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Wenn euch das gefällt
Zwischen Workout und Skincare lebt Monique, genannt Mon, in einer Sphäre größtmöglicher Perfektion. Ihren Lebensunterhalt verdient sie wie ihre Freundinnen mit Kooperationen im Internet. Auf alkoholfreien Partys erschöpfen sich ihre Beziehungen in Modi von Konkurrenz, Neid und gespielter Zuneigung. Beim Shooting für ein Schokoladen-Start-up trifft Mon auf eine junge Fotografin; es ist der Beginn einer Serie zunächst sexueller Grenzüberschreitungen, in der sich Moniques latente Aggression bald in immer drastischeren Gewaltexzessen Bahn bricht.
In der Tradition des jungen Bret Easton Ellis schreibt Josefine Rieks in »Wenn euch das gefällt« immer am Limit des Erträglichen. Ihr Sujet ist die Erfahrungslosigkeit der Individuen in einer zunehmend virtuellen Realität, ihre gewaltsame Selbstzurichtung und ihr Hunger nach Lebendigkeit.
In der Tradition des jungen Bret Easton Ellis schreibt Josefine Rieks in »Wenn euch das gefällt« immer am Limit des Erträglichen. Ihr Sujet ist die Erfahrungslosigkeit der Individuen in einer zunehmend virtuellen Realität, ihre gewaltsame Selbstzurichtung und ihr Hunger nach Lebendigkeit.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published October 1, 2025
27 people want to read
About the author
Josefine Rieks
4 books1 followerJosefine Rieks was born in Höxter in 1988, studied philosophy, and lives in Berlin. She wrote the screenplay for the no-budget film U3000 – Death of an Indie Band. In 2017, she received the Alfred Döblin Scholarship. Her first novel, Serverland, was published by Hanser in 2018.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
November 27, 2025
Brilliant and possibly a masterpiece. Please forgive that my (possibly incoherent thoughts) are in English as I shall "review" every title on here in my main language.
First of all: I have been criminally neglecting contemporary German literature and I am asking for forgiveness! I AM CATCHING UP though and Josefine Rieks (together with Mesut Bayraktar) is my favorite atm.
Anyways, about the novel: immediate thought that popped into my head is the kinship to JG Ballard, not so much "Crash" but actually "High Rise" maybe? Please do NOT read this as a recommendation "if you like Ballard read Rieks" because 1.) the extremely gifted Josefine has a very unique style all her own (damn she can write!) and 2.) for the last 15 years I personally read EVERY text through a anti-capitalist/socialist lens so you may see the focus or rather the intent of the world building in this novel as something completely unrelated to the concern of a (unorthodox) Marxian like myself.
In any case: the violence of the main character and the narcissim of all of them, all the while their relentless and nauseating lecturing about self-improvement through "woke" consumerism, a incessant "one-upping" each other by reciting endless health benefits of food/workout routine/cremes/lotions etc, this relentless quasi religious quasi autistic presentation to anyone in their listening radius, this obnoxious core feature of the identiy of these very affluent health and beauty influencers, combined with them shutting out any thought/reflection of the structural issues in societies with the amount of wealth inequality we are facing, the fact that their "innovations" in (organic/sustainable/blablabla) food/clothing/cosmetics "technology" will mean absolutely ZERO to folks worrying about housing, health insurance, childcare, very basic nutrition, this juxtaposition that Frau Rieks presents us with has created a very uneasy, very queasy feeling in my stomach ...
Why? Because she nails the quintessential lie of liberal elites who believe their own bedtime stories that they are GOOD PEOPLE because YES poor AFRICANS (in the case of this novel a chocolate start-up in Berlin that is so inclusive they even hire local people in CAMEROON can you dig it?).
I did not grow up in the liberal elite milieu, but certainly liberal and certainly lived/worked/interacted many times in liberal-elite-adjacent situations over the 5 decades of my life.
So then, when the behavior of the characters in and world of "Wenn euch das gefällt" seems exaggerated and extreme, like "satirisch überhöht" as the German would say, I find this only too fitting because the author presents the very logical conclusion of a capitalist regime that is incredibly brutal and even treats its tiny number of "winners" like crap (in the sense of their complete emotional collapse), just like it does the gigantic number of its losers ...
In my extended family we have someone who married a prominent media personality who is super successful in presenting technological/scientific solutions to climate change without ever mentioning let alone criticizing structural realities that prevent a truly equitable solution to the exploitation of resources that lies at the heart of the ever increased dying of our planet.
