Sally Bowles

The character that stands out from all the rest is the divinely decadent Sally Bowles. Sally Bowles is a British singer at an underground club called "The Lady Windermere". It provided the inspiration for the Cabaret Musical. Affected and Immoral as she is described in the story, she wears emerald green nail polish and black silk and drinks cocktails for breakfast. She has touching faith in the idea that if she sleeps with every man she meets, she will one day come across a wealthy patron who will transform her into the Hollywood movie star she aspires to be.

More About the Book..

It is about surfaces and characters that are the outlines of people racing to their own destruction in a society they know that would not last.

Their indulgence is a mask that hides the decay the know exists underneath everything they do.

They are constantly and desperately squeezing the last drops of it before the end which is inevitable.

The audience can see the hopelessness of this desperation reflected in the surface of the object they have created.

"Why can't the object be as beautiful as the contents"

Set in the 1930's, it evokes glamour as well as sleaze, excess and repression of the Berlin society. The city was aggressively modern and edgy, full of Avant-garde artists and writers, with a racy Cabaret nightlife.

The book portrays the different lives of people at threat from Nazis.

Goodbye To Berlin

Goodbye to Berlin is an insightful series of stories on the decline of Berlin society in the years leading up to the fall of the Weimar Republic and the rise of the Nazis in Germany. Christopher Isherwood has used his own experiences in Berlin as a basis for this novel. Isherwood draws us into a richly painted society of fringe-dwellers and bohemians, highlighting the points at which they intersect with the rich and powerful. The strata of society is laid out before us and deftly illustrated through masterful dialogue. The characters struggle to connect through language, culture and status barriers. This is indicated in their stilted and disconnected conversation in the book.