Reviews - Sandmannen | The StoryGraph

979 reviews for:

Sandmannen

E.T.A. Hoffmann

3.47 AVERAGE

verooutandabout's review against another edition

4.5

dark mysterious reflective fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

nelly1507's review against another edition

4.0

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

sams84's review against another edition

4.0

This is a disturbing and haunting tale told in the classic Gothic style that leaves more to the imagination to the reader than modern stories and is all the more chilling as a result. The story starts with Nathanael recounting some of his childhood memories of Coppelius, a man who used to visit his father regularly to conduct strange alchemical experiments which were linked to his death. These memories have haunted Nathanael ever since and come back with force when an Italian and his daughter moves to Nathanael's town. And so begins a spiral into hell or madness where reality mixes with the supernatural and/or superstition and the reader is pulled along with it. As is tradition with such tales it is never obvious whether it is all in Nathanael's head or whether the events he experiences are real, or even maybe a bit of both, which makes this all the more disturbing as it feeds into each readers' deepest fears. The writing is detailed and a little old fashioned (hardly surprising) but this adds to the feel of the story and the engrossing nature of the story, and personally I do love the older style of writing, especially for these kinds of Gothic horrors.