Reviews

The Camera Killer by Thomas Glavinic

whisper447's review

1.0

Jesus, this was not an enjoyable read. I really hope the awful writing was down to the fault of the translator rather than the author. But apart from that the killer was obvious from the beginning- I guessed very soon on in the book and was right, and I don't like guessing who the murderer was in when reading or watching murder mysteries.
And my lord how these people ate! It seemed to be all they did throughout the book.

max05's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

1.0

beastreader's review

1.0

What do you get when you mix a killer with a video camera? A sick home video of a killer in action. Only this killer does not really do the killing so much as he pressues his victims to take their own lives. The victims..several small children. The video has been released. For four friends at a house party, the video changes everything for them.

This is a book that it sounds way better then it actually was. All I have to say is "What?" I don't mean this in a good way either. I want to know what was the author's vision for this book. The translation for this book was stiff and choppy. Don't know if that was the translater just literally translating the author's words on paper word for word and if so then the author has an issue. I understand there can be some language barrier that can make it a little hard to take a foreign author's words and vision and translate it in in English for readers to read but I don't believe that this was the issue with this book entirely.

It was like I was a spectator watching from outside the window looking in. I didn't really understand what was going on. The characters meant nothing to me as they were dull and naive. And each time the images would play over and over again only to reveal a little more that would leave sometimes more questions then answers. I finally had enough of the repetition that I flashed forward towards the end. The idenitity of the killer came to no surprise and I was relieved that he was caught and the story was over.

birgits_bookshelf's review against another edition

4.0

Dieses Buch ist für mich sehr schwer zu bewerten. Eigentlich müsste ich es mit dem Wissen, das ich vom letzten Satz habe, aber das wäre wieder rum langweilig.

Ich habe mir oft überlegt ob ich dieses Buch wirklich beenden möchte, Gott sei Dank habe ich mich dafür entschieden. :)

rooosaaa's review against another edition

reflective medium-paced

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

2.5

laramarz's review against another edition

adventurous fast-paced

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

2.5

elliliebtlesen's review against another edition

fast-paced

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

2.0

tayaingrid's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Child abuse, Death, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Grief, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Genocide

The writing style is good and engaging, but these are the only good things about this book. The characters are awful and annoying, one cannot help but hate them, which I don't think was the Author's attention (except the MC). The two main romantic relationships were toxic, like please get a divorce immediately. The two main women characters seemed to be the only people with common sense and rational thinking skills, and empathy. I found it very misogynist the way the MC never referred to his partner with her name, it was always the German equivalent of partner, it was dehumanizing in a way, she has a name, she is a person, a human being, how hard is it to use her name? Additionally, gender roles were pretty clear, the women always cooked and weren't taken seriously, sure, once or twice the male characters cleaned the table but that is hardly equal. There was also a tasteless joke about the witch trials/burnings, made by a male character, I don't think one should make jokes about genocide, a genocide that mainly targeted women aka gendercide. The MC's POV kind of reminded me of The Great Gatsby, in the way the MC tends to observe rather than engage, sure he partakes in conversations and the likes but kind of goes with whatever his friend Heinrich wants to do. I don't think the premise of the book was well executed, it was supposed to be about the influence of media on the general public, but that never actually came through. Maybe it's the fact that this book was published in like 2002 and is therefore quite outdated. I was forced to read this book for school, which I usually enjoy but this was extremely boring and borderline offensive (also Xenophobia and a little racism), there are so many good German and Austrian books, a lot of good classics too, that are much more enjoyable to read. I hope I inculded all of the trigger warnings, maybe I went a little overboard, but this book annoyed me.

paulawoelfl's review against another edition

dark emotional fast-paced

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

4.0

bibliokarin's review against another edition

3.0

Ich weiß zwar nicht was, aber dieses Buch hat etwas an sich, dass mir gefällt