Reviews and Comments

Unfortunately I found this book much less interesting and surprisingly unfunny compared to the praise it's been receiving.
While it was interesting to discover Trevor Noah's history in various parts of South Africa and learn about the reality of life under Apartheid, I couldn't help but find the chapters a bit disjointed, not always well connected to each other. They aren't in chronological order either - which doesn't have to be a problem, but I often felt information from later chapters would have been helpful to understand previous ones better.
The depictions of domestic violence, and how people deal with it, moved me - those chapters were among the strongest for me, alongside those describing the linguistic diversity in South Africa and how it affects people's lives.

Trevor Noah's humor did not really come across in this book. There were a few moments that made me chuckle, but compared to what other reviewers describe - definitely not a "comedy" book for me.

An interesting read if you'd like to know more about South Africa in the 80s and 90s, or of course Trevor Noah's life before he became famous.

The classic story of separated twins that reunite much later - how interesting could this be? Turns out: very.

The form of this novel is rather conventional - each chapter describes what the sisters are doing in the present day, usually going for walks or sitting in a café. They then take turns to tell each other their life stories from their childhood through the Second World War and its immediate aftermath. (Looking for Cold War stories and/or 70s nostalgia? Look elsewhere: That's not covered in this book.)

I found myself breezing through this chunky book in just a few days - the writing style is simple but engaging, and certainly easily digestible. Every now and then some foreshadowing creates higher tension.

The sisters' fate is of course often gruesome - wartimes cause too many sacrifices, also from civilians.
What didn't really convince: the overall impression I get of the two women is stereotypical and trivializes the role of "average Germans" during the Nazi dictatorship. The sister in Germany is not necessarily a sympathizer, yet her biography is portrayed in a way that she "couldn't really have done anything about it", and after all "didn't know about many of the atrocities". This is something that many people from that generation say, yet historical evidence shows the truth is deeper than that. While that may very well be a literary choice made by the author, I nevertheless found it too simplistic, and would have wished for a more profound treatment of this matter.

Overall a very entertaining read, with an interesting interplay between family life and how external circumstances can invade it. I'm looking forward to watch the movie now that I've read the book.

The second of two books in this series - I was so eager to see how the story of New York would continue. The premise with avatars of cities and boroughs is so unique, and the characters are memorable etc.

Unfortunately, compared to the first book in the series, [b:The City We Became|42074525|The City We Became (Great Cities, #1)|N.K. Jemisin|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1585327950l/42074525.SY75.jpg|54760675], the intriguing premise wore off a bit: We know now how this "city magic" works, we know what the characters struggle with, and we (sort of) know what the "Big Bad" has in mind.

The involvement of other cities, as mentioned in the blurb, was a bit lackluster (and too stereotypical!!) for me.
The pacing was odd - it's such a fast-paced action-packed novel where a LOT of things happen, yet I felt more stressed than entertained at times.
The interactions between the protagonists felt a bit out of place, almost artificial.
The message of the book is overwhelmingly progressive, with which I wholeheartedly agree - yet it was so in-your-face that it felt more draining than empowering to me.
Finally, the conclusion and its sort-of-scientific explanation was just plain technobabble that would make actual scientists squirm.

So while the overall premise is still super fascinating and I couldn't to see how the plot would develop, this book didn't fully convince me. I'm glad I read it, and I'm also glad the series is now over.

High expectations, as always with Mrs Christie. Unfortunately this book fell flat for me.

For much of the book, there isn't really a mystery to be solved - just a statement from a girl about a murder she might have committed at the very beginning. Then lots of pleasantries and characters complaining about "kids these days" (1960s!). Then towards the end, things suddenly happen, and then it's over.

Too many plot elements depend entirely on coincidences rather than the detectives' skills. Randomly meeting people in the metropolis that is London? Relevant papers conveniently fall into the investigators' hands? Sure, no problem. Definitely not satisfying to read.

I fully agree with this this review where a reader says this book feels much more dated than other Christie novels despite its setting closer to the present day. It's set in the mid-1960s, and all the allusions to that period seem really out of place. The older books set in earlier decades definitely feel more timeless, and I find them more pleasurable to read today.

The solution to the mystery at hand, which I will not spoil for you, seems positively unbelievable to me, and frankly made me wonder why I sat through this whole book just to find such a disappointment. The only upside, for me, was that I had picked up a few hints while reading and had parts of the conclusion piece together myself. A small ego boost! ;-)

All in all a nice little mystery, but probably among Agatha Christie's weaker works.

Are we ready yet for a pandemic thriller? Will we ever be?

This is a book of connected short stories taking place before, during, and after a terrible pandemic causing LOTS of casualties. As if this wasn't traumatizing enough, the victims are mostly children. More trauma? Why yes, in this book, people handle death, grief, and funerals very differently from what we are used to. Traumatizingly so.

While the stories themselves are intriguing, I did have trouble finding out what was going on, and how everything is connected. That can be ok - but here I felt somewhat disoriented. What bothered me more was the outright neglectful way that premises were brought up briefly, never to be mentioned again. Lots of loose threads left me wanting more - with disappointment rather than excitement.

This books is worth a closer look if you like reading about loss and grief (did I mention the trauma?). If you're looking for a tight-knit narrative where everything comes together nicely, you better keep looking.

