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Other People's Clothes
A propulsive debut with a wicked sense of humor in which two American ex-pats obsessed with the Amanda Knox trial find themselves at the nexus of murder and celebrity in glittering late-aughts Berlin.
Hoping to escape the pain of the recent murder of her best friend, art student Zoe Beech finds herself studying abroad in the bohemian capital of Europe--Berlin. Zoe, rudderless, relies on the arrangements of fellow exchange student Hailey Mader, who idolizes Warhol and Britney Spears and wants nothing more than to be an art star. On Craigslist, Hailey unknowingly stumbles on an apartment sublet posted by a well-known thriller writer. Feeling as though they've won the lottery, the women move into the high-ceilinged pre-war flat. Soon they realize that their landlady, Beatrice, who is supposed to be on a residency in Vienna, is watching them--and her next book appears to be based on their lives. Taking stock of their mundane routines--Law and Order binges and nightly nachos--Hailey insists they become people worthy of a novel. As the year unravels and events spiral out of control, they begin to wonder whose story they are living, and how will it end?
Other People's Clothes is brilliant on the sometimes dangerous intensity of female friendships, on millennial life in the city, on the lengths people will go to in order to eradicate emotional pain.
Hoping to escape the pain of the recent murder of her best friend, art student Zoe Beech finds herself studying abroad in the bohemian capital of Europe--Berlin. Zoe, rudderless, relies on the arrangements of fellow exchange student Hailey Mader, who idolizes Warhol and Britney Spears and wants nothing more than to be an art star. On Craigslist, Hailey unknowingly stumbles on an apartment sublet posted by a well-known thriller writer. Feeling as though they've won the lottery, the women move into the high-ceilinged pre-war flat. Soon they realize that their landlady, Beatrice, who is supposed to be on a residency in Vienna, is watching them--and her next book appears to be based on their lives. Taking stock of their mundane routines--Law and Order binges and nightly nachos--Hailey insists they become people worthy of a novel. As the year unravels and events spiral out of control, they begin to wonder whose story they are living, and how will it end?
Other People's Clothes is brilliant on the sometimes dangerous intensity of female friendships, on millennial life in the city, on the lengths people will go to in order to eradicate emotional pain.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published February 1, 2022
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41176 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 2,136 reviews
February 1, 2022
HAPPY PUBLICATION DAY!
Other People’s Clothes is an intriguing slow burner about two 20-year old art students who travel from New York to Berlin to study...but things don’t go according to plan.
Zoe’s best friend from high school, Ivy, was murdered a few months ago. All Zoe wants to do is escape. Hailey comes from a rich family, is obsessed with pop culture, and wants to be “artfully” famous.
They decide to rent an apartment from Beatrice Becks, a famous author of crime novels, who will be away for a few months. All is fine and dandy until Zoe and Hailey get a vibe that someone has been in the apartment while they were out… Someone may be watching them. That someone may be Beatrice.
Zoe and Hailey are convinced Beatrice is using them as inspiration for her new novel. The young women decide if they’re going to be characters in her upcoming book, they need to take control of the narrative and make sure they come off as interesting and exciting.
They decide to open an exclusive club in the apartment. Booze, drugs, sex. Nothing is off limits…
---until control is lost and something terrible happens.
This is a book where I felt compelled to gather my thoughts before writing my review. The prose is intoxicating. Debut author Calla Henkel is compelling in her writing, including unexpected moments of very dark humor. I enjoyed reading it, and I was eager to see where it would go.
However, I will say there’s quite a few scenes involving partying, jealousy, and unlikable (sometimes despicable) characters. It’s hard at times to figure out where, if anywhere, the story may be going...despite the fact that you may guess where part of it is going.
It does indeed go somewhere dark and thrilling, but it takes time to get there. If you don’t mind the journey and the detours, you may find yourself enraptured in the heightened intensity of a juicy story like I did. Oh, and the last few sentences are a wicked delight!
3.5 stars
Thank you to Doubleday and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Expected Publication Date: 2/1/22.
Review also posted at: https://bonkersforthebooks.wordpress.com
Other People’s Clothes is an intriguing slow burner about two 20-year old art students who travel from New York to Berlin to study...but things don’t go according to plan.
Zoe’s best friend from high school, Ivy, was murdered a few months ago. All Zoe wants to do is escape. Hailey comes from a rich family, is obsessed with pop culture, and wants to be “artfully” famous.
They decide to rent an apartment from Beatrice Becks, a famous author of crime novels, who will be away for a few months. All is fine and dandy until Zoe and Hailey get a vibe that someone has been in the apartment while they were out… Someone may be watching them. That someone may be Beatrice.
