Reviews

The Glass Pearls by Emeric Pressburger

lilworm's review against another edition

dark reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

doramac's review against another edition

mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

davidb71's review against another edition

3.5

I thought this was an interesting curiosity. It's the story of a nazi war criminal, a doctor, living in London under an assumed identity working as a piano tuner, twenty years after the end of the war.  The point-of-view can shift between different characters throughout the novel,  but it is ostensibly the story of this doctor, who has adopted the name Karl Braun.  We see him start to form a relationship with a young woman named Helen, and as the novel progresses we experience his growing paranoia that he could be being watched or followed, that the authorities are on to him, or at least suspicious about him, and that he could be arrested at any moment. 

We learn that Karl Braun is in reality Dr Otto Reithmüller, a nazi brain surgeon who carried out barbaric surgeries on patients, cutting away pieces of their brains in experiments to test how it would affect their memory.  As part of these experiments he had patients recount key memories from their lives, which he would meticulously write down in his diaries. We later discover that all of the anecdotes about his life that he's told Helen are actually stories he's recalling from his diaries, the actual memories of the people he murdered. He stole their memories by destroying their brains, and now he's stealing their memories again by claiming them as his own. 

I've seen some people say that the central character in this book is sympathetic; to me, he isn't. I hated him. In some ways this book is to me an exploration of the banality of evil. I loathed the man and I thought his crimes were unforgivable - and there is a truly chilling moment towards the end of the book when he acts in such a calculatingly cruel, ruthless - and possibly psychopathic - way that I truly hated him even more. He never once shows any remorse. He never shows any regard for any other human being. His concern is only for himself, and he seems oblivious to the harm he has done. 

I think this is a strange and curious novel.  I finished it earlier today, and at the moment I'm still not entirely sure what I think about it.  I don't think it is a complete success as a novel, but at the same time I'm glad I read it. I think a problem I had was that I truly hated the main character - I couldn't feel any other emotion towards him other than hatred. I didn't sympathise with him or empathise with him at all - I wanted him to suffer, I wanted him to be caught, I wanted him to face justice.  So the experience of reading this was just a little too bleak for my taste, I think. 

mrblonde91's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

schopflin's review against another edition

mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Loveable characters? No

4.0

This is a dark book that's not easy to love. The reader knows the secrets but other people don't which makes it tense rather than suspenseful. The narrator is brought to life and many other characters were believable and/ or amusing but the female love interest was not. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content

angela_king's review against another edition

challenging tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

ciarafrances's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

jo_jo_la_pinks's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

admatthews's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

A bit of a curiosity, as a novel written by a screenwriter (and definitely better than, as well as very different from, Terry Hayes' Pilgrim effort which was both a runaway success and quite awful); and also a faded mid-20th century which I tend to enjoy. The central character's combination of paranoia and complete absence of remorse is compelling and the driver of the story; but it also makes it a little slight, and the criss-crossing of Europe towards the end isn't entirely successful as a release from the claustrophobia of the first two thirds of the novel.  

tillyp's review against another edition

challenging dark fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

It is a really macabre story about parts of the holocaust that aren’t talked about as prolifically. Quite mysterious and beautifully morose.