ventellina's review against another edition
dark
informative
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
fmfernandes91's review against another edition
5.0
This was a one-sit book, started and could not stop. The chronological jumps are extremely well done and are there to enrich the story.
al_capwned's review against another edition
4.0
The style of writing feels more like a police or news report. Great concept that fits perfectly with the way this novella is written.
mamaki1987's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
moni_h's review against another edition
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
4.0
kdog's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
carochiara's review against another edition
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
idrees2022's review against another edition
5.0
Alas, tabloid journalism is just as toxic today, if not more so, and destroyed lives are a small price to pay for a hacks need to grab headlines.
luxxybee97's review against another edition
dark
informative
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
tl;dr – imagine if all newspaper articles were written like this. couldn’t blame Katharine tbh
-
The prose in The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum is nothing if not verbose, let’s just say that. Heinrich Böll certainly has a way of writing that, while gripping, is also sometimes hard to keep track of, because of how dense it is. Perhaps it’s a problem from the translation from the original German, but I did find myself sometimes getting lost between the lines and having to remind myself which character was which, more than I do for most books I read. It’s interesting that Böll writes so much about truth and its distortion while simultaneously using language that’s grandiose – the language itself is always shifting, and you really have to focus to cut through the noise and figure out what the ‘truth’ is. Good thing he’s writing about the power of the media, eh?
I think The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum is stronger thematically than it is technically – certainly the eponymous character, as idiosyncratic as she is, does feature in quite a stark warning about how the corrosive influence of tabloids can ruin lives, especially in an environment as politically charged as 1970s Germany. Watching how the lives of Katharina and those around her are systematically, bit by bit, dissected and then distorted by journalists, with devastating consequences, would probably have been quite relevant when first written – and how chilling that it’s still just as, if (probably in all honesty) not even more so relevant these days, in the era of spin and deep fakes and God knows what else is out there.
lesafiesa's review against another edition
challenging
informative
mysterious
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
4.0