Zoe and Hailey are convinced Beatrice is using them as inspiration for her new novel. The young women decide if they’re going to be characters in her upcoming book, they need to take control of the narrative and make sure they come off as interesting and exciting.
They decide to open an exclusive club in the apartment. Booze, drugs, sex. Nothing is off limits…
---until control is lost and something terrible happens.
This is a book where I felt compelled to gather my thoughts before writing my review. The prose is intoxicating. Debut author Calla Henkel is compelling in her writing, including unexpected moments of very dark humor. I enjoyed reading it, and I was eager to see where it would go.
However, I will say there’s quite a few scenes involving partying, jealousy, and unlikable (sometimes despicable) characters. It’s hard at times to figure out where, if anywhere, the story may be going...despite the fact that you may guess where part of it is going.
It does indeed go somewhere dark and thrilling, but it takes time to get there. If you don’t mind the journey and the detours, you may find yourself enraptured in the heightened intensity of a juicy story like I did. Oh, and the last few sentences are a wicked delight!
3.5 stars
Thank you to Doubleday and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Expected Publication Date: 2/1/22.
Review also posted at: https://bonkersforthebooks.wordpress.com
April 26, 2022
calling this the better version of who is maude dixon is reductive but ultimately true. she’s campy and indulgent and a little bit meta but the characters are complete and it’s not possible to be bored by this. the plot is sliiiiiiiightly bloated and the end could have been shortened BUT i was still a fan. now someone teach calla henkel what a semicolon is before her next book comes out!
Read
December 25, 2024a fun read about messy party girls, toxic friendships, and a splash of murder, which unfortunately seems to come a little too late in the book. i think it would’ve been better if it happened earlier and we spent more time on the fallout. still, these characters would love the brat album
April 2, 2022
The only way I could describe this book is if Amanda Knox was the main character in Cabaret...
This is a book I want to immediately reread to annotate and dissect. This was so kindly sent to me by Ashley who was 70% of the way through the audiobook when she thought "Katie has to read this" and I'm so glad she knew me well enough to force this book on me.
I loved it! And that's surprising because I am mainly a plot based reader. With characters coming in second. But 80% of this book has no plot. It's just great writing and realistic characters. And I still loved it.
But when the plot hits at the end I was so floored. I did not see the Amanda Knox storyline becoming so realistic. I really really enjoyed this book.
I will say there is a trigger warning for bulimia. It isn't shown but it is talked about frequently.
This is a book I want to immediately reread to annotate and dissect. This was so kindly sent to me by Ashley who was 70% of the way through the audiobook when she thought "Katie has to read this" and I'm so glad she knew me well enough to force this book on me.
I loved it! And that's surprising because I am mainly a plot based reader. With characters coming in second. But 80% of this book has no plot. It's just great writing and realistic characters. And I still loved it.
But when the plot hits at the end I was so floored. I did not see the Amanda Knox storyline becoming so realistic. I really really enjoyed this book.
I will say there is a trigger warning for bulimia. It isn't shown but it is talked about frequently.
June 11, 2024
If there's one thing there can never be enough of, it's books about toxic female friendship.
March 11, 2022
Right from the start this was atmospheric, dark, gritty and addictive. If you like the 20-something year old girls trying to figure out what they’re doing in their life trope but make it take place in Berlin, throw in sex and drugs and partying and then sprinkle in some murder, this is the book for you.
The first thing I loved about this book was literally all of the characters were so interesting. Each one was very different and distinctly themselves. Hailey in particular had this rich and beautiful manic, narcissistic, whirlwind energy that was so captivating whilst also being unnerving in the best way to read.
Also the premise in itself was just amazing and I can’t believe this is a debut novel. These two young girls living in this fancy Berlin apartment, drinking wine and vodka, making lazy nachos, lounging in their pyjamas and binge-watching Law & Order until they start to suspect they are being watched and decide to put on a show? Amazing.
Next we have the aesthetics of this book - brilliant. The party scene, the outfits, the apartment. It was vivid and vibrant and just excellent.
Lastly, the actual mystery in itself. I won’t write too much about this as it’s better you don’t know but I’ll just say it keeps you on your toes with this creeping sense that it’s all going to go wrong but you don’t know how, and I absolutely adored how it played out.
The first thing I loved about this book was literally all of the characters were so interesting. Each one was very different and distinctly themselves. Hailey in particular had this rich and beautiful manic, narcissistic, whirlwind energy that was so captivating whilst also being unnerving in the best way to read.
Also the premise in itself was just amazing and I can’t believe this is a debut novel. These two young girls living in this fancy Berlin apartment, drinking wine and vodka, making lazy nachos, lounging in their pyjamas and binge-watching Law & Order until they start to suspect they are being watched and decide to put on a show? Amazing.
