Traumfrau mit Nebenwirkungen.

by Fried Amelie

[München]. 18 cm. 319 p. Encuadernación en tapa blanda de editorial ilustrada. Idioma Alemán. Roman .. Este libro es de segunda mano y tiene o puede tener marcas y señales de su anterior propietario. 3442438659 (kart.)

319 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

Reviews

[Felizia Rommel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cora ist Karrierefrau und kann sich „klassisches Leben“ nicht vorstellen. Autorin ist ironisch, witzig und ich konnte Buch fast nicht aus der Hand legen, weil das Ende nicht direkt absehbar war. Kein Kitschroman!

[Mariana · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book, since the author seems interesting and her recent non-fiction (on marriage) was pretty good, but this one was too boring. The main character was so tremendously irritating and unbelievable, that I wonder: is this the incarnation of the Cool Girl (see Gillian Flynn's) that all men dream about? This selfish, arrogant, superficial and childish yet supposedly irresistible 30-year old? As it is, I could not care a bit about her self-inflicted dating drama and confined her to the darkest corner of our library.

[Maja · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved it. It is a simple story, well written, a bit funny and you can get into the character.

[Left Coast Justin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Die Einzige Spur, die ich auf der Welt zurücklassen würde, wären Tausende von Schokoladenverpackungen und ein Paar gebrauchte Kondome!

("The only sign that I'd ever been on Earth would be thousands of chocolate wrappers and a couple of used condoms!")

Well, no. I’ll get to that. Let us remember the words of Maya Angelou: “People will not remember what you said or what you did. What they remember is the way you made them feel.” And this book actually made me feel pretty good. When I select a book in German, it’s not so much to read what I want, but rather what I feel capable of reading. And if it narrowly intersects what’s available in the library, even better. I approached this as a sort of Duolingo exercise and was surprised at how sharply it was written.

”Sag mal, möchtest Du vielleicht weniger arbeiten und mehr verdienen?“

Selten dämlich Frage.

„Nee, Hella, am liebsten möchte ich ganz viel arbeiten und gar nichts verdienen.“

("Hey, would you be interested in working less but earning more money"?

An unusually stupid question.

"No, Hella, what I'd really like is to work a whole lot for no pay at all.")

The words above are spoken by Cora. The book begins on her thirtieth birthday and ends on her thirty-first. She is a raging ball of Id, selfish and shallow and not very likable. But not lazy – her life is an unending series of minor dramas as she manages her own business, kisses lots of frogs who fail to turn into princes and generally presides over a life barely this side of a train wreck. The book seems firmly in the camp of the benefits of all-night raves, waking up next to coworkers, Ecstasy, Valium and somehow retaining one’s enviable figure. She’s actually a recognizable figure, one of those people around whom a small part of the world really does seem to turn, even if they don’t really deserve it.

But the story is ultimately conservative. The gals call each other “Mädels” ironically, at first, but indeed that is what they are, just awaiting the stars to align so they can settle down and start poppin’ out babies. It’s an old story, but is told with charm. Every sentence in this book serves a purpose. (I might not feel this way had I read it in English, so cut me some slack here.) Some of the descriptions, such as a throwaway sentence about getting snowed in at a friend’s house and waking up to fresh, frigid air blowing in through an open window, struck me hard with reminiscence.

If you’re in the market for 1996 coming-of-age novels written in German, you could do a whole lot worse. I expected nothing, and got back a piece of my younger life.

(Title = "Dream Girl with Side Effects")

[Cin]

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