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3.47 AVERAGE
3.47 AVERAGE
Very different perspective on east Germany and the fall of the Berlin Wall, everything that happened leading up to that from the perspective of an easterner wasn’t anything I’d ever thought of. The plot itself was fairly decent but I felt it was written to be analysed, to be studied word for word, and I didn’t come into the book wanting that, meaning I understand why it is rated as high as it is.
// spoilers // The main idea I took from it are the effects revolution or societal turmoil/upheaval have on individual relationships; Katharina and Hans are a microcosm of everyone who has lived in a time of great turmoil, their minds are too focused on the destruction of the niche they’ve grown themselves into to find the mental capacity to question the individual relationships they have. Both of them desperately need to be out of this relationship but can’t deal with feeling alone in a whole other aspect of life; they already feel alone on a societal level.
// spoilers // The main idea I took from it are the effects revolution or societal turmoil/upheaval have on individual relationships; Katharina and Hans are a microcosm of everyone who has lived in a time of great turmoil, their minds are too focused on the destruction of the niche they’ve grown themselves into to find the mental capacity to question the individual relationships they have. Both of them desperately need to be out of this relationship but can’t deal with feeling alone in a whole other aspect of life; they already feel alone on a societal level.
I think if I had brushed up on my GDR/Soviet history this would have meant more to me but I was very compelled by the relationship between Katharina and Hans, particularly in the first half of the book. Hans is kind of awful. If this was set in the contemporary he’d be a 58 year old man who intentionally turns off auto-caps. This also feels like a book that Selin would read and have commentary on.
Recommend to Oliver for history and to Jenna for age gap affair.
Recommend to Oliver for history and to Jenna for age gap affair.
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
tense
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Girl, leave that old man right now.
reflective
slow-paced
Immediately felt I would need to read it again to pick up on the historical allegory. Needed to know the history better. Was he a spy or was that the post wall paranoia? Too deep?
Katrin comes for Katharina on her motorbike. The sight of beggars outside the cathedral is less surprising to Katharina today. Does one so quickly get used to being more fortunate than others?
Odd mix of feelings on my end. Utterly brilliant at times, tightly-written, understanding of the political situation and most of all the political mindset of such characters, but the RELATIONSHIP. It's so bad! Narratively, I mean -- it's obvious from the first meeting that it'll be awful, it's not FUN awful, it's not INSIGHTFUL awful, it spends 50% in the lighter-hearted, 'honeymoon' phase on Katharina's end, and it still failed to convince me that what she saw was worth being around, much less reading about.
Worst of all, I think the author accidentally undermines her own attempt at showing the GDR by showing Hans in the light she showed him in -- Hitler Youth past, Stasi informant present -- while he's by far the character who's loudest about the values espoused by the state. His awful treatment of her, his manipulations, pettiness, juvenile attitude... With characters doubling as stand-ins for bigger ideas, it all just ends up painting a picture where her freedom was found after the fall of any state-level attempt at socialism.
This place where she has lived will surely kill her at any minute if it goes on this way. Finally, she starts laughing loudly. In her dream. In reality, she isn’t laughing, and neither is Hans. In reality they are both sitting perfectly quietly, each busy with his or her own thing, in January and February 1990, sitting there, for the rest of time.
The welcome money was like litmus paper, making the shortcomings of the Eastern planned economy visible for every West German. It gave the East German the appearance of nakedness, visible to all and sundry in his desires and his acquisitiveness. Not for a second had the people thought, queuing outside the West German banks on the first few days after the Wall came down, that they were humiliating themselves and their country. And for cheap, said Hans, and laughed mirthlessly, as at a botched conjuring trick.
Anyway, Rosa/Katharina OTP.
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes