The Wall Jumper is a collection of short stories that allows the reader to take part in many people’s experiences of tackling the Berlin Wall. The narrator is an author who lives in West Berlin and he/she begins to collect stories of people attempting, and some actually, “jumping” over the wall. At this time, 1961 -1989, Berlin was a very different city than it is today.

The Wall Jumper, to me, was a little hard to read; it was a very choppy and disorganized collection of short stories/testimonies of the different characters, but towards the end of my read it all became clear of the writer's intentions. It became extremely obvious that many of the character's attempts to cross to the other side were a reflection of the physiological feeling that the wall had on people from the west and the east. Among many of their psychological issues, some of the characters do not learn from past attempts and continue to try to be the one to tear down the wall that is dividing their mind and reality.

Many people within the German culture today still distinguish themselves from either the east or the west. Today there is also somewhat of a difference in the buildings and infrastructure between the two sides but one really needs to look for it. There are still pieces of the wall that stand erected. In fact, there is a museum in Germany that holds artifacts, such as contraptions, that people used in order to cross the wall. The museum and the book really open your eyes to all the tough times people went through during this time period.