Next we have the aesthetics of this book - brilliant. The party scene, the outfits, the apartment. It was vivid and vibrant and just excellent.
Lastly, the actual mystery in itself. I won’t write too much about this as it’s better you don’t know but I’ll just say it keeps you on your toes with this creeping sense that it’s all going to go wrong but you don’t know how, and I absolutely adored how it played out.
April 16, 2022
Another book that I wish I could remember why I had it on my list. What an unrewarding, unmemorable slog with an entire slate of all unlikable characters. And the writing was so over the top!!!!!!! Like a college freshman trying sooooo hard. Some particularly egregious and nonsensical metaphor examples:
Scooping my eyeballs like liquid sorbet
I slurped her cruelty like spaghetti
The stare of a tennis champion in the final match of her life
Hair hanging as heavy as genetically modified roses
Ogling the glass chandelier that stared down at us like the twisted love child of a firework and a palm tree
Walking through the clumped bodies felt like canoeing through a loud jungle full of Bullfrogs, crickets and sloppy parrots
Scooping my eyeballs like liquid sorbet
I slurped her cruelty like spaghetti
The stare of a tennis champion in the final match of her life
Hair hanging as heavy as genetically modified roses
Ogling the glass chandelier that stared down at us like the twisted love child of a firework and a palm tree
Walking through the clumped bodies felt like canoeing through a loud jungle full of Bullfrogs, crickets and sloppy parrots
September 13, 2022
Yes, this novel sometimes gives trashy Gone Girl vibes, but it is also oh-so-much fun to read: After her best friend gets murdered, art student Zoe starts a relationship with the dubious boyfriend of her late friend (a move that not exactly enhances her reputation), but then leaves for an exchange semester in Berlin. There, she becomes roommates with a drama-loving fellow American exchange student, and the two young women rent out an apartment from a writer. Soon, they start to suspect that they are the research objects of said writer, and as they want to appear as exciting, flamboyant characters in the upcoming novel, they start to turn their lives into performances...
Sure, this hipster thriller has stuff to say about social media, curating your life, being "that girl", authenticity, etc. pp, but it's not super deep. Still, I greatly enjoyed the writing and the scene-setting in 2008/2009 Berlin with references to Sven Marquardt, Westbam, and Alexander Scheer (I think), as well as the depiction of the urge in the art and theater scene to be relevant and hip and different (and we all know what happens when everybody wants to be different - see The Society of Singularities). The pretentiousness is hilarious, and the fear of wasting your youth by not wasting your youth enough is illustrated in a smart and entertaining way. Henkel uses the case of Amanda Knox as a wicked foil throughout the story, and miraculously, it's a lot funnier than it should be - especially when Knox gets contrasted with one artist the two art students/roommates at the center of the text idolize: Britney Spears, queen of plastic pop (and victim of the inhumane celebrity system the two young women long to enter).
Towards the last third, the novel fully enters fantastical territory, as the coincidences pile up and the story derails, but I can't say that I didn't remain invested. This is top-notch entertainment literature, and I am curious to read what Henkel writes next.
Sure, this hipster thriller has stuff to say about social media, curating your life, being "that girl", authenticity, etc. pp, but it's not super deep. Still, I greatly enjoyed the writing and the scene-setting in 2008/2009 Berlin with references to Sven Marquardt, Westbam, and Alexander Scheer (I think), as well as the depiction of the urge in the art and theater scene to be relevant and hip and different (and we all know what happens when everybody wants to be different - see The Society of Singularities). The pretentiousness is hilarious, and the fear of wasting your youth by not wasting your youth enough is illustrated in a smart and entertaining way. Henkel uses the case of Amanda Knox as a wicked foil throughout the story, and miraculously, it's a lot funnier than it should be - especially when Knox gets contrasted with one artist the two art students/roommates at the center of the text idolize: Britney Spears, queen of plastic pop (and victim of the inhumane celebrity system the two young women long to enter).
Towards the last third, the novel fully enters fantastical territory, as the coincidences pile up and the story derails, but I can't say that I didn't remain invested. This is top-notch entertainment literature, and I am curious to read what Henkel writes next.
did-not-finish
February 25, 2023my only real reading resolution for 2023 is to become absolutely ruthless at dnfing if the first 50-100 pages didn't convince me / dnfed at ~15% of the way through
July 23, 2021
This novel is intoxicating with its vivid prose and darkly observant characters. Berlin. Parties. Death and recovery .
A strangely edgy book that is a joy to read. Best read cold.
Highly recommended.
A strangely edgy book that is a joy to read. Best read cold.
Highly recommended.
