A review by pollincowbell
Black Deutschland by Darryl Pinckney

4.0

Pinckney's "Black Deutschland" is an intriguing cross-section of race, place, and space set in West Berlin of the 1980s. It explores themes from architecture, racism, sexuality, and isolation. The book is loosely modeled off of Isherwood's "The Berlin Stories". At times, the reader must have background with German History, Black American History, and various other subjects. Although the backtracking and research may dissuade some, I found it almost to function as a "suggested reading list". To me, the book captures what it feels like to be caught between spaces, where you've removed yourself from one but aren't fully accepted or integrated into the other.