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itsredandread's review
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Suicide
Minor: Violence
_inge's review against another edition
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicide, Terminal illness, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Islamophobia, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, and Pandemic/Epidemic
laraleest's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Terminal illness, Grief, Death of parent, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Minor: Homophobia, Violence, and Xenophobia
hennie's review against another edition
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).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia, Racial slurs, Xenophobia, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Hate crime and Suicide
nils_0's review
informative
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Chronic illness, Death, Drug use, Racism, Suicide, Xenophobia, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Alcohol
Minor: Violence
nadjasolace's review against another edition
1.0
...please no more white woman bullshit
Content Warnings
Moderate: Addiction, Cancer, Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, Medical content, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Alcohol
marzipantorte's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.0
If you're going to write a story about how Nazis are also complex people YOU HAVE TO WRITE ABOUT PEOPLE AFFECTED BY RACISM!! I cannot believe this was written around the time of George Floyd's murder, she did not take the chance to learn that racism is a systemic thing, or to understand any non-white persons perspective. The main characters struggle with her friend being a Nazi was not made believable, the Nazi character was not believable either. There are two characters mentioned once that are not from germany and then the main character doesnt talk to them AT ALL. the only reason i finished this book (and skimmed the last 100 pages) is because the writing style was so good and it was a present. It had some good moments when the book talked about nature and living in the countryside and also some good moments regarding grief; but it scares me that people actually like this book unquestioned.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicide, Xenophobia, Car accident, and Alcohol
Moderate: Cancer, Grief, and Abandonment
necessaurius's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
"Über Menschen" ist eines von diesen Büchern, das einen so richtig zum Nachdenken bringt, trotzdem sprachlich aber sehr gut zu verstehen ist. Mein Vater hat es angepriesen als ein Buch, das "die Stimmungen im Bezug zu Corona auf dem Land" widerspiegelt, aber es war so so viel mehr als nur das.
Was mir sehr gut gefallen hat, war, dass es eben nicht nur schwarz und weiß gab, nicht nur böse und gute Menschen.
Es gab jedoch auch einige Punkte, die mich sehr gestört haben, weswegen ich echt nicht weiß, wie ich das Buch bewerten soll. Das war zum Einen das Verhalten von Dora, die sich zwar in Gedanken immer über rassistische Kommentare aufgeregt hat, aber letztendlich doch nie den Mut gefunden hat, etwas dagegen zu tun. Und auch wenn das ein Gefühl ist, was teilweise verständlich ist (vor allem gegenüber gewalttätigen Nazis), ist es nicht verständlich, wie sie sich diesen Nazis anfreundet. Es schien fast so, als würde Juli Zeh Mitleid und Verständnis für Nazis wie Gote aber auch die anderen offensichtlichen Alltagsrassisten und Protest-AfD-Wähler erzeugen. Natürlich sind die "auch nur Menschen", aber eben Menschen die der Meinung sind, dass andere weniger wert sind als sie selbst und keine Rechte verdienen, und das sollte man meiner Meinung nach nicht so verharmlosen.
Was mir sehr gut gefallen hat, war, dass es eben nicht nur schwarz und weiß gab, nicht nur böse und gute Menschen.
Es gab jedoch auch einige Punkte, die mich sehr gestört haben, weswegen ich echt nicht weiß, wie ich das Buch bewerten soll. Das war zum Einen das Verhalten von Dora, die sich zwar in Gedanken immer über rassistische Kommentare aufgeregt hat, aber letztendlich doch nie den Mut gefunden hat, etwas dagegen zu tun. Und auch wenn das ein Gefühl ist, was teilweise verständlich ist (vor allem gegenüber gewalttätigen Nazis), ist es nicht verständlich, wie sie sich diesen Nazis anfreundet. Es schien fast so, als würde Juli Zeh Mitleid und Verständnis für Nazis wie Gote aber auch die anderen offensichtlichen Alltagsrassisten und Protest-AfD-Wähler erzeugen. Natürlich sind die "auch nur Menschen", aber eben Menschen die der Meinung sind, dass andere weniger wert sind als sie selbst und keine Rechte verdienen, und das sollte man meiner Meinung nach nicht so verharmlosen.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Xenophobia
Moderate: Suicide