Reviews tagging 'Hate crime'

Über Menschen by Juli Zeh

5 reviews

_inge's review against another edition

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challenging dark reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

So glad I finally got around to reading this. It’s absurdistic yet weirdly realistic (and modern) at the same time, which is right up my alley. And I managed to shape my thoughts on combatting racism a bit more. 

I’ve seen people criticising this book by saying Gothe gets away with too much and Dora doesn’t do anything to stop him. Whenever he rants about ‘foreigners needing to stay in their own country’ Dora tries expressing her disapproval, but you can tell she doesn’t quite know how to deal with it. Which is exactly the point of this entire book. It confronts us with our behaviour when faced with racism. Our neighbour might be an actual Nazi who’s done horrible things, we might feel sickened by racist murders happening today, but we still don’t dare to speak up. One passage in this book describes being ‘stunned by racism’. When someone says something racist, we tend to fall into silence. We come up with excuses for not speaking up; maybe there’s no use telling a racist that they’re being racist, surely a left-wing person couldn’t convince them to be less racist? But when we don’t say anything, we wish in hindsight that we would’ve told them off. We feel as if we’ve failed. Eventually, we just avoid racists altogether, as to not risk having an awkward conversation with this person, or feeling worse about ourselves again. I found this passage so relevant and so relatable. Is it the right way to act? Absolutely not. But I think most people act exactly this way. Juli Zeh was able to put this into words perfectly. 

The central message in this book is that we’re all human. A neo-Nazi, Covid-conspiracy theorist or left-wing person… at the end of the day, we aren’t just defined by these things alone. Making nazis more human did make me uncomfortable, but I do get the need to do this. If we really get to know people who we fundamentally disagree with, by going into conversations without judgement but instead with empathy and humanity, we might learn more about them and ourselves. If Gothe hadn’t met Dora, I think he genuinely would’ve done worse things. He’s obviously an awful person, which this book acknowledges constantly. But because he’s left alone he becomes even worse. I therefore don’t agree with people saying the book overall is too ‘feel-good’; I just think it’s a call for empathy and humanity, but without sacrificing your own beliefs.

This book is a brilliant exploration on how we deal with racists/nazis. It’s not always pretty or right, but it is realistic. If Dora had acted morally just at every turn, I wouldn’t have been encouraged to think about my own actions and the book as a whole wouldn’t have felt this realistic. Unfortunately, we often don’t know what to do when confronted with racism. I think literature is there to confront us with this. 
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hennie's review against another edition

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fast-paced

1.0

erschreckend undifferenziert. nazis sind doch eigentlich ganz gute menschen, schließlich helfen sie ihren nachbarinnen und vernachlässigen ihre kinder nur ein bisschen. dora, die protagonistin, kann sehr gut darüber hinwegsehen, wenn gote linke, schwule und nichtweiße menschen verbal und physisch angreift, weil er doch krank ist und irgendwie ein gutes herz hat (anscheinend). 
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siniandi's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.25

Idee und Ansatz des Buches sind sicherlich nicht verkehrt: Menschen verstehen, nicht ablehnen; Dichotomien aufbrechen, Hintergründe beleuchten und füreinander da sein trotz Spaltung. Allerdings geht Zeh als weiße Frau, die im Leben niemals Rassismuserfahrungen machen kann und wird, hierbau eindeutig mehrere Schritte zu weit. Es ist ignorant und zu einfach, den "Dorf Nazi" zu verharmlosen und zu banalisieren, nur weil er mehr oder weniger nett zur neuen Nachbarin ist und eine Tochter hat, die ihn liebt. Sich in der Akzeptanz zu verlieren, geht nur, wenn man diesem Hass selbst nicht ausgeliefert ist. Ein Schlag ins Gesicht der Menschen, die nicht so aussehen wie Zeh. Passenderweise beschwört Zeh in ihrem Buch auch keine wirklich schwierige Situation herauf; die Protagonistin redet sich alle Gewaltexzesse schön, zur wirklichen Konfrontation kommt es nie. Jeder Mensch hat einen Wert; das scheint die Botschaft zu sein. Diese wird allerdings untergraben, dadurch dass die Hauptperson anderen Menschen selbst ihren Wert anspricht. 
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lenni_sc's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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nadjasolace's review against another edition

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1.0

...please no more white woman bullshit
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