A review by heliogabalous_vrz
Berlin Alexanderplatz by Alfred Döblin

4.0

One of the books that's taken me the longest to read and that I often got sick of even though I never thought it was bad or boring. The language is strange in particular the constant shifting of first and third person narration and often reduced my ability to read more than 10-15 pages at a time. Unlike the translator and the few other people I know who have read this book the strange cosmological elements were my favourite aspects, Franz was a really good character and so were those who surrounded him, but the story really came together for me in the final 2 chapters where the final "hammer blow" is dealt to Franz and at the climax meets with death in the asylum.

Really really worth fighting through to finish as it is really fantastic, also this book is one best devoured and not read slowly.