Christopher and His Kind

By: Christopher Isherwood

Narrated by: James Clamp

Christopher and His Kind covers the most memorable 10 years in the writer's life, from 1929, when Isherwood left England to spend a week in Berlin and decided to stay there indefinitely, to 1939, when he arrived in America. When the book was published in 1976, readers were deeply impressed by the courageous candor with which he describes his life in gay Berlin of the 1930s and his struggles to save his companion, Heinz, from the Nazis.

An engrossing and dramatic story, and a fascinating glimpse into a little-known world, Christopher and His Kind remains a classic in gay liberation literature and one of Isherwood's greatest achievements.

©1976 Christopher Isherwood (P)1976 HighBridge Company

Critic reviews

"Indispensable for admirers of this truly masterly writer." ( The New York Times Book Review)
"Isherwood freely discusses a dimension of his experience previously repressed in his fiction, his homosexuality. And in telling the truth about himself, he ultimately transcends the limits of autobiography to write what is, in effect, another novel." ( The Washington Post)
"The best prose writer in English...The later Isherwood is even better than the early cameraman." (Gore Vidal)

A good book

This book was recommended to me. It is a solid piece of literature and the reader’s performance is also solid. I recommend it.

Leaves no doubt about his mastery of prose

Isherwood writes with brutal honesty and matter of fact way of managing gay life in the early 2Oth century without making this a gay novel

I have to admit not what I expected

I liked the narrators voice and I think that's what kept me listen for as long as I did.. The story was a 3rd person narrative that seemed more clinical and less story as though I was filling a bibliography. With little more that just the facts man just the facts.

Decadence in 1930s Germany

Would you try another book from Christopher Isherwood and/or James Clamp?

Yes I would. I am really interested in the decadence of the 1930s in Germany leading up to World War II.

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

The theme of being gay in stiff-upper-lip England and working class Germany in the twenties and thirties.

What three words best describe James Clamp’s performance?

Studied. Enthusiastic. Articulate. Not always a smooth performance.

Did Christopher and His Kind inspire you to do anything?

It kindled my interest in Isherwood's other novels and in his real-life story. I contacted a hotel in Japan where he stayed and I've made friends on facebook with the Christopher Isherwood Foundation.

Great story, great narration very enjoyable

History, educational relatable. We love the story and now I’m just trying to get a 15 word minimum.

Over two hours in and….

This is like a behind scenes fact sheet towards every book that Christopher wrote, explaining how each character in each of his books fits into random personal experiences in his life in Berlin. Small quotations, small blurbs on his activities, explanation of what the author meant on various scenes in his book, all read like a rambling extreme-fan-girl tumblr for those only well versed in these referenced books.