February 24, 2022
This new release was buzzing about on the ‘Gram awhile back and instantly grabbed my attention due to the Megan Abbott blurb. (In case you aren’t aware – I’m a pretty cheap date.) Even that face cover couldn’t push me away ha-ha. I didn’t bother reading the synopsis because . . . . well, Megan Abbott.
Turns out this story takes place around the time of the original Amanda Knox news story. And now here’s a confession: I don’t know anything about that case aside from the fact that at one point Amanda Knox was found guilty – and then eventually she made news again because she was found innocent. Does my lack of knowledge incline me to be more of a Karen or less?????
The world may never know.
Whatever the case, it appears I did not become a Court TV junkie until Casey Anthony (at which point I developed bed sores from which I am still recovering – I keeed I keeeed). Anyway, with all that being said, I was a little afraid I was perhaps the wrong audience for this and wasn’t going to like it. But I was wrooooonnnnnnnnng! Holy shit this was fun. It has just enough pretention to really grease my wheels and the idea of these two gals getting revenge on the prying eyes of their landlady by turning their sublet into Berlin’s hottest club . . . .
Ohhhhhhhh, good times indeed.
Turns out this story takes place around the time of the original Amanda Knox news story. And now here’s a confession: I don’t know anything about that case aside from the fact that at one point Amanda Knox was found guilty – and then eventually she made news again because she was found innocent. Does my lack of knowledge incline me to be more of a Karen or less?????
The world may never know.
Whatever the case, it appears I did not become a Court TV junkie until Casey Anthony (at which point I developed bed sores from which I am still recovering – I keeed I keeeed). Anyway, with all that being said, I was a little afraid I was perhaps the wrong audience for this and wasn’t going to like it. But I was wrooooonnnnnnnnng! Holy shit this was fun. It has just enough pretention to really grease my wheels and the idea of these two gals getting revenge on the prying eyes of their landlady by turning their sublet into Berlin’s hottest club . . . .
Ohhhhhhhh, good times indeed.
September 10, 2021
a fun, edgy, dark, and vaguely hallucinogenic novel about two american art exchange students in berlin who, after suspecting that their landlady (an eccentric author of crime-thriller books) has been spying on them for her next book, decide to put on a show.
i’m not sure what genre i’d place this in because at the start it feels like your typical literary fiction, struggling 20-something woman trying to figure herself out, but then the thriller/mystery element creeps in about halfway through. the writing is very raw and atmospheric, and the two female protagonists are some of the most unhinged women i’ve ever read about, but that’s what makes them so fun. the late noughties setting worked really well for the story, although the characters’ obsession with the amanda knox case became a little frustrating because it basically gives away, or at least hints at, what’s going to happen.
this book would be great if you’re into the ‘sad/struggling 20-something woman’ vibe and also if you like unhinged female characters who may also be unreliable narrators. put simply - this book honestly feels like a fever dream. and also that last line??? i’m spiralling
i’m not sure what genre i’d place this in because at the start it feels like your typical literary fiction, struggling 20-something woman trying to figure herself out, but then the thriller/mystery element creeps in about halfway through. the writing is very raw and atmospheric, and the two female protagonists are some of the most unhinged women i’ve ever read about, but that’s what makes them so fun. the late noughties setting worked really well for the story, although the characters’ obsession with the amanda knox case became a little frustrating because it basically gives away, or at least hints at, what’s going to happen.
this book would be great if you’re into the ‘sad/struggling 20-something woman’ vibe and also if you like unhinged female characters who may also be unreliable narrators. put simply - this book honestly feels like a fever dream. and also that last line??? i’m spiralling
April 10, 2022
Hmmm. This novel started off really strong, but around the halfway mark - I became very frustrated with the direction the story was going in. First off, the strongest part of this book was the writing. Calla Henkel is a vivid and detailed storyteller. As for the characters, I found them insufferable and interchangeable. Zoe was an indecisive character. I really wanted to like her, but she kept making idiotic choices for no reason. She's the ultimate people pleaser, and she had no identity. And dear god, that ending! Ugh. I saw the twist coming a mile away. Nothing shocking here. Very predictable conclusion. Honestly this book was just another run-of-the-mill novel about young and impressionable girls who get high and shit-faced every weekend. There's a murder mystery which ends up being barely a mystery at all. This book had some interesting moments here and there, but overall, a very bloated and chaotic story. I sooooo wanted to like this. It's a mixed bag for me.
May 27, 2022
Unfortunately if I had to describe this book in a single word it would be boring. I was expecting so much more from this and was left ultimately quite disappointed.
While it had excellent writing and interesting characters to explore, this book did nothing spectacular with them. We barely scratch the surface on the two protagonists and their lives really, the book is just so repetitive. All they do is get drunk and do drugs and make a mess of their apartment to clean it up again, for hundreds of pages. Things are referenced completely and not fully explained or explored. You’re supposed to care but for me it was just a snoozefest. I actually dreaded having to pick this up and force myself to finish it.
All in all I didn’t care what was going on at all, and the pacing was so slow it was painful. It wasn’t at all thrilling or original. It’s a shame I didn’t like it because I think the author has excellent writing ability and can come up with amazing character concepts, but the potential was just wasted for me in this narrative.
Also the ending took a complete random spiral. It was the most interesting part of the book, until it got too confusing for me to even follow. I had higher hopes for this now I’m sad.
While it had excellent writing and interesting characters to explore, this book did nothing spectacular with them. We barely scratch the surface on the two protagonists and their lives really, the book is just so repetitive. All they do is get drunk and do drugs and make a mess of their apartment to clean it up again, for hundreds of pages. Things are referenced completely and not fully explained or explored. You’re supposed to care but for me it was just a snoozefest. I actually dreaded having to pick this up and force myself to finish it.
All in all I didn’t care what was going on at all, and the pacing was so slow it was painful. It wasn’t at all thrilling or original. It’s a shame I didn’t like it because I think the author has excellent writing ability and can come up with amazing character concepts, but the potential was just wasted for me in this narrative.
Also the ending took a complete random spiral. It was the most interesting part of the book, until it got too confusing for me to even follow. I had higher hopes for this now I’m sad.
February 22, 2022
4.5, rounded down.
I really enjoyed Henkel's debut novel - if it veers a bit towards guilty pleasures status, and chick-lit and mystery-thriller tropes a mite, line-by-line it goes unexpected places, and is frequently LOL hilarious. But I'm going to be lazy and just point those interested towards two spot-on reviews:
https://www.theguardian.com/books/202...
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/01/bo...
I really enjoyed Henkel's debut novel - if it veers a bit towards guilty pleasures status, and chick-lit and mystery-thriller tropes a mite, line-by-line it goes unexpected places, and is frequently LOL hilarious. But I'm going to be lazy and just point those interested towards two spot-on reviews:
https://www.theguardian.com/books/202...
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/01/bo...
February 22, 2022
This was like a slow, elaborate train derailment. I couldn’t take me eyes off of the bizarre lives ex-pat art students Zoe and Hailey fashioned for themselves in Berlin. Dark, clever, creepy, weirdly funny, and completely unhinged. This far exceeded my expectations, and I will absolutely read whatever Henkel writes next!
June 12, 2022
"Every night you miss in Berlin, is a night you miss in Berlin."
Una historia de autodestrucción y autodescubrimiento en Berlín, situada entre 2007-2009 aprox. Hay drogas, fiestas, el mundo tóxico del arte, sexo, personajes que amas odiar y, sobre todo, asesinatos. Me gustó que la autora reconoce el impacto del caso de Amanda Knox, no sólo en su historia, sino en la percepción de los turistas/estudiantes estadounidenses en Europa. La verdad lo disfruté bastante, aunque el final se me hizo algo flojo.
Es súper triste ver cómo Zoe toma las peores decisiones, lo sola y lastimada que está y cómo asume un papel sumiso ante sus amistades y el mundo que la rodea. Aunque por supuesto el asesinato/misterio son partes muy importantes de la trama, creo que el libro se enfoca mucho más en el desarrollo de personaje de Zoe, lo cual no me molestó en lo absoluto. Otro más para mi lista de libros sobre mujeres en una espiral de autodestrucción y malas decisiones.
Una historia de autodestrucción y autodescubrimiento en Berlín, situada entre 2007-2009 aprox. Hay drogas, fiestas, el mundo tóxico del arte, sexo, personajes que amas odiar y, sobre todo, asesinatos. Me gustó que la autora reconoce el impacto del caso de Amanda Knox, no sólo en su historia, sino en la percepción de los turistas/estudiantes estadounidenses en Europa. La verdad lo disfruté bastante, aunque el final se me hizo algo flojo.
Es súper triste ver cómo Zoe toma las peores decisiones, lo sola y lastimada que está y cómo asume un papel sumiso ante sus amistades y el mundo que la rodea. Aunque por supuesto el asesinato/misterio son partes muy importantes de la trama, creo que el libro se enfoca mucho más en el desarrollo de personaje de Zoe, lo cual no me molestó en lo absoluto. Otro más para mi lista de libros sobre mujeres en una espiral de autodestrucción y malas decisiones.
