Reviews

Powered through this somehow. It was really difficult to read. Now I have to write a review of this for my Uni course... gonna be fun! Might post that review here later.

lady_ness's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

vasha's review against another edition

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Draussen vor der Tür is a play, a powerful outcry of anger against the war and people who do not take responsibility for it and who would rather ignore anyone who comes home broken by it, like the main character of the play. The book also contains a number of very short stories and prose pieces, including "Das Brot" and "Dann gibt es nur eins!" (which I read so many times when I first encountered it that I almost learned it by heart). There is also a very eloquent afterword by Heinrich Böll.

rach94's review against another edition

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4.0

As I had to read this book for college, I thought I would hate it, because it's a rare thing when teachers make their students read enjoyable books.
My expectations were really low and I wasn't looking forward to reading it, but when I finally started, I found myself enjoying it a lot.
I can't quite say what was it that made me like this book so much, just that I did and that then it was super easy to learn all the things we were being taught in class.
It's such an easy (though "different") and quick book to read that I would recommend to anyone who'd ask me about it.

acciodawn's review against another edition

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5.0

Once again I am grateful that I’ve come across a wonderful literary work at university. I had to read this play for my German Literature after the Second World War class. I’ve read Wilfred Owen poems and a little of Ernst Jünger’s “Storm of Steel,” but these tackle the First World War. This play captures the guilt of a German soldier returning home perfectly. He does not want to carry the responsibility of the horrid crimes he’s committed, and he is gaslighted by the Colonel who sent him to war. His trauma and PTSD are made fun of, most poignantly after the scene where he relates his horrid dream of playing an instrument made of bones. I think I will always remember that sequence because it is harrowing but also manages to convey to readers what it’s like to fight it the war and to return home and have to deal with the after effects and the sleepless nights. Out of the many works after the war that I will be reading this semester, this one will definitely stay with me.

erika_gore's review against another edition

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challenging dark sad

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

msand3's review against another edition

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3.0

If Beckett writes, “...you must go on. I can't go on. I'll go on,” then Borchert counters with “...you must go on. I can’t go on. I won’t go on.” Except “I won’t go on” is not necessarily an existential cry of defeat, but rather a declaration that we as a society simply can’t go on if we continue down the road of mechanized, dehumanizing warfare and the alienating social order that preaches nationalism at the price of universal equality. It’s a societal warning more than a personal plea, as the protagonist of Borchert’s heavily Expressionist play/radio drama, Beckmann, is the canary in the coal mine, showing us a potential path to destruction in the second half of the 20th century. (Looking back from 2021: we made it...but at what continuing price?)

This book also contains much of Borchert’s short fiction, including the entirety of Dandelion. These pieces are depressing, Expressionist, fatalistic, and oppressively bleak. I don’t advise reading this book unless you are in a frame of mind to understand the crushing, overwhelming hopelessness that war leaves in its wake.

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