cestelaine's review against another edition
4.0
A profoundly eloquent novella with quiet power in its prose. 'A hidden gem' indeed, Reunion will leave a heavyweight in your heart.
andergraphen's review against another edition
4.0
Bel romanzo. L’amicizia al tempo della Germania nazista. 7
sarahbelger's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
zcsforbes's review against another edition
i found this book in my house and decided to read it for the car journey to the airport. this review is a work in progress / needs more thought probably.
at the core of this book is zionism, and essentially the author disputes anti-zionist argument through the character of the jewish father, who's described as anti-zionist and the reason for that being german nationalism. which, of course, is weak with hindsight. it's very clear from the beginning of the book that the narrator is a zionist who cannot fathom not being a zionist, and it seeps into all the philosophical questions of the short book, and the conclusion of being pro-israel is not surprising at all. But the author doesn't tackle the topic head on and is evasive, which placed the argument in a binary: one being 'the side of the nazis' and the other being 'the side of literally everyone else'. that's an unfair binary and i guess reading it today when israel / palestine look so different it may be unfair of me to criticise it in that way, but the author relies on using the holocaust to justify israel and that's been time and time again counter argued.
It could've been more of an analysis of how political views are shaped by violence if there had been more of an arc and actual shift in the narrators political perspective. But there wasn't, there wasn't really room for questioning zionism. And, the narrator seems convinced there is a way to be a 'good' zionist, which is shown by the fact he ultimately spends money on charity to help palestinian refugees. I thought that was a sick joke. it's conveyed as being 'diplomatic' but you just want the native people off of the land you're stealing!! Bottom line, this book is a zionist book and that's fundamentally not going to change and wouldn't have changed, i'm just grappling with this as a reader.
I also actually didn't really love the ending. I felt as though it proposed the idea that facism will be eventually overthrown with the 'power of friendship', which was pretty unconvincing. It was hopeful, it does show that indoctrinated children can indeed revolt against the dominant fascist powers. it's not that it's bad, it's just that i wasn't fully convinced.
the best aspects of this book are the descriptive elements, the appreciation for the german landscape and the idyllic, romantic youth. I could read pages and pages of the way the houses are described, how summer days are depicted, how the bedroom is so intimately conveyed. this does a lot of the work to make the grief and loss of pre-nazi germany more poignant. The narrative skips over any of the heavier details, mentioning it briefly as a subject too difficult to tackle. it works well. What was most interesting was seeing how Nazism was promoted in the classroom, it felt so surreal. I think the narrative could've done a bit more to communicate the severity of this change emotionally, and perhaps also the more subtle ways schools changed. The nazi teacher is described and the change is sudden and overnight, which marks the turn of the book and tonal shift.
Overall, the writing was great but i have mixed feelings.
at the core of this book is zionism, and essentially the author disputes anti-zionist argument through the character of the jewish father, who's described as anti-zionist and the reason for that being german nationalism. which, of course, is weak with hindsight. it's very clear from the beginning of the book that the narrator is a zionist who cannot fathom not being a zionist, and it seeps into all the philosophical questions of the short book, and the conclusion of being pro-israel is not surprising at all. But the author doesn't tackle the topic head on and is evasive, which placed the argument in a binary: one being 'the side of the nazis' and the other being 'the side of literally everyone else'. that's an unfair binary and i guess reading it today when israel / palestine look so different it may be unfair of me to criticise it in that way, but the author relies on using the holocaust to justify israel and that's been time and time again counter argued.
It could've been more of an analysis of how political views are shaped by violence if there had been more of an arc and actual shift in the narrators political perspective. But there wasn't, there wasn't really room for questioning zionism. And, the narrator seems convinced there is a way to be a 'good' zionist, which is shown by the fact he ultimately spends money on charity to help palestinian refugees. I thought that was a sick joke. it's conveyed as being 'diplomatic' but you just want the native people off of the land you're stealing!! Bottom line, this book is a zionist book and that's fundamentally not going to change and wouldn't have changed, i'm just grappling with this as a reader.
I also actually didn't really love the ending. I felt as though it proposed the idea that facism will be eventually overthrown with the 'power of friendship', which was pretty unconvincing. It was hopeful, it does show that indoctrinated children can indeed revolt against the dominant fascist powers. it's not that it's bad, it's just that i wasn't fully convinced.
the best aspects of this book are the descriptive elements, the appreciation for the german landscape and the idyllic, romantic youth. I could read pages and pages of the way the houses are described, how summer days are depicted, how the bedroom is so intimately conveyed. this does a lot of the work to make the grief and loss of pre-nazi germany more poignant. The narrative skips over any of the heavier details, mentioning it briefly as a subject too difficult to tackle. it works well. What was most interesting was seeing how Nazism was promoted in the classroom, it felt so surreal. I think the narrative could've done a bit more to communicate the severity of this change emotionally, and perhaps also the more subtle ways schools changed. The nazi teacher is described and the change is sudden and overnight, which marks the turn of the book and tonal shift.