February 9, 2024
Als Zoes beste Freundin ermordet wird, stürzt sie das in eine tiefe Krise. Sie beginnt eine toxische Beziehung mit dem Exfreund der Verstorbenen und verliert sich in ihrer Trauer. Als das Auslandssemester ihrer New Yorker Universität in Berlin ansteht, sieht sie die Reise als Ausweg. Ihre Mitstudentin Hailey kennt sie nicht wirklich, trotzdem versuchen die beiden gemeinsam in Berlin Fuß zu fassen. Als sie Untermieterinnen der Krimiautorin Beatrice Becks werden, scheinen sie die perfekte Wohnung für ihren Aufenthalt in Berlin gefunden zu haben. Doch schon bald häufen sich merkwürdige Situationen in der Wohnung und es verdichten sich die Hinweise, dass Beatrice die beiden Studentinnen zu den Protagonistinnen in ihrem neuen Kriminalroman machen möchte. Zoe und Hailey nehmen ihre Geschichte kurz entschlossen selbst in die Hand und veranstalten die legendärsten Partys Berlins in ihrer Wohnung - mit fatalen Folgen.
"Ruhm für eine Nacht" von Calla Henkel, aus dem Englischen übersetzt von Verena Kilchling, ist ein rauschhafter, düsterer Spannungsroman über zwei junge Frauen in ihren Zwanzigern und die Kunstszene in Berlin in den 2010er Jahren. Die Geschichte wird rasant mit vielen Wendungen erzählt, die Lesenden stolpern von Party zu Party, Alkohol- und Drogenexzesse stehen auf der Tagesordnung. Schauplatz ist zwar Berlin, die Wohnung der Krimiautorin, das Berghain und andere Partylocations stehen aber eher im Fokus, als die Stadt selbst. Mit fast schon thrillerartigen Zügen lässt die Autorin die Ich-Erzählerin von einer Obsession für die Frauen in ihrer Umgebung in die nächste taumeln, Essstörungen und Alkoholsucht inklusive. Durch den Verdacht Zoes und Haileys, als Inspiration für die Protagonistinnen im nächsten Kriminalroman ihrer Vermieterinnen herhalten zu müssen, entsteht eine interessante Metaebene.
Insgesamt hat mich Calla Henkels Debütroman trotz permanent hoch gehaltenem Spannungsbogen nicht durchweg fesseln können, auch der extreme Alkohol- und Drogenkonsum sowie der in meinen Augen leichtfertige Umgang mit Essstörungen haben mir nicht zugesagt. Trotzdem finde ich den Ansatz der Geschichte sehr kreativ und mochte viele Themen, die die Autorin in ihrem Buch unterschwellig anspricht. "Ruhm für eine Nacht" ist für mich kein Must-Read, aber ein unterhaltsamer Spannungsroman mit bizarren Charakteren für Zwischendurch.
"Ruhm für eine Nacht" von Calla Henkel, aus dem Englischen übersetzt von Verena Kilchling, ist ein rauschhafter, düsterer Spannungsroman über zwei junge Frauen in ihren Zwanzigern und die Kunstszene in Berlin in den 2010er Jahren. Die Geschichte wird rasant mit vielen Wendungen erzählt, die Lesenden stolpern von Party zu Party, Alkohol- und Drogenexzesse stehen auf der Tagesordnung. Schauplatz ist zwar Berlin, die Wohnung der Krimiautorin, das Berghain und andere Partylocations stehen aber eher im Fokus, als die Stadt selbst. Mit fast schon thrillerartigen Zügen lässt die Autorin die Ich-Erzählerin von einer Obsession für die Frauen in ihrer Umgebung in die nächste taumeln, Essstörungen und Alkoholsucht inklusive. Durch den Verdacht Zoes und Haileys, als Inspiration für die Protagonistinnen im nächsten Kriminalroman ihrer Vermieterinnen herhalten zu müssen, entsteht eine interessante Metaebene.
Insgesamt hat mich Calla Henkels Debütroman trotz permanent hoch gehaltenem Spannungsbogen nicht durchweg fesseln können, auch der extreme Alkohol- und Drogenkonsum sowie der in meinen Augen leichtfertige Umgang mit Essstörungen haben mir nicht zugesagt. Trotzdem finde ich den Ansatz der Geschichte sehr kreativ und mochte viele Themen, die die Autorin in ihrem Buch unterschwellig anspricht. "Ruhm für eine Nacht" ist für mich kein Must-Read, aber ein unterhaltsamer Spannungsroman mit bizarren Charakteren für Zwischendurch.
November 5, 2022
I’m sad because everything about this should’ve worked for me enough for it to be a new favorite book, I usually love thrillers involving snotty collegiates. this one was just way too much of a slow burn for me. It takes about 100 pages before anything really happens and by the time things actually start getting interesting (about halfway into the book) I felt like I was already checked out by that point.