Plot sounds intriguing, book won awards, author is gay - this checked a lot of my metaphorical boxes, so I dove in.

And here I was, somewhat lost in the extremely long sentences with a million subordinate clauses that left me dizzy at times. The writing was so dense that I had to re-read many paragraphs or even whole pages to remind myself (or discover in the first place) what was even going on. Frustratingly I seem to have missed a few crucial details, because every now and then I did not manage to find out what had just happened.

The sparse characterization of some figures didn’t help much in this regard. Maybe it was too implicit for me, maybe I didn’t catch some things because I found the writing too dense - either way, some aspects remained elusive. Or maybe I just didn’t get it.

The plot and its development are thought-provoking in the best sense of the word. There is a lot to unpack, the parallels to today are shocking, and this is certainly a very good book.

Unfortunately my reading pleasure was diminished by how much work I had to put into this rather short book. it just wasn’t quite right for me this time around.

Ein moderner Klassiker, den ich endlich gelesen habe: Vor dem traumatischen Hintergrund der nationalsozialistischen Diktatur wandert eine jüdische Familie nach Ostafrika aus und beginnt ein neues Leben.

Der Einblick in das Leben der vielen Europäer:innen dort ist lehrreich - Sprachen spielen eine Rolle und Gewohnheiten, Rassismus natürlich und der Drang, sich in einer mehrfach fremden Umgebung zurechtzufinden.

Vor allem die Kapitel mit Bezug zu den Daheimgebliebenen und deren Schicksal in der Diktatur haben mich sehr bewegt und ich werde noch lange an einige Szenen zurückdenken. Ein Beispiel dafür ist direkt das erste Kapitel, das als Brief des Vaters an seine Frau geschrieben ist, die noch in ihrer Heimat ist.

Im weiteren Verlauf des Buches hat mir oft eine übergeordnete Handlung gefehlt. Zu viele Kapitel beschreiben einzelne Episoden; die Übergänge wirkten auf mich teilweise unrund.

Am meisten an diesem Buch hat mich allerdings die Sprache gestört. Eine blumige Metapher folgt auf die nächste, es gibt in diesem kompletten Buch nahezu KEINEN EINZIGEN ABSATZ, in dem nicht „Augen zum Horizont geschickt“ werden oder Personen wie „eine Mischung aus Florence Nightingale und irischem Dickschädel“ erscheinen. Eine Stimme ist „wie Wasser, das über kleine Steine springt“ und jemand „bettet andere auf Illusionen aus weichen Kissen“.

Nein, danke - das finde ich einfach nur anstrengend zu lesen. Die Sprache hat die grundsätzlich interessante Handlung für mich leider unnötig zäh gemacht. Den zweiten Band habe ich hier liegen, werde mich vom ersten allerdings erst mal erholen müssen. Rein metaphorisch natürlich.

Ich hatte sehr hohe Erwartungen, die das (gehypte) Buch leider nicht erfüllt hat.

Die Romanhandlung fand ich ziemlich wirr: Charaktere tauchen auf und verschwinden sang- und klanglos wieder, dazwischen reden sie über „race“ und Identität. Die Unterhaltungen drehen sich im Kreis; die Äußerungen in den Gesprächen wirken hölzern und unnatürlich. Eingestreut in den Romantext sind Tweets, Blogposts und Liedtexte - das beschreiben Rezensent*innen dann als "moderne Form", dabei lesen die Romanfiguren einfach selbst diese Kurztexte. Aus meiner Sicht interessant, aber nicht bahnbrechend.
Im Nachwort wird klar: Die ganzen Tweets im Buch wurden von den realen Personen hinter den real existierenden Accounts extra für dieses Buch geschrieben! Das finde ich einzigartig und frage mich, warum das nicht schon am Anfang steht. Das hätte mein Lesevergnügen vergrößert.

Am stärksten fand ich die ersten 15% des Romans und das letzte Viertel. Gegen Ende spielt der rassistische Anschlag von Hanau eine Rolle, der sich während der Arbeit am Roman ereignet hat - erschütternd geschildert und aus meiner Sicht gelungen in den Plot eingebaut.

Als Sachbuch hätte mir dieses Buch vielleicht besser gefallen. Das Thema wird Neuinteressierten aus meiner Sicht nicht nahe genug gebracht, um sie in die Debatte einzubinden. "Profis" der Identitätsfragen finden hier nicht genug Neues - und keine besonders spannende Romanhandlung.

I finished this book two months before I’m typing this, and I have a hard time trying to remember what even happened. As the characters and the plot are coming back to me, I remember what a blur this books seemed to be.

The premise is intriguing, some of the characters are refreshingly new - while others are cookie cutter SciFi figures. (Yes, there’s an android.)

What I found unsatisfying was how rushed some chapters and plot points were. A particular story is evolving and BAM, out of the blue, a death! A previously unknown character! Something else! Unfortunately, this didn’t make this book “dynamic” or “fast-paced” - it just felt rushed, like there was a deadline to meet.

That’s why I didn’t feel much as I finished the last chapter. A bit of relief, a vague sense of completion, and the certainty that this is a three-star book. I liked it, but nothing more.