- Intriguing novel with a captivating cast of characters, mainly postgrad students living and studying in Berlin. As the back cover blurb says Channelling the modern female experience with razor-sharp observation and witty flair, Berlin announces Bea Sutton as an electrifying literary voice for her generation.
- It's certainly a well written story. The narrator Daphne is a young French-English woman seeking some meaning in her rather vacuous life by spending a gap year in Berlin. She's also a profoundly troubled personality and a propulsive liar, desperately seeking some sense of authenticity. For instance she's pretending to her new friends she’s completing her PhD in philosophy, which is far from the truth.
- She's enrolled in a German class and is quickly learning the language. She's also seemingly incapable of eating anything but chocolate, chips, and seeds, day and night. She's quite physically attractive but thin and getting thinner. Yes, a fascinating and rather sad character, whom you can't help but like and support. The seeds of greater things were latent in me somewhere, just waiting to bloom.
- The young men she meets are mostly boorish inadequates, apart from one. Her new female friends are supportive, yet they know little of her real self. They walk a lot around Berlin, visiting lots of cafes, parks and well-known historical monuments. There's also lots of German words, phrases and short sentences with translations and notes in English. That's so good.
- Some seemingly criminal events happen in her apartment - rocks thrown through her window and crockery and furnishings trashed. The police get involved. The resolution is very satisfying.
- The novel centralises communication through social media apps which is good to see in contemporary fiction. Phones have become vital bodily organs.
- A very enjoyable read.
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