Reviews with content warning for Alcohol - Die Einladung

It was like the author got tired of writing and thought it would be clever to end as it did. It felt lazy more than novel. Characters were utterly pathetic, yet I failed to wrangle up even an iota of sympathy for any of them. What was the point of your book??? Nonetheless, aside from the ending, I found myself early enjoying the book.

Content Warnings

elisepold's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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ru_th's review against another edition

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dark tense medium-paced

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

4.25

The appearance of calm demanded an endless campaign of violent intervention.

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readingwithgoose's review against another edition

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tense fast-paced

Strong character development? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

The messy world the main character has created for herself is so deliciously entertaining. The tension is really well-balanced throughout as well. I was just a little disappointed with where it ended; I wanted a little more.

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aseel_reads's review against another edition

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dark mysterious medium-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? It's complicated

1.0

Not entirely sure what the point of the book was? The commentary was a bit odd/non-existent and then the plot was just nothing?

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cholliworth's review against another edition

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dark funny reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix

3.5

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caroisreading's review against another edition

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dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

2.75

This is like a Gen Z version of Homer's Odyssey, where we follow a woman named Alex in her 20s through a series of missteps and a troubled cast of strangers, each with their own trauma or threats. Over the course of a few days, she is trying to get back to her boyfriend / sugar daddy, with no transportation or phone or money.

I was stressed reading this, and truly despised everyone in this book. There were out-of-character moments when Emma Cline wrote really thought-provoking commentary on elitism, relationships, abuse and sexism, but they were moments of clarity detached from the mess that was Alex, stumbling through her journey with pain killers, booze, sex and fear. She's running from an abusive man wanting his money back, while running towards her "safest" option, another man who has money, a vicious cycle.

There were lots of references to Alex thinking she was a ghost, as she moved through life as an accessory, never spoken to, and quite literally looked through. She survived by playing these strangers, by blending in, and appealing to them with sex and pleasant company. Race wasn't a factor in this, and I assumed she and everyone around her were white (lots of "blond hair," "Germanic" descriptions), so this made her deception even more frictionless as she entered these social circles.

I closed this book and was like, yep, got it, I'm depressed and slightly annoyed. And I've been here before with other "messed up pretty girl" narratives.

This is worth a read if you want something darker, grimy, reflective of today's imbalanced relationships and wealth disparity.

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raphynette's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad 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? Yes

4.0

Decisions. Decisions. All of them wrong.

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