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Fear
Fear | Dirk Kurbjuweit
10 posts | 7 read | 1 reading | 5 to read
FEAR shifts our moral codes. It makes us sympathetic to violent revenge, accessories to murder. Do we want the victim to survive? No, we don't. Long after I had put this book down I still didn't. A great achievement. Herman Koch I had always believed my father capable of a massacre. Whenever I heard on the news that there had been a killing spree, I would hold my breath, unable to relax until it was clear that it couldnt have been him. Thats paranoid, I know, but its inevitable if you grew up the way I did. Randolph insists he had a normal childhood, though his father kept thirty loaded guns in the house. Now he has an attractive, intelligent wife and two children, enjoys modest success as an architect and has just moved into a beautiful flat in a respectable part of Berlin. Life seems perfectuntil his wife, Rebecca, meets the man living in the basement below. Their downstairs neighbour is friendly at first, but soon he starts to frighten themand when Randolph fails to act, the situation quickly spins out of control. Dirk Kurbjuweit is deputy editor-in-chief at Der Spiegel, where he has worked since 1999, and divides his time between Berlin and Hamburg. He has received numerous awards for his writing, including the Egon Erwin Kisch Prize for journalism, and is the author of seven critically acclaimed novels, many of which, including Fear, have been adapted for film, television and radio in Germany. Fear is the first of his works to be translated into English. Flawlessly translated from German by Imogen Taylor...a gripping and thought-provoking read. BookMooch
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SqueakyChu
Fear | Dirk Kurbjuweit
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This is turning out to be a VERY CREEPY book! 😳 A murder starts the book, but it really is the story of a man whose neighbor insists he and his wife are sexually abusing their own children when they‘re not!!

PaperbackPirate Creepy cover too! 😬 1w
SqueakyChu The writing in this book is terrific. It‘s by a German author, and my book is a copy that was translated into English. 1w
12 likes2 stack adds3 comments
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Mellyhilly
Fear | Dirk Kurbjuweit
Mehso-so

I read book after hearing part of a dramatisation of it on radio 4. Having had high hopes after hearing it I was slightly disappointed by the book as a whole and found some parts slightly irrelevant. I felt it did a good job of creating suspense but then the actual mystery wasn‘t great

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Annashep
Fear | Dirk Kurbjuweit
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New book group read ... book group this morning (lovely catch up and tea and cakes) .. then Christmas shopping and a Cosmopolitan after braving the shops 😀 think this will be a good Christmas read .. “sinister” “frightening” and “gripping” are the words describing it on the cover 📚😀🌟✨

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Ottergirl
Fear | Dirk Kurbjuweit

This story was over before it started. The opening lays out the entire plot and I was left with no suspense... there was no ‘chasing‘ or ‘wondering‘. I didn‘t like the narrator at all, maybe a cultural divide, and there is very little character development of any of the other characters at all. Overall I was very disappointed

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SavidgeReads
Fear | Dirk Kurbjuweit
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Panpan

Great premise. What do you do if a neighbour becomes a slanderous stalker who intimidates you and your family. That makes up approximately 20% of this book. Themes and discussion in class, marriage, abuse, violence, law, politics, family, marriage are all here but sadly due to the narrator they're monosyllabic lectures of a privileged white middle class man with daddy issues. I wanted it to be brilliant. It just made me very cross.

Nebklvr 😰 7y
BookNAround That's a disappointment. 7y
readingjedi Hate it when that happens. Book Disappointment is definitely "a thing". 7y
Lizpixie Bummer! I saw you haul this on YouTube and thought it looked interesting, but I'll give it a miss now! Thanks👍 7y
Ottergirl This wasn‘t thrilling at all.... 5y
39 likes1 stack add5 comments
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ShirleyBateman
Fear | Dirk Kurbjuweit
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Pickpick

A very uncomfortable read. The narrative made me squirm and identify unpleasant feelings that I sometimes experience myself. Fear forces us to be unlikeable versions of ourselves. This reminded me of 'The dinner' although I found Koch's Book even more unpleasant.

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Jhullie
Fear | Dirk Kurbjuweit
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Mehso-so

Well, it wasn't the suspenseful thriller I was expecting. I wasn't on the edge of my seat. The idea had promise but no oomph. I'm afraid if it were my family being threatened I would have pulled that trigger long before he did! Maybe it lost something in translation? I don't know.

Michelle_mck I hadn't realised this is based on an experience the author and his family had in Berlin 8y
43 likes1 comment
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Jhullie
Fear | Dirk Kurbjuweit
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A Goodreads Giveaway I started this yesterday and I'm hooked, already over halfway through. Can I stay home and read all day?

37 likes1 stack add
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Jhullie
Fear | Dirk Kurbjuweit
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Book Mail❣
My Goodreads Giveaway arrived, plus a gift from a friend. Life is good📚💖💕

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Jhullie
Fear | Dirk Kurbjuweit
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Woohoo, Goodreads Giveaway win!
📕❤️📗💚📘💙

LeahBergen This sounds good! 8y
TheLondonBookworm That's awesome! I never win those things 😂 8y
Cinfhen Sweet win 💗 8y
Lacythebookworm Yay! 🙌🎉 8y
Jhullie @TheLondonBookworm @Cinfhen @Lacythebookworm I have won a few from Goodreads (I enter hundreds lol) and some from Facebook comps too. A free book is always a welcome book 📚😀 8y
63 likes1 stack add5 comments