Overall, the writing was great but i have mixed feelings.
caramels's review against another edition
5.0
Ci sono lacrime che versi su una storia perché ogni altra parola risulterebbe offensiva e fuori luogo. E magari te lo aspetti anche, specie se la storia è un capolavoro come questo, che ti costringe a leggere anche quello che non è scritto.
“Studiavo il suo volto fiero, dai tratti finemente cesellati e sono certo che nessun innamorato guardò mai Elena di Troia con altrettanta intensità, né fu più conscio della sua inferiorità. Chi ero io per avere l'ardire di rivolgergli la parola?”
“Le mie ferite non si sono ancora rimarginate e, ogni volta che ripenso alla Germania, è come se venissero sfregate con il sale"
Poi ci sono lacrime (e questo non te lo aspetti, questo non dovresti aspettartelo) che non versi neanche, perché mentre leggi ti rendi conto che questa storia forse non é tanto Storia, perché sembra essere stata scritta ieri. E qui la parola ieri non vuole essere metaforica.
“Dall'esterno del nostro cerchio magico provenivano voci di sovvertimenti politici, ma l'occhio del tifone era lontano: a Berlino, dove, a quanto si diceva, si erano verificati scontri tra nazisti e comunisti.”
“Sui muri erano comparse delle svastiche, un ebreo era stato molestato, alcuni comunisti percossi, ma in generale la vita proseguiva come al solito.”
“Avevo sentito parlare di terremoti nei quali erano state inghiottite migliaia di persone, (..) di onde gigantesche che avevano spazzato via le isole. Avevo letto che un milione di persone erano annegate durante l'inondazione (..) Sapevo che (..) avevano perso la vita un milione di soldati. Ma non erano che astrazioni, numeri privi di significato, dati statistici, notizie. Non si può soffrire per un milione di morti.”
Ricorda qualcosa? Bo, magari il mio è solo un eccesso di immaginazione, io peró mi vergogno lo stesso.
“Studiavo il suo volto fiero, dai tratti finemente cesellati e sono certo che nessun innamorato guardò mai Elena di Troia con altrettanta intensità, né fu più conscio della sua inferiorità. Chi ero io per avere l'ardire di rivolgergli la parola?”
“Le mie ferite non si sono ancora rimarginate e, ogni volta che ripenso alla Germania, è come se venissero sfregate con il sale"
Poi ci sono lacrime (e questo non te lo aspetti, questo non dovresti aspettartelo) che non versi neanche, perché mentre leggi ti rendi conto che questa storia forse non é tanto Storia, perché sembra essere stata scritta ieri. E qui la parola ieri non vuole essere metaforica.
“Dall'esterno del nostro cerchio magico provenivano voci di sovvertimenti politici, ma l'occhio del tifone era lontano: a Berlino, dove, a quanto si diceva, si erano verificati scontri tra nazisti e comunisti.”
“Sui muri erano comparse delle svastiche, un ebreo era stato molestato, alcuni comunisti percossi, ma in generale la vita proseguiva come al solito.”
“Avevo sentito parlare di terremoti nei quali erano state inghiottite migliaia di persone, (..) di onde gigantesche che avevano spazzato via le isole. Avevo letto che un milione di persone erano annegate durante l'inondazione (..) Sapevo che (..) avevano perso la vita un milione di soldati. Ma non erano che astrazioni, numeri privi di significato, dati statistici, notizie. Non si può soffrire per un milione di morti.”
Ricorda qualcosa? Bo, magari il mio è solo un eccesso di immaginazione, io peró mi vergogno lo stesso.
zuzuheo_'s review against another edition
emotional
informative
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
5.0
green_apple_supremacy's review
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-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
5.0
yektamazarei's review against another edition
4.0
کم حجم و جذاب بود. توصیفاتش بیشتر از خود داستان بود که من دوست داشتم. درباره ی دوستی دو نفر در آلمان که یکیشون(راوی) یهودی بود و از جو آلمان و تغییراتی که تو اطرافیانش هنگام ظهور هیتلر دیده بود می گفت.
خیلی جو ساده و صمیمی داشت کل کتاب.
پ.ن: خط آخر جدا لهم کرد.
خیلی جو ساده و صمیمی داشت کل کتاب.
پ.ن: خط آخر جدا لهم کرد.