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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
A relationship between a young woman and an older man that adapts sexual torture as punishment for transgressions against the male ego is hardly original. You've read this before, only this has a thin veil of East/West Germany tensions in the background. Katharina is simply insufferable and boring until she finally starts thinking of things other than Hans. And Hans is what you'd expect from a male character who centres himself in everything and has no ability to criticise himself – if Erpenbeck was looking to write a male lover who has no appeal, and leaves the reader baffled as to why he is pursued at all, then she did a fantastic job.
I had hoped the tensions of their location and the shifting politics would play more of a role, but they're really just a background to an abusive relationship. This is neither a 'doomed romance' or a 'story of love and betrayal', as the accolades on the cover state, and I wish abuse and obsession would stop being labelled as love. A lot of this could also be skim read because it's stuffed with self-indulgence that adds nothing to the experience. Erpenbeck clearly has talent, but this story is just repetitive and so contrite that it becomes farcical.
I had hoped the tensions of their location and the shifting politics would play more of a role, but they're really just a background to an abusive relationship. This is neither a 'doomed romance' or a 'story of love and betrayal', as the accolades on the cover state, and I wish abuse and obsession would stop being labelled as love. A lot of this could also be skim read because it's stuffed with self-indulgence that adds nothing to the experience. Erpenbeck clearly has talent, but this story is just repetitive and so contrite that it becomes farcical.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gaslighting
Minor: Rape