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rafacolog's review against another edition
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Racism, Antisemitism, Misogyny, Suicide, Murder, Xenophobia, and Genocide
ishouldbereading's review against another edition
funny
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
It had hilarious parts, mainly in the first half but you need to know fair amount of German history and culture to understand the references. It's also kind of reflective and philosophical at times which I didn't like. It's stretched out a lot and very slow paced. I really didn't like the end and the message behind this book.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Antisemitism and Xenophobia
Minor: War, Murder, and Violence
meghhan_rose's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
This book is really quite interesting. The topic is really frightening and honestly, I only picked it up last second to read the English translation for my German Language class. There are a LOT of mixed feelings about this book and understandably so. Satire about Hitler is not exactly the most appealing concept in the world, but I personally feel that it was done in a good way that is thought-provoking and makes you ask yourself a lot of seriously important questions. It was also kind of frightening because I am reading this post-Trump presidency, and seeing how someone with this "I am better than all" racist mindset looks at the world and uses media to their advantage, and trick people into supporting them is frightening. I see a lot of parallels in how Hitler coming back and using the media is a lot similar to Trump making himself an entertainment figure turned "politician". The similarities are scary. This book also acts as a warning to watch how you use and view comedy. Hitler's viewpoints were often presented as a satirical comedic act, but he was being serious the whole time. It just goes to show that while you can be satirical on serious and dark topics, it is important to watch how you do it and be aware of the kind of message you could be spreading. It makes you think about what is actually satire and how to watch for real satire vs people saying something they mean disguised by comedy. I also thought it was really interesting to highlight how easy it is to sympathize with bad people, as the book forced you to look at the modern world through reincarnated Hitler. As one of the blurbs on the book says "The appeal of the story is our own reaction to a monster's view of how we live today. And being chilled by our own empathy with his disgust toward the media, politicians, government, and of course, technology"- Esthercepda, Washington Post. There are so many different and frightening things to unpack with this story, and I recommend reading it yourself if the topic of harmful ideas being disguised as comedy is something that interests you. Overall, really thought-provoking and makes you think about the impact your words have on people around you.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism and Antisemitism
Moderate: Sexism
Minor: Murder and Genocide
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