A review by anneliesb
Here in Berlin by Cristina García
What I liked:
-The language. Cristina Garcia has a very pleasant style and the German words and phrases thrown in gave the text a nice couleur locale.
-The setting. It's been a few years since I was last in Berlin and it felt like a little visit there.
-It is good to be aware that for a lot of ordinary German people the war wasn't much fun either, not to mention the aftermath.
What I didn't like:
-The construction. The book consists of almost 40 chapters. Each chapter tells the story of one person. These chapters are so short, they're more vignettes than short stories. This makes that you don't have enough time and information to get involved or interested in the characters. Some of the characters show up in each other's chapters, but since it is all so fleeting, I couldn't be bothered to pay special attention to this.
-It felt like the chapters were all pitches for possible future novels, just ideas for what could potentially become interesting novels.
-It's fiction. The whole thing would be more interesting if it were actual historical accounts. I felt that these are the type of stories you don't need to make up, especially if you're not going to elaborate on them.
What I didn't get:
-The narrator. The stories are gathered by 'The Visitor' who makes a point of not being named. I didn't see the point of this secrecy. The Visitor barely plays a part other than listening to the stories , yet we do get some glimpses of her private life and daughter.
I'm not star-rating this one, because it doesn't feel like a high rating, yet I guess a low rating would be unfair in some way. Maybe I just don't get it despite the notes provided by Cristina Garcia and Pagehabit.
-The language. Cristina Garcia has a very pleasant style and the German words and phrases thrown in gave the text a nice couleur locale.
-The setting. It's been a few years since I was last in Berlin and it felt like a little visit there.
-It is good to be aware that for a lot of ordinary German people the war wasn't much fun either, not to mention the aftermath.
What I didn't like:
-The construction. The book consists of almost 40 chapters. Each chapter tells the story of one person. These chapters are so short, they're more vignettes than short stories. This makes that you don't have enough time and information to get involved or interested in the characters. Some of the characters show up in each other's chapters, but since it is all so fleeting, I couldn't be bothered to pay special attention to this.
-It felt like the chapters were all pitches for possible future novels, just ideas for what could potentially become interesting novels.
-It's fiction. The whole thing would be more interesting if it were actual historical accounts. I felt that these are the type of stories you don't need to make up, especially if you're not going to elaborate on them.
What I didn't get:
-The narrator. The stories are gathered by 'The Visitor' who makes a point of not being named. I didn't see the point of this secrecy. The Visitor barely plays a part other than listening to the stories , yet we do get some glimpses of her private life and daughter.
I'm not star-rating this one, because it doesn't feel like a high rating, yet I guess a low rating would be unfair in some way. Maybe I just don't get it despite the notes provided by Cristina Garcia and Pagehabit.