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williamriverdale's review against another edition
5.0
Charming, charming book. It does well everything a children's book should do. It does not look down upon the young reader's intelligence nor try to waste his or her time with rambling gobbledegook. It's a tale of adventure, of friendship, and of perseverance. All characters that burst upon the pages of this wonderful story have their own personalities, all different, all vibrant. I shall not disclose them to you, but leave you to find them as I found them. Go with Emil on a adventure.
"Now for it!"
"Now for it!"
agratzel's review
adventurous
funny
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Minor: Racial slurs
charliewcastle's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
4.5
lory_enterenchanted's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
3.0
A simple story with some local color (boy from a village visits relatives in Berlin). There could have been a bit more twistiness in the plot or in the relationships between the boys, but it was all quite straightforward. Best for me was that I got through reading a book in German!
rustysdarling's review against another edition
4.0
Gute Story und schöne Moral, ich bin Fan (und was ein Ehrenmove von Herrn Kästner, einfach einen eigenen Charakter nach sich selbst zu benennen
annablume's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
fast-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
3.5
Nice but of its time in language and gender roles (and everything else)
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexism
Minor: Alcohol, Racial slurs, and Child abuse
lycanjamie's review against another edition
5.0
Es war ein kurzes und süßes Buch, großartig sogar.
Ich hab ziemlich schnell die Geschichte durchgelesen, die habe mich ein bisschen traurig gefühlt.
Ich hab ziemlich schnell die Geschichte durchgelesen, die habe mich ein bisschen traurig gefühlt.
hewhohasnoidea's review
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Read this time because Sambandh read it and I wanted to revisit my childhood favourite.
theaurochs's review against another edition
3.0
Mein erstes buch komplett in deutsch! Natürlich ist es eine Kindergeschichte, aber ich bin trotzdem stolz es gelesen zu haben.
Es ist ein klassisches geschicht von ein junge, wer Emil heißt. Er geht für seine ferien in Berlin. Während er am Bahn ist, ein unheimlicher Mann stohl seine Geld. Der Rest der Geschichte folgt Emil wann er in Berlin kommt, und sucht nach der unheimlicher Mann. Unterwegs trifft er viele bunte Charaktere, mit wem er sich anfreundet, und sie hilfen ihm, der Mann zu finden.
Es ist ein ziemlich schönes geschicht, es fühlt sich sehr angenehm und erfreulich. Die viele Charakter (wie die Berliner Kinder) macht spaß, und auch die Beschreibungen 1920er Berlin. Es hat ein sehr glückliche Ende, wenn der Mann wichtiger ist als er scheint.
Ziemlich toll!
Es ist ein klassisches geschicht von ein junge, wer Emil heißt. Er geht für seine ferien in Berlin. Während er am Bahn ist, ein unheimlicher Mann stohl seine Geld. Der Rest der Geschichte folgt Emil wann er in Berlin kommt, und sucht nach der unheimlicher Mann. Unterwegs trifft er viele bunte Charaktere, mit wem er sich anfreundet, und sie hilfen ihm, der Mann zu finden.
Es ist ein ziemlich schönes geschicht, es fühlt sich sehr angenehm und erfreulich. Die viele Charakter (wie die Berliner Kinder) macht spaß, und auch die Beschreibungen 1920er Berlin. Es hat ein sehr glückliche Ende, wenn der Mann wichtiger ist als er scheint.
Ziemlich toll!
saroz162's review against another edition
5.0
A totally delightful book for which, frankly, I didn't have many expectations. Although I knew it was a classic in its native Germany, I came to Emil and the Detectives expecting one of those slice-of-life children's stories which I find pleasant but eminently forgettable: the sort of thing that is exemplified by E. Nesbit's Bastable books but which can slide down the scale to a large number of also-ran wanna-be Beverly Clearys. Nice books about nice relatable kids, where nothing much happens and it all sort of blurs into a summer-sun haze.
Wrong!
