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faefaesauce's review
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Beautiful. This depiction of gay love in Nazi Germany is more day-to-day, more intimate, more slice of life than others I have read. Rather than focusing on the atrocities of being arrested, this focuses on what queer love looked like, what conversations looked like, what normal *life* looked like. Not focusing on death is not something I'm used to from Holocaust era gay stories, and this was perfection.
virgilsinferno's review
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia
ekmorgan's review against another edition
emotional
informative
inspiring
sad
tense
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.5
If this novel were longer, giving the characters more time to develop and the tensions of the time some more time to grow, this would have been my first 5⭐ read of 2024.
rycar's review
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.0
endemictoearth's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
3.5
Too short, really. An American businessman in Berlin falls in with the artistic crowd just as Hitler is rising to power, and the man he loves makes himself a target with his opposition to the government. I liked seeing the time period depicted and a queer relationship developing during such a moment; however, I think it didn't have enough space to fully develop. The ending felt somewhat abrupt and anti-climactic.
pshelling's review against another edition
5.0
Amazing. The art is gorgeous and the story is poignant and compelling.