Reviews tagging 'Dementia'

Marzahn, Mon Amour by Katja Oskamp

5 reviews

questingnotcoasting's review against another edition

reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

I discovered this while browsing my library's audiobook collection and borrowed it because I'll read almost anything set in Berlin. I liked the narrator and the descriptive writing. I thought telling the story of people's lives through vignettes was very effective and it was both funny and poignant. I could have done with fewer details about their feet problems but mostly I really liked this. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content

Moderate: Terminal illness, Chronic illness, and Dementia

starryeyesali's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing medium-paced

4.5

I listened to the English audiobook, read by Angeline Armstrong. What an unexpected delight! If you had told me I would love a book which is based around a chiropodist, her treatment of people's feet and the stories of her clients I would never have believed you! But this turned out to be a charming, cosy, hopeful book about human lives, about friendship, relationships, middle age, old age and second chances.
I would definitely read more by this author if more of her books are translated to English :)

Thanks to Belinda Audio via NetGalley for the advance audiobook.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Dementia

serendipitysbooks's review against another edition

informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

 Marzahan, Mon Amour opens with a middle-aged author who is down on her publishing luck and is retraining as a chiropodist. The rest of the book unfolds in a series of short storyish vignettes, each one focussing on one of her clients or coworkers at the salon in Marzahan, a Berlin suburb in what was East Germany. This was a really warm-hearted read. The clients - all ordinary people, mostly older and often down on their luck, battling ill-health, loneliness or poverty - were treated so kindly by the narrator and their stories told in a very tender fashion . Each vignette was perfectly self-contained, but combined they built up a layered picture of the area, one that highlighted the impact of history, politics, and social policy on people, that really humanising the impacts of the former GDR. Being somewhat older myself I also appreciated the author’s thoughts on the realities of middle age. All in all a surprisingly compelling read, much more so than you would expect from a book about someone looking after other people’s feet to be. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Suicide and Dementia

itsredandread's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful reflective sad fast-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide

Minor: Dementia and Death

lena04's review against another edition

emotional funny lighthearted reflective relaxing medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Dementia and Suicide