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3.47 AVERAGE
3.47 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I'il read it again when I'm wiser and I'm older.
challenging
dark
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I had really high hopes for this one. The prose was really beautiful, but the second d half was just a slog. I give the book credit because I can see where it was heading and what it wanted to do, but the execution missed the mark a little bit for me in the end.
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-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
I don’t think I’ve ever read such a masterclass in translation. Michael Hoffmann, to be as poetic and possess as much empathetic scholarship in my own tongues as you do in (at least) two languages. Brilliant work.
I found this a very difficult read. The psychological and emotional abuse inflicted upon Katharina by Hans was yes, a brilliant metaphor for the reunification of Germany. It was also triggering and left me depleted.
I found this a very difficult read. The psychological and emotional abuse inflicted upon Katharina by Hans was yes, a brilliant metaphor for the reunification of Germany. It was also triggering and left me depleted.
Found this one to be a huge disappointment, mainly because it should have been brilliant: a toxic affair set during the last years of the Berlin Wall, mixing character and historiography? But the writing style is so overwritten and sluggish, the pacing makes it feel like nothing happens, and although we get a glimpse at East/West Germany, we never really know its relationship to the characters.
Hoping this opens the door for more fiction set around this time though, because its such an interesting period of history
Hoping this opens the door for more fiction set around this time though, because its such an interesting period of history
challenging
emotional
informative
sad
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:
Yes
Erpenbeck wrote a hell of a first line. I wonder if I would have benefitted from a history class on the GDR going into this? the opening prose is so lyrical and sweeps you in, but at times the main relationship became so abusive, so suffocating, that the repetitive nature of it slowed the pacing down too much for me to really enjoy what I was reading