Eric Silberstein
Published August 2025 via Liu Book Group
★★★★

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.