February 20, 2022
iconic; it’s like a contemporary murder mystery inception serving a late 2000s exchange art students in Berlin fantasy; also the way they title is woven into the story is 😙👌🏻 chef’s kiss exquisite
February 4, 2022
I know that I'm giving this book a 3 star rating, but I actually enjoyed
Other People's Clothes
so hear me out. The book definitely gives off Amanda Knox vibes in a sense that the book focuses on two ex-pats finding themselves in a murder investigation in Berlin, Germany.
Zoe Beech and her friend Hailey Mader escape to Germany to study abroad. Berlin is a city that knows how to party (I know as I've been to the same places mentioned in this book and need a two day rest after one night out), and Zoe and Hailey are enjoying behind young and dumb. Filling their lives with drugs and sex, the two are creating bonds and learning how to handle being on their own in a city across the ocean. The two move into a sublet together and come across an unusual landlord named Beatrice. Zoe and Hailey soon find out that Beatrice is writing about them in her novel and the two decide to give her more content by living their lives to the fullest. That is, until something more sinister is at play.
This book is really fun and took me back to my 20s. I lived a quite crazy lifestyle and I can relate to SOME of the antics that Zoe and Hailey were showing the reader in this book. It was somewhat nostalgic and somewhat wild and voyeuristic. I really enjoyed that intensity of Zoe and Hailey's friendship, infused with the atmospheric Berlin backdrop. The writing style was very difficult for me to grasp at first and I almost put the book down, but I powered through. The author jumps around many different timeframes at a moment's notice and it got a bit confusing. I think if the style of storytelling was more linear, this book would've been a five star read for me because it was FUN. Once I got accustomed to the way the story was being conveyed, I buckled up for one hell of a ride. Other People's Clothes is thrilling, fun, sexy, and wickedly funny.
Zoe Beech and her friend Hailey Mader escape to Germany to study abroad. Berlin is a city that knows how to party (I know as I've been to the same places mentioned in this book and need a two day rest after one night out), and Zoe and Hailey are enjoying behind young and dumb. Filling their lives with drugs and sex, the two are creating bonds and learning how to handle being on their own in a city across the ocean. The two move into a sublet together and come across an unusual landlord named Beatrice. Zoe and Hailey soon find out that Beatrice is writing about them in her novel and the two decide to give her more content by living their lives to the fullest. That is, until something more sinister is at play.
This book is really fun and took me back to my 20s. I lived a quite crazy lifestyle and I can relate to SOME of the antics that Zoe and Hailey were showing the reader in this book. It was somewhat nostalgic and somewhat wild and voyeuristic. I really enjoyed that intensity of Zoe and Hailey's friendship, infused with the atmospheric Berlin backdrop. The writing style was very difficult for me to grasp at first and I almost put the book down, but I powered through. The author jumps around many different timeframes at a moment's notice and it got a bit confusing. I think if the style of storytelling was more linear, this book would've been a five star read for me because it was FUN. Once I got accustomed to the way the story was being conveyed, I buckled up for one hell of a ride. Other People's Clothes is thrilling, fun, sexy, and wickedly funny.
August 24, 2021
Zoe was the mysterious art student in her high school, but her arrival to New York revealed she was just one of many who thought, looked, and acted just like her. Hailey is the anomaly in their class. She foregoes a sullen expression for bright pink, lipstick smiles and swaps the usual art student's uniform of Docs and paint-splattered overalls for low-rise jeans and velour tracksuits.
The two could not be more dissimilar but they are forced to find common ground when they find themselves both travelling to Berlin for a year of studies. They become roommates in the once-grand apartment of a semi-successful novelist and their year of alcohol binges, drug-fuelled all-nighters, and doing everything to success begins.
I loved the early focus on learning to understand these two females. They were both lost in entirely different ways and clung to their previous shared experiences in New York as a way to stay afloat in this strange, new city. Both had a variety of likable and unlikable traits, just as both had a horde of strengths and vulnerabilities. They slowly shared these, with each other and the reader, as their close confines increasingly forced them into a strange, toxic, and all-consuming friendship.
This tackled numerous darker topics that had my heart breaking for these suffering characters. It was as bleak as it was edgy, but it was also a story that became more and more bizarre, and I did not anticipate the direction it would eventually take. It was a novel as sad as it was unsettling and it revealed all that lay beyond the false glitz and glamour of the student ex-pat lifestyle.
I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to the author, Calla Henkel, and the publisher, Sceptre, for this opportunity.
The two could not be more dissimilar but they are forced to find common ground when they find themselves both travelling to Berlin for a year of studies. They become roommates in the once-grand apartment of a semi-successful novelist and their year of alcohol binges, drug-fuelled all-nighters, and doing everything to success begins.
