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Berlin
When Daphne Ferber arrives in Berlin for a fresh start in a thrilling new city, the last thing she expects is to run into more drama than she left behind.
Of course, she knew she'd need to do the usual: make friends, acquire lovers, grapple with German and a whole new way of life. She even expected the long nights gorging alone on family-sized jars of Nutella, and the pitfalls of online dating in another language. The paranoia, the second-guessing of her every choice, the covert behaviours? Probably come with the territory.
But one night, something strange, dangerous and entirely unexpected intervenes, and life in bohemian Kreuzberg suddenly doesn't seem so cool.
Just how much trouble is Daphne in, and who - or what - is out to get her?
Channelling the modern female experience with razor-sharp observation and witty flair, Berlin announces Bea Setton as an electrifying literary voice for her generation.
Of course, she knew she'd need to do the usual: make friends, acquire lovers, grapple with German and a whole new way of life. She even expected the long nights gorging alone on family-sized jars of Nutella, and the pitfalls of online dating in another language. The paranoia, the second-guessing of her every choice, the covert behaviours? Probably come with the territory.
But one night, something strange, dangerous and entirely unexpected intervenes, and life in bohemian Kreuzberg suddenly doesn't seem so cool.
Just how much trouble is Daphne in, and who - or what - is out to get her?
Channelling the modern female experience with razor-sharp observation and witty flair, Berlin announces Bea Setton as an electrifying literary voice for her generation.
250 pages, Hardcover
First published July 7, 2022
254 people are currently reading
16322 people want to read
About the author
Bea Setton
2 books126 followersBea Setton was born in France and spent her early years in the Parisian suburbs before moving to the USA to study Philosophy. Upon graduating, she relocated to Berlin, and the city became the inspiration for her first novel.
She currently divides her time between London and Cambridge, where she is studying for a PhD in the Anthropology of Religion.
She currently divides her time between London and Cambridge, where she is studying for a PhD in the Anthropology of Religion.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 968 reviews
November 21, 2025
"it's kinda like one of those expat moves to a new city and doesn't know what she's doing books. but make her a pathological liar" -leah
this fits in the "books about women going insane" subgenre i respect so much, but it's also something totally its own.
https://emmareadstoomuch.substack.com...
leah read this book (both literally and figuratively in that statement being very accurate. in other words pun intended i guess). the unreliability of this narrator is frustrating and fun, and reading this always made me feel pervasively icky and overwhelmed by being in her brain. which is a compliment.
it has also proved me wrong on certain hot takes of mine like "eating disorder fiction is always boring."
it was also a really frustrating read in many other ways — a bit overwritten and annoying — but overall...
bottom line: i don't know why it took me so long to get to it.
this fits in the "books about women going insane" subgenre i respect so much, but it's also something totally its own.
https://emmareadstoomuch.substack.com...
leah read this book (both literally and figuratively in that statement being very accurate. in other words pun intended i guess). the unreliability of this narrator is frustrating and fun, and reading this always made me feel pervasively icky and overwhelmed by being in her brain. which is a compliment.
it has also proved me wrong on certain hot takes of mine like "eating disorder fiction is always boring."
it was also a really frustrating read in many other ways — a bit overwritten and annoying — but overall...
bottom line: i don't know why it took me so long to get to it.
July 3, 2022
Bea Setton’s intelligent, keenly-observed, debut novel has been getting a lot of positive, media attention. On the surface that’s surprising since she seems to be treading all-too-familiar ground with her central character, a disaffected woman in her mid-twenties frantically trying to make sense of her crumbling life. But, Setton’s skilful, inventive treatment of her material made this unexpectedly gripping.
Berlin’s a first-person narrative voiced by Daphne, whose background overlaps with Setton’s own. Born in France, with a background in philosophy, Daphne’s moved to Germany, ostensibly to reinvent herself. She’s an openly-unreliable narrator, a curious blend of self-deprecating and annoyingly self-congratulatory, drifting through her days shored up by financial support from her wealthy family. Daphne sublets an apartment in a bohemian quarter of Berlin, and at first her prospects seem promising, then a series of ominous events start to shift her off-track. It’s not immediately clear if the source of these events is linked to the kind of threat many women will recognise: harassment on the street; a stalkerish ex; a disturbing, male neighbour who seems a little too interested. Or whether Daphne, like Deneuve’s character in Repulsion, is having difficulty negotiating the boundaries between fantasy and reality.
Despite the minimal plot, Setton managed to hold my attention throughout: partly because Daphne’s such an intriguing figure; and partly because Setton’s so good at conveying a sense of unease and growing uncertainty about where Daphne’s journey might lead. Admittedly, Daphne’s oddly formal register grates at times but it can be oddly seductive, balanced out by vivid imagery, elegant turns of phrase and sudden, biting humour. Adept too with dry, ironic, observations, Daphne offers up a fascinating, outsider perspective on Berlin, its culture, history, and landscapes.
Daphne can be a fairly sympathetic figure but she’s also an intensely irritating one. She’s incredibly self-conscious and overly analytical – even adding footnotes to comment on her own story. She has a tendency to filter her experiences through an awkward, idiosyncratic mix of popular culture, literature and philosophy - she views her relationships with men as equivalent to Estella tormenting Pip in Great Expectations, and constantly references authors from Dickens to Mann to Woolf and Plath.
Setton’s portrayal of Daphne, the setting, the smattering of explicit references to Kafka and concepts of dread, as well as philosophers like Heidegger, made me think that Setton’s consciously drawing on elements of an earlier, literary tradition here; producing a contemporary, subversive take on the wealth of nineteenth-century and fin-de-siècle literature devoted to male, existential angst.
Thanks to Netgalley and publisher Doubleday for an ARC
Rating: 3.5
Berlin’s a first-person narrative voiced by Daphne, whose background overlaps with Setton’s own. Born in France, with a background in philosophy, Daphne’s moved to Germany, ostensibly to reinvent herself. She’s an openly-unreliable narrator, a curious blend of self-deprecating and annoyingly self-congratulatory, drifting through her days shored up by financial support from her wealthy family. Daphne sublets an apartment in a bohemian quarter of Berlin, and at first her prospects seem promising, then a series of ominous events start to shift her off-track. It’s not immediately clear if the source of these events is linked to the kind of threat many women will recognise: harassment on the street; a stalkerish ex; a disturbing, male neighbour who seems a little too interested. Or whether Daphne, like Deneuve’s character in Repulsion, is having difficulty negotiating the boundaries between fantasy and reality.
Despite the minimal plot, Setton managed to hold my attention throughout: partly because Daphne’s such an intriguing figure; and partly because Setton’s so good at conveying a sense of unease and growing uncertainty about where Daphne’s journey might lead. Admittedly, Daphne’s oddly formal register grates at times but it can be oddly seductive, balanced out by vivid imagery, elegant turns of phrase and sudden, biting humour. Adept too with dry, ironic, observations, Daphne offers up a fascinating, outsider perspective on Berlin, its culture, history, and landscapes.
Daphne can be a fairly sympathetic figure but she’s also an intensely irritating one. She’s incredibly self-conscious and overly analytical – even adding footnotes to comment on her own story. She has a tendency to filter her experiences through an awkward, idiosyncratic mix of popular culture, literature and philosophy - she views her relationships with men as equivalent to Estella tormenting Pip in Great Expectations, and constantly references authors from Dickens to Mann to Woolf and Plath.
Setton’s portrayal of Daphne, the setting, the smattering of explicit references to Kafka and concepts of dread, as well as philosophers like Heidegger, made me think that Setton’s consciously drawing on elements of an earlier, literary tradition here; producing a contemporary, subversive take on the wealth of nineteenth-century and fin-de-siècle literature devoted to male, existential angst.
Thanks to Netgalley and publisher Doubleday for an ARC
Rating: 3.5
July 22, 2022
Berlin begins with our 26 year old narrator daphne having just moved from london to berlin, aiming to soak up the experiences of the city to aid her german and overall just have a fresh start. but settling into the city isn’t as easy as she expected, and daphne finds herself experiencing a succession of strange and unexplainable events during her stay.
in essence Berlin provides another portrait of twenty-something cosmopolitan womanhood, chronicling a young, attractive, and privileged woman moving to a new city in the hopes of squeezing out some meaning from life. while this book could easily be placed into the tradition of ‘sad girl novels’, a literary subgenre which has exploded over the past few years (think Sally Rooney, My Year of Rest and Relaxation, etc), the unreliability of daphne’s narration aims to somewhat disrupt the format, offering some revitalisation to a genre which has started to become a little stale. narrated by daphne, Berlin is a retrospective account of her time in the city, but her unreliability means that the book is littered with footnotes of daphne’s interjections and amendments of her own story, so it quickly becomes clear that daphne is a pathological liar. while it’s not exactly a thriller, the experience of constantly questioning whether what you just read actually happened is enough to keep the reader on their toes throughout.
Berlin also manages to repel the usual bleakness that has become characteristic of these kinds of novels through daphne’s dry, witty sense of humour. though she has all the facets of a typical ‘unlikeable’ main character, and she is clearly suffering from an eating disorder, the consistent humour manages to make daphne more likeable while also lightening the tone of the novel. at one point, daphne provides a scarily accurate taxonomy of the different kinds of men you’ll find on dating websites, and her dry humoured takes on men/dating feel reminiscent of the witticisms of Eve Babitz (but maybe that’s because i reread Slow Days, Fast Company: The World, the Flesh, and L.A.recently so it’s at the front of my mind).
if you’re looking for a book that feels like the lovechild of other people’s clothes and my year of rest and relaxation with an unreliable narrator to defeat them all, then you should definitely pick this one up!
[thank you doubleday books for the gifted copy!]
in essence Berlin provides another portrait of twenty-something cosmopolitan womanhood, chronicling a young, attractive, and privileged woman moving to a new city in the hopes of squeezing out some meaning from life. while this book could easily be placed into the tradition of ‘sad girl novels’, a literary subgenre which has exploded over the past few years (think Sally Rooney, My Year of Rest and Relaxation, etc), the unreliability of daphne’s narration aims to somewhat disrupt the format, offering some revitalisation to a genre which has started to become a little stale. narrated by daphne, Berlin is a retrospective account of her time in the city, but her unreliability means that the book is littered with footnotes of daphne’s interjections and amendments of her own story, so it quickly becomes clear that daphne is a pathological liar. while it’s not exactly a thriller, the experience of constantly questioning whether what you just read actually happened is enough to keep the reader on their toes throughout.
Berlin also manages to repel the usual bleakness that has become characteristic of these kinds of novels through daphne’s dry, witty sense of humour. though she has all the facets of a typical ‘unlikeable’ main character, and she is clearly suffering from an eating disorder, the consistent humour manages to make daphne more likeable while also lightening the tone of the novel. at one point, daphne provides a scarily accurate taxonomy of the different kinds of men you’ll find on dating websites, and her dry humoured takes on men/dating feel reminiscent of the witticisms of Eve Babitz (but maybe that’s because i reread Slow Days, Fast Company: The World, the Flesh, and L.A.recently so it’s at the front of my mind).
if you’re looking for a book that feels like the lovechild of other people’s clothes and my year of rest and relaxation with an unreliable narrator to defeat them all, then you should definitely pick this one up!
[thank you doubleday books for the gifted copy!]
December 4, 2022
This was “it’s me, hi, I’m the problem, it’s me” in book-form. I loved it.
April 30, 2023
I loved this probably more than I should have. Daphne is new in Berlin, spending her days in German classes and her nights trying to reinvent herself—trying, and trying, and desperate to believe that she can outrun herself.
Daphne is both bitingly self-aware and a master of self-delusion. She knows who she wants to be, and sometimes she can stay there for a while—but she also knows, acutely and painfully, who she is. She's not written to be a likable character, exactly; if you find yourself relating to her, you'll likely be unnerved rather than pleased. She can only project health and stability for so long before the cracks start to show. But...it's also really clear that the author understands both Daphne and the sensation of being new in Berlin...and also the sensation of that newness starting to wear off. Hinterhöfe and figuring out recycling rules and Stolpersteine and asparagus pots and leaving glass bottles near trash cans for the homeless to collect; quark and paranoia about WhatsApp security and the difference in comfort between the U-Bahn and the S-Bahn; and on it goes—if you've ever lived in Berlin for even a few months, you'll recognize it. Oh, and the awkwardness of dating in Berlin, of course. I cannot tell you how weird it is to read so accurate and wry a description of being a new Ausländerin in Berlin.
I picked this up for the cover and the contemporary Berlin setting (it is surprisingly hard to find books in English that are set in Germany but that are not set during one war or another). The cover reminds me of Berlin street art—a paste-up, probably, something you'd find on a heavily graffitied and postered wall in an underpass. It's the sort of thing I'd take a picture of, pop on Instagram, and half-imagine that I was living the life of the girl in the picture, a life I'd assume to be more interesting and glamorous than my own. Daphne is perhaps the sort to do the same, minus Instagram, which I find both entertaining and disturbing.
I am not, thank sweet mercy, Daphne. I see more than I'd like of myself in her, but the similarities extend only so far. She's also not somebody I'd like to get to know. But this is basically the exact book I've been looking for since I first visited Berlin in 2016. Sometimes I loved it, sometimes I wanted to beat my head against the wall on Daphne's behalf, and I'm left feeling like this filled a weird little Berlin Ausländerin book–shaped hole in my soul.
Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a review copy through NetGalley.
Daphne is both bitingly self-aware and a master of self-delusion. She knows who she wants to be, and sometimes she can stay there for a while—but she also knows, acutely and painfully, who she is. She's not written to be a likable character, exactly; if you find yourself relating to her, you'll likely be unnerved rather than pleased. She can only project health and stability for so long before the cracks start to show. But...it's also really clear that the author understands both Daphne and the sensation of being new in Berlin...and also the sensation of that newness starting to wear off. Hinterhöfe and figuring out recycling rules and Stolpersteine and asparagus pots and leaving glass bottles near trash cans for the homeless to collect; quark and paranoia about WhatsApp security and the difference in comfort between the U-Bahn and the S-Bahn; and on it goes—if you've ever lived in Berlin for even a few months, you'll recognize it. Oh, and the awkwardness of dating in Berlin, of course. I cannot tell you how weird it is to read so accurate and wry a description of being a new Ausländerin in Berlin.
I picked this up for the cover and the contemporary Berlin setting (it is surprisingly hard to find books in English that are set in Germany but that are not set during one war or another). The cover reminds me of Berlin street art—a paste-up, probably, something you'd find on a heavily graffitied and postered wall in an underpass. It's the sort of thing I'd take a picture of, pop on Instagram, and half-imagine that I was living the life of the girl in the picture, a life I'd assume to be more interesting and glamorous than my own. Daphne is perhaps the sort to do the same, minus Instagram, which I find both entertaining and disturbing.
I am not, thank sweet mercy, Daphne. I see more than I'd like of myself in her, but the similarities extend only so far. She's also not somebody I'd like to get to know. But this is basically the exact book I've been looking for since I first visited Berlin in 2016. Sometimes I loved it, sometimes I wanted to beat my head against the wall on Daphne's behalf, and I'm left feeling like this filled a weird little Berlin Ausländerin book–shaped hole in my soul.
Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a review copy through NetGalley.
April 10, 2023
daphne, a privileged white girl who wants to get a phd, moves to berlin. she does absolutely nothing but remark on how fast she learned german. she’s self absorbed, painfully wealthy, and spends most of her time on dating apps.
this novel just didn’t do it for me. i didn’t like daphne, the way antisemitism was casually mentioned, and the ignorant misuse of “bohemian.” it’s not a lifestyle, it refers to an oppressed czech minority group. this novel dragged and felt flat to me. i didn’t like any of the characters, and daphne was pretentious and beyond privileged.
thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an arc in exchange for an honest review.
this novel just didn’t do it for me. i didn’t like daphne, the way antisemitism was casually mentioned, and the ignorant misuse of “bohemian.” it’s not a lifestyle, it refers to an oppressed czech minority group. this novel dragged and felt flat to me. i didn’t like any of the characters, and daphne was pretentious and beyond privileged.
thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an arc in exchange for an honest review.
April 7, 2025
I have no idea why I wanted to read this book as much as I had. I really disliked the protagonist. It was hard for me to have any sympathy for her, even when she was being harassed, because she is an habitually lying, spoiled, self-centered brat. And because she was always lying, she was also a very unreliable narrator. Recommend people skip this book.
May 14, 2023
"Do you think that maybe you might be cursed?"
Wherever Daphne goes, trouble seems to follow: late night disturbances, broken windows, smashed crockery . . .
Does she have a stalker or a ghost or a serious mental problem?
I'm not sure how to rate this one. It left me feeling uneasy and uncertain. I didn't care for the insanely unreliable (or maybe just insane) narrator, though a few of the other characters won my heart. On the other hand, the author is a born writer, and I'm looking forward to reading her next effort.
Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Books for sharing.
Wherever Daphne goes, trouble seems to follow: late night disturbances, broken windows, smashed crockery . . .
Does she have a stalker or a ghost or a serious mental problem?
I'm not sure how to rate this one. It left me feeling uneasy and uncertain. I didn't care for the insanely unreliable (or maybe just insane) narrator, though a few of the other characters won my heart. On the other hand, the author is a born writer, and I'm looking forward to reading her next effort.
Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Books for sharing.
November 1, 2022
oh my god she’s insane
March 30, 2023
3.5 stars bc i binge read this in a night omg. it’s 6am and i’ve never met a character so unlikeable and privileged yet sad and pathetic. i’m so mad i resonate with daphne and understood her on a deep level to boot! this felt like some increasingly confusing spiral of bad intentions and worse morals. there was a hazy film in my brain reading this and everything felt slightly off kilter. daphnes characterization (i cant say arc or development bc she didn’t really change per se) was so complex and multifaceted which i know sounds obnoxious but it’s true! daphne was boring and needed therapy and needed something to fill the void of her cold pitched heart but i do believe (somewhat) that underneath the cynicism there was a yearning for a meaningful and deeply lived out life full of adventure and i realized i wasn’t so different from daphne in that way
(also spoiler? but the ending felt anticlimactic i didn’t like malish’s exit and i wanted to know more abt daphne’s condition and why exactly she threw the bricks in the window and how much of the novel was even true considering she’s a compulsive liar???? like i genuinely thought she was writing this ‘book’ or ‘diary/journal’ from a mental ward or jail. i did NOT believe she was who she said she was and for good reason bc homegirl was lowkey crazy and off her rocker and/or on hard drugs)
edit this reminded me of my time in europe :$)))
(also spoiler? but the ending felt anticlimactic i didn’t like malish’s exit and i wanted to know more abt daphne’s condition and why exactly she threw the bricks in the window and how much of the novel was even true considering she’s a compulsive liar???? like i genuinely thought she was writing this ‘book’ or ‘diary/journal’ from a mental ward or jail. i did NOT believe she was who she said she was and for good reason bc homegirl was lowkey crazy and off her rocker and/or on hard drugs)
edit this reminded me of my time in europe :$)))
August 25, 2023
Yesssssss. My Year of Rest and Relaxation meets thriller. Girlfailure. She’s so me
July 6, 2023
Main character is unbearable
![Profile Image for reina [on semi-hiatus].](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.gr-assets.com%2Fimages%2FS%2Fcompressed.photo.goodreads.com%2Fusers%2F1748302078i%2F131642826._UX200_CR0%2C0%2C200%2C200_.jpg&w=128&q=75)
January 21, 2023
imagine reading a book and the narrator is straight up a pathological liar
June 3, 2023
unoriginal in concept (rich white girl with an eating disorder moves abroad to “start anew”) but also very clever, creepy and funny… otessa moshfegh lite
August 17, 2022
Only 132 pages in and feel safe marking this as a 1 that’s how much I hate this book
February 5, 2022
Berlin is a novel about a woman who moves to Berlin, but finds herself paranoid and unable to settle, not living either the wild party lifestyle or getting a proper job. Daphne arrives in Berlin after having run away from her friends and job in London for a fresh start, determined to learn German and make friends. But the people from her language class don't quite make it to friendship, and her dating in German doesn't go as she wants, and she finds herself lonely, moving between flats, eating little, and unable to deal when a brick comes through her window.
I picked up this book for the Berlin setting, and it does well in immersing you in Daphne's version of Berlin, with her narrative voice revelling in setting out how she sees the city. You start to realise that this is very much a picture she is painting from little comments she makes, and as the novel goes on, it becomes clear that Daphne can't help but lie, for many different reasons, and that sometimes includes to the reader. Her compulsive lying, which near the end she categorises, is clearly a problem, but as she starts to acknowledge more by the end, it is her privilege and upbringing that means it rarely causes issues for her, and in general she is protected by the fact she can always call her parents for more money and a flight home.
In general, I think I enjoyed this book more with a step back, reflecting on this presentation of a privileged young woman who wishes people would call her out on her issues but lies to them so they won't, and how there's people like Daphne probably in many major cities. Whilst reading, Daphne was unlikeable at times, prone to stereotyping and being self absorbed to the point of not thinking about anyone else, and that suited this image of someone who believes they're a protagonist without actually wanting to commit to doing anything. I'm not sure if you're meant to find Daphne relatable rather than annoying, but I think the book worked with the latter regardless. The narrative comes to a predictable conclusion (in the eyes of anyone who isn't Daphne, at least) and there's a sense that none of it may have mattered.
Despite liking the city, I'm not sure I'm quite the target audience for the novel, so I enjoyed it less for the observations and relatability than for the presentation of a privileged unreliable narrator protected from actual harm whilst also needing to get help from people.
I picked up this book for the Berlin setting, and it does well in immersing you in Daphne's version of Berlin, with her narrative voice revelling in setting out how she sees the city. You start to realise that this is very much a picture she is painting from little comments she makes, and as the novel goes on, it becomes clear that Daphne can't help but lie, for many different reasons, and that sometimes includes to the reader. Her compulsive lying, which near the end she categorises, is clearly a problem, but as she starts to acknowledge more by the end, it is her privilege and upbringing that means it rarely causes issues for her, and in general she is protected by the fact she can always call her parents for more money and a flight home.
In general, I think I enjoyed this book more with a step back, reflecting on this presentation of a privileged young woman who wishes people would call her out on her issues but lies to them so they won't, and how there's people like Daphne probably in many major cities. Whilst reading, Daphne was unlikeable at times, prone to stereotyping and being self absorbed to the point of not thinking about anyone else, and that suited this image of someone who believes they're a protagonist without actually wanting to commit to doing anything. I'm not sure if you're meant to find Daphne relatable rather than annoying, but I think the book worked with the latter regardless. The narrative comes to a predictable conclusion (in the eyes of anyone who isn't Daphne, at least) and there's a sense that none of it may have mattered.
Despite liking the city, I'm not sure I'm quite the target audience for the novel, so I enjoyed it less for the observations and relatability than for the presentation of a privileged unreliable narrator protected from actual harm whilst also needing to get help from people.
February 26, 2025
The protagonist of this book is absolutely intolerable. She is a bored rich white girl who lies to everyone about the most trivial things.There is no apparent point to her insufferable behavior, which makes her and the experience of reading this book a total bore.
On the sentence level though the writing is pretty decent and I did manage to finish the book, but it left me feeling very disappointed.
On the sentence level though the writing is pretty decent and I did manage to finish the book, but it left me feeling very disappointed.
November 9, 2023
Daphne se muda a Berlín para escapar de su vida en Londres. ¿Pero de qué está escapando realmente? ¿De sus padres que la mantienen? ¿De su roomie que la quiere? ¿De su trabajo como barista en una cafetería chic? A lo largo de esta historia en la que no pasa mucho, la autora logra incomodarnos y hacernos reìr. Daphne es una narradora poco (NADA) confiable y eso hace que la novela se vuelva todavía más paranoica y angustiante. Me encantó. Léanla si quieren sad girl vibes más que trama.
TW: trastornos alimenticios
TW: trastornos alimenticios
April 17, 2023
Daphne, an Oxford graduate with no job, no occupational prospects, and wealthy parents, moves to Berlin, ostensibly to study German, although she tells people she is in a graduate program for philosophy. However, her emotional troubles travel with her, disrupting the life she hoped to build in a new country.
After having just read two very intensely wrenching novels, I was ready for something different. This was not it! This one was also intense. Some have called it witty or darkly funny. Perhaps it is my background as a mental health professional and I look at it differently from a lot of readers, but I did not find humor. Yet, it provided good insight into the pathology of mental disturbance. Tormented with doubt, self loathing, self delusion and an eating disorder, the new life she so wanted spins out of control. Yes, while some of her difficulties may be the result of the treatment of women in society, at their base is her emotional instability.
This is a debut novel and it is well written. This was an engrossing, short read, with some insight into the psyche of a disturbed young woman as well as the obstacles women often have to face in today’s society. There may be a fine line between what one must do to adapt in a misogynist world and pathology, but Daphne, I feel, has crossed that line and is in need of help.
Thanks to #netgallely and #penquinbooks for the ARC.
After having just read two very intensely wrenching novels, I was ready for something different. This was not it! This one was also intense. Some have called it witty or darkly funny. Perhaps it is my background as a mental health professional and I look at it differently from a lot of readers, but I did not find humor. Yet, it provided good insight into the pathology of mental disturbance. Tormented with doubt, self loathing, self delusion and an eating disorder, the new life she so wanted spins out of control. Yes, while some of her difficulties may be the result of the treatment of women in society, at their base is her emotional instability.
This is a debut novel and it is well written. This was an engrossing, short read, with some insight into the psyche of a disturbed young woman as well as the obstacles women often have to face in today’s society. There may be a fine line between what one must do to adapt in a misogynist world and pathology, but Daphne, I feel, has crossed that line and is in need of help.
Thanks to #netgallely and #penquinbooks for the ARC.
December 12, 2023
Wow. Insane book with an insufferable narrator. Like she’s a really terrible person who self sabotages and lies incessantly. There were even times where she admitted to lying in a previous chapter about some part of the plot. I found this odd. Overall, this book depressed me. But despite this, I liked it and couldn’t stop reading it, and now I feel like I need to take a shower to wash off everything that the narrator said.
January 10, 2023
My first book for 2023. And as it happens, I’m starting my year by reading two books about Berlin, the other being a travel writing by Dutch writer Cees Nooteboom, Roads to Berlin, which describes the emotional moments in the months leading to the fall of the Berlin Wall and the months after. Berlin, as a city, is a metaphor for post-modernism. It’s a place where everything could happen all the time, everywhere, as exemplified in the famous saying, “In Berlin ist alles möglich.” (In Berlin, everything is possible). I found that even in the German textbook that I used to learn German that Berlin is described as the least German city among other cities. The city was divided into two parts during the Cold War, which following German reunification is still apparent from the night-light photo of the city as shown by the different colours of street lamps used in the former East and West Berlin.
Bea Setton’s main character, Daphne Ferber, finds herself arriving in the city as she escaped her previous life as a former barista in London. The notion of escapism that Daphne embodies is a relatable phenomenon. Perhaps we are now doing work that we actually enjoy, yet we feel as though our real life is happening somewhere else without us as we grapple with our own reality now. But a life like Daphne’s requires one to belong to a privileged class, something Daphne would admit to herself from the very start of her story.
Daphne imagines her life in Berlin to be a different one, to be a life with a slower pace, lived amidst people she didn’t know before. She learns German with classmates composed of people from different backgrounds, from different countries (which she describes as three variations of Catherine from different countries). She lied to the people around her about her profession, saying that she works as a nanny for a French family while also pursuing a PhD in philosophy (and attending a German class, on top of that, which is the only true part of her description of her activities). Instead of finding herself in a carefree Berlin life, she finds herself in unbelievable situations, such as being pursued by a stalker, making excessive lies for no apparent reason, and being haunted by fear as her window got smashed in three successive flats that she occupied during her stay in Berlin.
At the onset, Daphne’s story seems to be about someone enjoying her sabbatical leave. Yet as she encountered more problems than she expected, it begins to develop into a story of discovering oneself and rationalising self-sabotage. Perhaps Daphne’s behaviours have been motivated by her class consciousness, as she realised that she belongs to a privileged class since her parents still support her financially. She wants to be seen as someone independent, relying on her own merit and earning her place through countless efforts. By sabotaging her own life, she may create an illusion that there is something for her to achieve, be it economically, socially, or academically.
Daphne’s confusion probably resonates most with children from the top-middle class, growing up in relative financial stability after “the end of history”. With more options, there are also confusions, especially grappling with new values and diverging identities. Berlin, as a city, offers an opportunity for Daphne to reassess her life, which she considers very close to the London she escaped (at least, geographically). I felt like this novel is also a critic of modern lifestyle, in our increasingly ‘you live on your own’ society, with people living in megacities, grappling with the epidemic of loneliness and mental health issues – for which online dating apps might be an instant gratification to cope with the situation.
Bea Setton’s main character, Daphne Ferber, finds herself arriving in the city as she escaped her previous life as a former barista in London. The notion of escapism that Daphne embodies is a relatable phenomenon. Perhaps we are now doing work that we actually enjoy, yet we feel as though our real life is happening somewhere else without us as we grapple with our own reality now. But a life like Daphne’s requires one to belong to a privileged class, something Daphne would admit to herself from the very start of her story.
Daphne imagines her life in Berlin to be a different one, to be a life with a slower pace, lived amidst people she didn’t know before. She learns German with classmates composed of people from different backgrounds, from different countries (which she describes as three variations of Catherine from different countries). She lied to the people around her about her profession, saying that she works as a nanny for a French family while also pursuing a PhD in philosophy (and attending a German class, on top of that, which is the only true part of her description of her activities). Instead of finding herself in a carefree Berlin life, she finds herself in unbelievable situations, such as being pursued by a stalker, making excessive lies for no apparent reason, and being haunted by fear as her window got smashed in three successive flats that she occupied during her stay in Berlin.