This guy loves to give interviews where he scolds "regular" people and their consumption habits as reason for the world going to shits without acknowleding that an entire African country per annum emits less CO2 than he and his filmcrew jetting back and forth to the Antarctic to shoot a 5-minute reportage about ice caps melting.
I had to constantly think of him and what the class of people he represents while reading this book: the protagonists are similarily delusional about their expensive and obsessive self optimization schedules, their rejuvenating tipps, their DNA analysis and subsequent nutritional planning: not a word about the privilege of inhabitants of the Northern Hemisphere, a privilege stemming from millenia of ruthless exploitation.
Anyways: rant over, now I am going to have to drink something containing a bit of anti-oxidant but the product has to have been organically grown and shipped with minimal environmental footprint. Only then can I hop into my electric SUV and drive to the UNVERPACKT store today.
GREAT TEXT! IT WILL LAST! IT IS VERY GOOD!
First of all: I have been criminally neglecting contemporary German literature and I am asking for forgiveness! I AM CATCHING UP though and Josefine Rieks (together with Mesut Bayraktar) is my favorite atm.
Anyways, about the novel: immediate thought that popped into my head is the kinship to JG Ballard, not so much "Crash" but actually "High Rise" maybe? Please do NOT read this as a recommendation "if you like Ballard read Rieks" because 1.) the extremely gifted Josefine has a very unique style all her own (damn she can write!) and 2.) for the last 15 years I personally read EVERY text through a anti-capitalist/socialist lens so you may see the focus or rather the intent of the world building in this novel as something completely unrelated to the concern of a (unorthodox) Marxian like myself.
In any case: the violence of the main character and the narcissim of all of them, all the while their relentless and nauseating lecturing about self-improvement through "woke" consumerism, a incessant "one-upping" each other by reciting endless health benefits of food/workout routine/cremes/lotions etc, this relentless quasi religious quasi autistic presentation to anyone in their listening radius, this obnoxious core feature of the identiy of these very affluent health and beauty influencers, combined with them shutting out any thought/reflection of the structural issues in societies with the amount of wealth inequality we are facing, the fact that their "innovations" in (organic/sustainable/blablabla) food/clothing/cosmetics "technology" will mean absolutely ZERO to folks worrying about housing, health insurance, childcare, very basic nutrition, this juxtaposition that Frau Rieks presents us with has created a very uneasy, very queasy feeling in my stomach ...
Why? Because she nails the quintessential lie of liberal elites who believe their own bedtime stories that they are GOOD PEOPLE because YES poor AFRICANS (in the case of this novel a chocolate start-up in Berlin that is so inclusive they even hire local people in CAMEROON can you dig it?).
I did not grow up in the liberal elite milieu, but certainly liberal and certainly lived/worked/interacted many times in liberal-elite-adjacent situations over the 5 decades of my life.
So then, when the behavior of the characters in and world of "Wenn euch das gefällt" seems exaggerated and extreme, like "satirisch überhöht" as the German would say, I find this only too fitting because the author presents the very logical conclusion of a capitalist regime that is incredibly brutal and even treats its tiny number of "winners" like crap (in the sense of their complete emotional collapse), just like it does the gigantic number of its losers ...
In my extended family we have someone who married a prominent media personality who is super successful in presenting technological/scientific solutions to climate change without ever mentioning let alone criticizing structural realities that prevent a truly equitable solution to the exploitation of resources that lies at the heart of the ever increased dying of our planet.
This guy loves to give interviews where he scolds "regular" people and their consumption habits as reason for the world going to shits without acknowleding that an entire African country per annum emits less CO2 than he and his filmcrew jetting back and forth to the Antarctic to shoot a 5-minute reportage about ice caps melting.
I had to constantly think of him and what the class of people he represents while reading this book: the protagonists are similarily delusional about their expensive and obsessive self optimization schedules, their rejuvenating tipps, their DNA analysis and subsequent nutritional planning: not a word about the privilege of inhabitants of the Northern Hemisphere, a privilege stemming from millenia of ruthless exploitation.
Anyways: rant over, now I am going to have to drink something containing a bit of anti-oxidant but the product has to have been organically grown and shipped with minimal environmental footprint. Only then can I hop into my electric SUV and drive to the UNVERPACKT store today.
GREAT TEXT! IT WILL LAST! IT IS VERY GOOD!
January 12, 2026
viele Rezepttipps!
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews