293 reviews for:

Marzahn, Mon Amour

Katja Oskamp

3.92 AVERAGE

clobio's review

3.0

emotional hopeful lighthearted reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

baguettis's review against another edition

4.0

inspiring medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

beccafrog's review

3.5

medium-paced

m_tiki's review against another edition

4.5

emotional funny sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: N/A

rebeccabelfor's review against another edition

5.0

emotional funny fast-paced

tovesbibliotek's review

4.0

emotional hopeful reflective slow-paced

Loveable characters: Yes

hannahmcjean's review

3.5

reflective relaxing medium-paced

loveyourlibraries's review

3.75

reflective fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

julia11_01's review against another edition

4.0

funny informative reflective relaxing slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

sharkybookshelf's review

4.0

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A woman abandons her writing career and retrains as a chiropodist in Berlin’s Eastern suburb of Marzahn, home to what was the GDR’s largest prefabricated estate…

Told through a series of vignettes, with each focussing on one of the narrator’s clients, this is a lovely portrait of and love letter to the community of an overlooked area of Berlin (by foreigners at least - this is not the “cool” side of Berlin). Most of the clients are on the older side, and we learn a little about their lives now and when they were younger. I found it particularly interesting to hear how many of them experienced the coming down of the Wall and the reunification of Germany.

The format of the book and the quietly lovely writing make this an excellent palate-cleanser between heavier books, or one to take on holiday and dip in and out of. The narrator is a chiropodist, so unsurprisingly there is a fair bit of foot chat (which I’ll admit, I didn’t love), but don’t let that put you off!

A lovely, quiet portrait of an overlooked area of Berlin and the people that call it home.