What I ended up loving about Emil and the Detectives is its total concession to the extreme viewpoint of actual children, not of how adults want to remember childhood. It's all sharp angles and corners, bright lights and dark shadows, and a brutal obsession with cause and effect. Everything is highly amplified and slightly ludicrous. It's reminiscent of the surreal extremity of German cinema from the same period (the 1920s), especially the elements that later worked themselves into a variety of mid-century American media, ranging from film noir thrillers to the most nightmarish visions of Dr. Seuss.
Emil is poorly summarized because it's about a perfectly ordinary boy, traveling on the train to visit his grandmother, who falls asleep and is robbed of his mother's savings. But that doesn't tell you anything about the adrenaline of the book, which is generated by Emil's guilt and his outrageous concepts of what will happen if he asks for help—he, who recently painted a moustache on a public statue! Surely they'll clap him in irons for that. The whole book turns on that kind of thinking, and wonderfully, as Emil searches the big, strange new city of Berlin, he begins to surround himself with other small boys who not only subscribe to but work within the logic of the same dramatic worldview. Soon, they have formed an incredible team of pint-sized investigators, all tracking, reporting on, and evading the thief in an act of understanding and brotherhood.
By the end, the boys have orchestrated things into a sort of Marx Brothers routine, masterminded by the Professor, a child good at delegating, and Gustav, a freewheeling soul with a Harpo-like horn. Emil's cousin Pony Hutchen has sailed in on her bicycle with coffee and some cakes—provisions for the troops—and little Dienstag sits, dedicated, at his station by the telephone. It's all endlessly charming because the kids take it so damn seriously, and of course, in the end we learn Emil is the best of all because despite his hardship, he is selfless, polite, and kind.
This is a slightly "younger" book than I'm used to reading; I might put it in the hands of a precocious second-grade reader, because it feels designed for a child of just seven or eight years old. But it's a proper novel, make no mistake, and one with a solid construction. I should not have been so ready to overlook this little book, inauspicious though it may be, and I think for the reader who is patient for a (short) chapter or two, it will quickly reveal many unexpected charms.
Wrong!
What I ended up loving about Emil and the Detectives is its total concession to the extreme viewpoint of actual children, not of how adults want to remember childhood. It's all sharp angles and corners, bright lights and dark shadows, and a brutal obsession with cause and effect. Everything is highly amplified and slightly ludicrous. It's reminiscent of the surreal extremity of German cinema from the same period (the 1920s), especially the elements that later worked themselves into a variety of mid-century American media, ranging from film noir thrillers to the most nightmarish visions of Dr. Seuss.
Emil is poorly summarized because it's about a perfectly ordinary boy, traveling on the train to visit his grandmother, who falls asleep and is robbed of his mother's savings. But that doesn't tell you anything about the adrenaline of the book, which is generated by Emil's guilt and his outrageous concepts of what will happen if he asks for help—he, who recently painted a moustache on a public statue! Surely they'll clap him in irons for that. The whole book turns on that kind of thinking, and wonderfully, as Emil searches the big, strange new city of Berlin, he begins to surround himself with other small boys who not only subscribe to but work within the logic of the same dramatic worldview. Soon, they have formed an incredible team of pint-sized investigators, all tracking, reporting on, and evading the thief in an act of understanding and brotherhood.
By the end, the boys have orchestrated things into a sort of Marx Brothers routine, masterminded by the Professor, a child good at delegating, and Gustav, a freewheeling soul with a Harpo-like horn. Emil's cousin Pony Hutchen has sailed in on her bicycle with coffee and some cakes—provisions for the troops—and little Dienstag sits, dedicated, at his station by the telephone. It's all endlessly charming because the kids take it so damn seriously, and of course, in the end we learn Emil is the best of all because despite his hardship, he is selfless, polite, and kind.
This is a slightly "younger" book than I'm used to reading; I might put it in the hands of a precocious second-grade reader, because it feels designed for a child of just seven or eight years old. But it's a proper novel, make no mistake, and one with a solid construction. I should not have been so ready to overlook this little book, inauspicious though it may be, and I think for the reader who is patient for a (short) chapter or two, it will quickly reveal many unexpected charms.