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What Members Thought
I didn't enjoy this book. The characters felt cold and remote, and the story was a bit dull and predictable. The only thing about the book I liked was the exploration on the theme of loneliness. The book did a decent job of showing that a person can be lonely inside a relationship as much as they can if they are solitary. Long ago, before I met my husband, I used to say that I would rather feel lonely alone than lonely when together with someone.
But, the biggest problem for me with this book is ...more
But, the biggest problem for me with this book is ...more
My only reason for reading this is it is on the "1001 Books" list, and it was short. I confess: I don't think I understood it.
It is written in an odd, un-personal way. The main character it referred to as “the women� and her boy is “the child�. She is even talking about “the child�. This un-personal style becomes rather funny when one of the characters suddenly insists on being referred to by name. (Not that it changes anything, but it seems like he is commenting on how the writer describes him) ...more
It is written in an odd, un-personal way. The main character it referred to as “the women� and her boy is “the child�. She is even talking about “the child�. This un-personal style becomes rather funny when one of the characters suddenly insists on being referred to by name. (Not that it changes anything, but it seems like he is commenting on how the writer describes him) ...more
This 1970s German classic shows a woman refusing to drop everything to be in a relationship with a man - any man. The style (keeping out of anyone's emotions or head) creates a distance between the reader and the main character, so it's hard to know if it's intentional that the woman's child comes over as the most sympathetic character for me.
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May 13, 2011
Charisma
marked it as to-read
Aug 27, 2011
Judith
marked it as to-read
Apr 10, 2013
Seamus Duggan
added it
Oct 12, 2019
Diane
rated it
liked it
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review of another edition
Shelves:
20th-century,
1001-done,
1001,
translated,
nobel-laureates,
austrian,
open-library,
2019-reads,
teutophone
Jul 09, 2016
Anna Fennell
marked it as to-read
Apr 24, 2017
Bryan--The Bee’s Knees
marked it as boxall-list-only
Jun 02, 2019
Yvonne
marked it as to-read
Aug 23, 2019
Beverly
marked it as to-read
Jun 11, 2023
Caroline
rated it
really liked it
Shelves:
z-german,
1001-read,
philosophical,
moden-leser,
love-marriage,
self-loneliness-oa,
melancholy,
menn,
dark,
slow-pace
