Reviews

Kind aller Länder by Irmgard Keun

mistrum_crowe's review against another edition

3.0

At first I was looking forward to reading this, as the concept seemed really interesting and ripe with potential plot-lines. In my mind, that potential was kind of wasted, as nothing seems to have changed by the end. I don't want to finish reading a book feeling like the experience as a whole has been largely futile.

grise's review

adventurous challenging emotional funny fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Im letzten Teil des Buchs fällt häufig das N-Wort.

fcsmith's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful informative lighthearted reflective relaxing sad fast-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? No

4.0

aramsamsam's review against another edition

4.0

Keun was such a clever writer. Her specialty, narrating from a naive POV, is funny and true and sad at the same time.

filaughn's review against another edition

This is the second Irmgard Keun I've started and set aside fairly quickly. For this one, the child narrator's supposed age and how she was acting/narrating didn't mesh well for me and that irritated me - but I know a lot of people love this book and I tend to be very picky about things like child narrators.

kristinn's review against another edition

reflective sad

4.0

Everything that’s wrong in the world begins with fear … First a father demands that his child be afraid of him. Then there’s school and fear of the teacher, fear of God at church, fear of military or other superiors, fear of the police, fear of life, fear of death. Finally, the people are so crippled and warped by fear that they elect a government that they can serve in fear. (p. 101)

jessielikeslemons's review against another edition

adventurous funny informative reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

fie07's review against another edition

4.0

Another great exile read. Another great story dealing with the consequences of nazism. This one was particularly interesting because it looks at a divided Europe through the eyes of a 9 year old girl. A girl who in some ways is wise beyond her years & understand much more about the world than her peers. But also a girl that is still naive, still innocent. Therefore a lot of the reasons why stuff happen is incomprehensible to her. In some ways the narrator of this book reminded me of the one from Tove Janssons ‘Sommerbogen’ which I also loved.

I must agree with Michael Hofmann in his afterword to this novel: The ending was not satisfying, it felt more like a new chapter we never get to explore than a finished chapter for a finished book. But there might be a point in leaving the story open - because Keun herself (and all of Europe) hadn’t had an ending & solution yet.

bedtimestory's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad fast-paced

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

4.5

goldfishtangerine's review against another edition

hopeful reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.75