A review by circe_08
Die verlorene Ehre der Katharina Blum by Heinrich Böll

dark sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

It’s just shocking, how awful the boulevard-press can be. In the beginning, Blum was a lovely young lady, who had dreams, a job and an apartment. She loved her work and put effort in it. But in the end she was mentally destroyed, called a murderer of her mom and the actual murder of a journalist, who had violently accused her throughout the whole process of questioning. He insulted, bullied and even stalked her, he tried to sexually abuse her and use quotes of people within her inner circle against her, because he completely modified them. He manipulated many readers into believing, that Katharina Blum was a morally wrong and in general evil person. However most of the policemen just watched and claimed there wasn’t much to do about it. The book showed, how violence can cause normal people to become harassing people full of hatred, no matter how much it would affect their reputation.