I loved the early focus on learning to understand these two females. They were both lost in entirely different ways and clung to their previous shared experiences in New York as a way to stay afloat in this strange, new city. Both had a variety of likable and unlikable traits, just as both had a horde of strengths and vulnerabilities. They slowly shared these, with each other and the reader, as their close confines increasingly forced them into a strange, toxic, and all-consuming friendship.
This tackled numerous darker topics that had my heart breaking for these suffering characters. It was as bleak as it was edgy, but it was also a story that became more and more bizarre, and I did not anticipate the direction it would eventually take. It was a novel as sad as it was unsettling and it revealed all that lay beyond the false glitz and glamour of the student ex-pat lifestyle.
I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to the author, Calla Henkel, and the publisher, Sceptre, for this opportunity.
May 31, 2023
This book can be resumed to: Gossip Girl went to Berghain. What a fun read! Had a blast with this hateful, obnoxious and deeply flawed characters.
March 27, 2022
WTactualF
Read
June 21, 2023IF INDIE SLEAZE WAS A NOVEL... with good pacing and cutting prose. i was really impressed with the way the story built and how all the strings tied together by the end. no stone was left unturned. all around messy, drug-fueled fun in 2000s berlin. calla took the phrase "never let them know your next move" and brought it to life.
February 4, 2022
OTHER PEOPLE'S CLOTHES reminded me of a lot of the kids I went to art school with: super fucking pretentious, constantly trying to come off as being really deep and profound and exalted but really, she just smokes a lot of pot and refuses to complete her writing assignments in anything but a Moleskine.
So, like, I didn't mind it on a spiritual level, but holy fuck.
All jokes and triggering college memories aside, I actually really liked Calla Henkel's writing style; there was just something about it that felt gritty and emo and, like, sort of millennial noir, which just vibed with the Late Noughties' Berlin setting and the pseudo-thriller plot. (Her overuse of commas, on the other hand, drove me absolutely crazy.) But the plot pacing was a bit too slow, I didn't really gel with Zoe as a narrator, and there were moments when it felt like the 'mystery' was a complete afterthought to all of the twentysomething, privileged white artist girl angst.
And that ending was such a fucking tease, what the heck.
So, like, I didn't mind it on a spiritual level, but holy fuck.
All jokes and triggering college memories aside, I actually really liked Calla Henkel's writing style; there was just something about it that felt gritty and emo and, like, sort of millennial noir, which just vibed with the Late Noughties' Berlin setting and the pseudo-thriller plot. (Her overuse of commas, on the other hand, drove me absolutely crazy.) But the plot pacing was a bit too slow, I didn't really gel with Zoe as a narrator, and there were moments when it felt like the 'mystery' was a complete afterthought to all of the twentysomething, privileged white artist girl angst.
And that ending was such a fucking tease, what the heck.
February 14, 2022
Not my cup of tea. You might call this a psychological drama, but it is also a long slow slog through one student-exchange year in Germany where some conspicuously shallow, spoiled, and immature American students behave rather badly. The year is 2008. There isn't a likable character in the lot. One reviewer said she "felt drunk reading it." I felt as if I had a nasty hangover when I finished it. I kept thinking, "where are the noble young people like Greta Thunberg when you need them?" (She was evidently five years old in 2008. I would MUCH rather have read about her.)
July 1, 2022
Unhinged women will always and forever be my favorite book genre and this made me feel equally unhinged while reading
February 28, 2023
3,5*~
Não é uma leitura fácil. É tóxico, cru, pesado e imersivo de tal modo que me foi deixando num mood cada vez mais dark conforme a leitura avançava.
Também não é uma leitura rápida. A ação é lenta e composta por avanços e recuos no tempo.
Fez-me pensar nas diferentes formas de vida que existem por este mundo fora, muitas das quais não nos passam pela cabeça e na necessidade tão actual de criar uma vida que não é real para demonstrar nas redes sociais, entre outras temáticas pertinentes. Posto isto, se nos faz pensar, é uma leitura que vale a pena.
Não é uma leitura fácil. É tóxico, cru, pesado e imersivo de tal modo que me foi deixando num mood cada vez mais dark conforme a leitura avançava.
Também não é uma leitura rápida. A ação é lenta e composta por avanços e recuos no tempo.
Fez-me pensar nas diferentes formas de vida que existem por este mundo fora, muitas das quais não nos passam pela cabeça e na necessidade tão actual de criar uma vida que não é real para demonstrar nas redes sociais, entre outras temáticas pertinentes. Posto isto, se nos faz pensar, é uma leitura que vale a pena.
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