At the onset, Daphne’s story seems to be about someone enjoying her sabbatical leave. Yet as she encountered more problems than she expected, it begins to develop into a story of discovering oneself and rationalising self-sabotage. Perhaps Daphne’s behaviours have been motivated by her class consciousness, as she realised that she belongs to a privileged class since her parents still support her financially. She wants to be seen as someone independent, relying on her own merit and earning her place through countless efforts. By sabotaging her own life, she may create an illusion that there is something for her to achieve, be it economically, socially, or academically.
Daphne’s confusion probably resonates most with children from the top-middle class, growing up in relative financial stability after “the end of history”. With more options, there are also confusions, especially grappling with new values and diverging identities. Berlin, as a city, offers an opportunity for Daphne to reassess her life, which she considers very close to the London she escaped (at least, geographically). I felt like this novel is also a critic of modern lifestyle, in our increasingly ‘you live on your own’ society, with people living in megacities, grappling with the epidemic of loneliness and mental health issues – for which online dating apps might be an instant gratification to cope with the situation.
January 29, 2023
Berlin is a character driven novel following 26 year old Daphne, a compulsive liar who has burned nearly every relationship she had in London before moving to Berlin for a fresh start. Living off her wealthy parents and her privilege, she fills her days with German lessons and online dating while attempting to balance a series of strange and unexpected events that send her spiraling.
Daphne should be an unlikeable protagonist, but for me her complexity was compelling. I found her anxieties, paranoia and online dating experiences highly relatable. Her deep analysis of other people, especially the section on patterns in men’s dating profiles, fascinated me. And the dry, quick witted humor is the exact kind of humor I love. Even though I appreciated how introspective she was, this in combination with her self-centeredness aided her ability to manipulate those closest to her. Still even with her many flaws, somehow I found myself rooting for her the entire time.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher Penguin Books for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.
Daphne should be an unlikeable protagonist, but for me her complexity was compelling. I found her anxieties, paranoia and online dating experiences highly relatable. Her deep analysis of other people, especially the section on patterns in men’s dating profiles, fascinated me. And the dry, quick witted humor is the exact kind of humor I love. Even though I appreciated how introspective she was, this in combination with her self-centeredness aided her ability to manipulate those closest to her. Still even with her many flaws, somehow I found myself rooting for her the entire time.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher Penguin Books for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.
June 8, 2025
this is just a normal day in the life of a 26 year old teenage girl
September 21, 2024
My feelings about this novel came full circle in a bad way. In the first couple chapters, I was like, "Ughhhhhh, we get it: sad European girl, mentally ill, dryly funny. I've read a thousand books about her."
But then the footnotes and the dating profile descriptions and the blatantly unreliable narration peaked my interest and made me want to see where it all went...
Aaaaand then it went exactly where I thought it would go from those first couple chapters.
I'm watching HBO's Girls for the first time right now and like this novel better when I imagine it as one of Jessa's European excursions before returning to New York.
I will add, though, that Bea Setton is a great writer. I found her wry prose to be so relatable that I had to be like, wait, am I annoying?
~*~ A RANKING NO ONE ASKED FOR OF THE CATASTROFEMALE BOOKS I'VE READ IN THE PAST YEAR ~*~
1. Bunny by Mona Award (published June 2019)
2. Big Swiss by Jen Beagin (published February 2023)
3. The Glow by Jessie Gaynor (June 2023)
4. Berlin by Bea Sutton (published July 2022)
5. Worry by Alexandra Tanner (published March 2024)
6. Bad Fruit by Ella King (published August 2022)
None of these were five-star reads for me, let alone anywhere near the Holy Trinity of Casatrofemale Novels: Conversations with Friends, My Year of Rest and Relaxation, and Luster.
But then the footnotes and the dating profile descriptions and the blatantly unreliable narration peaked my interest and made me want to see where it all went...
Aaaaand then it went exactly where I thought it would go from those first couple chapters.
I'm watching HBO's Girls for the first time right now and like this novel better when I imagine it as one of Jessa's European excursions before returning to New York.
I will add, though, that Bea Setton is a great writer. I found her wry prose to be so relatable that I had to be like, wait, am I annoying?
"I like myself when I prepare coffee. It is such an unmistakably normal thing to do" (33).I just wish she was telling a story I hadn't read so many times already.
"The best thing about him was his enthusiasm for the spring, and his introducing me to two things that I love dearly: Hans Fallada and saure Zwiebein, a kind of pickled onion. The worst thing about him was absolutely everything else" (40).
"I often give myself panic attacks when I pay too much attention to my heartbeat. It just seems so unlikely that the entire lofty wonder of my being, my imagination, spirit, should be tethered to this, a steak-sized bloody pump" (84).
"I hadn't eaten meat in years, but I don't really like to admit this to men I'm attracted to. It makes me feel fussy and cerebral, both of which are thoroughly un-aphrodisiac qualities. Despite all the strange habits I cultivated around food, I've always enjoyed sharing greasy food with boys I like. It feels sensual and risqué to nourish our lusty bodies together. I wanted to appear epicurean, capricious, and original in my tastes. I didn't want anyone to know I was concerned about my weight, although it was probably the main focus of my life at the time" (117).
~*~ A RANKING NO ONE ASKED FOR OF THE CATASTROFEMALE BOOKS I'VE READ IN THE PAST YEAR ~*~
1. Bunny by Mona Award (published June 2019)
2. Big Swiss by Jen Beagin (published February 2023)
3. The Glow by Jessie Gaynor (June 2023)
4. Berlin by Bea Sutton (published July 2022)
5. Worry by Alexandra Tanner (published March 2024)
6. Bad Fruit by Ella King (published August 2022)
None of these were five-star reads for me, let alone anywhere near the Holy Trinity of Casatrofemale Novels: Conversations with Friends, My Year of Rest and Relaxation, and Luster.
January 17, 2023
I had very high hopes for this story about 25-year-old Brit, Daphne, who moves to Berlin to learn German. Initially, I enjoyed the accurate details of the city - beautifully incorporated and evocative. It soon becomes apparent that Daphne is an unreliable narrator, and I was still absolutely onboard (wasn't anticipating a thriller but hey, I was happy to keep reading about picnics at Tempelhofer Feld). However, midway through the book, Setton repeats some unusual circumstances that Daphne finds herself in, and rather than being alarming, it seemed basically highly unlikely. It was all downhill from there.
Berlin has been likened to My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh - that's a stretch in my opinion. Berlin lacks the emotional complexity and compelling inner dialogue of Year and once you understand Daphne as unreliable (and know that her rich parents fund her lifestyle), it's hard to care much.
2/5
Berlin has been likened to My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh - that's a stretch in my opinion. Berlin lacks the emotional complexity and compelling inner dialogue of Year and once you understand Daphne as unreliable (and know that her rich parents fund her lifestyle), it's hard to care much.
2/5
October 16, 2022
This book unfortunately fell quite flat for me. While the writing definitely picked up in the final third, I came away from this read pretty disappointed.
The narrator Daphne is extremely privileged and self absorbed, but not in a fun-psychological-examination-of-privilege type of way. Mostly in an unsympathetic way. Basically she didn’t need to be so unlikable for the book to work so it was a weird choice.
The tension fell flat for me as even at the worst points for the protagonist, she reminds us that she is a phone call away from leaving and going back to her wealthy family. The stakes are never really high, which makes it difficult to sympathise with her.
The writing definitely improved in the final third as it got more psychological and the tension increased. I think with different pacing (e.g. drawing out the initial interactions with Grausam more so that we feel more threatened by him) this book could have been improved a lot.
The narrator Daphne is extremely privileged and self absorbed, but not in a fun-psychological-examination-of-privilege type of way. Mostly in an unsympathetic way. Basically she didn’t need to be so unlikable for the book to work so it was a weird choice.
The tension fell flat for me as even at the worst points for the protagonist, she reminds us that she is a phone call away from leaving and going back to her wealthy family. The stakes are never really high, which makes it difficult to sympathise with her.
The writing definitely improved in the final third as it got more psychological and the tension increased. I think with different pacing (e.g. drawing out the initial interactions with Grausam more so that we feel more threatened by him) this book could have been improved a lot.
September 9, 2023
if I had a dollar for every time I’ve read a book this year about an unhinged unreliable narrator girly living in Berlin, I’d have two dollars which is not much but fun it happened twice.
3.5 stars rounded up!
3.5 stars rounded up!
December 3, 2023
probably the most gaslight gatekeep girlboss (but more like a girlfailure), mirrorball-coded character i've ever read about, a despicable person, and on top of that a big time pathological liar and such an unreliable narrator, and yet relate to her on so many levels i should be worried
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July 3, 2024i was enjoying this a lot and it would have been a 4 star read because this was a good plotless, sad girl novel...however there is something i cannot get over which ruined my reading experience.
there was a guy in this who was an ex-israeli military personnel and we were supposed to think he was sooo cool and interesting etc. and that just went by and it wasn't commented on? like i was expecting for it to be just given some context and i understand berlin is a multi-cultural place people move to find themselves and there are different people from different backgrounds but deliberately choosing THAT as a background of your character does not sit right with me and especially during this time. out of all of the places in the world and all of the things, it speaks volumes and i am not sure i want to know this author's political opinions.
there was a guy in this who was an ex-israeli military personnel and we were supposed to think he was sooo cool and interesting etc. and that just went by and it wasn't commented on? like i was expecting for it to be just given some context and i understand berlin is a multi-cultural place people move to find themselves and there are different people from different backgrounds but deliberately choosing THAT as a background of your character does not sit right with me and especially during this time. out of all of the places in the world and all of the things, it speaks volumes and i am not sure i want to know this author's political opinions.
December 2, 2023
Uitgelezen in een boekenwinkel in Berlijn. Het was leuk om de plekken te herkennen, en om in de Berlijnse sferen te komen zo. Maar ik ergerde me wel een beetje aan de hoofdpersoon, die zichzelf steeds verder de put in werkte.
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