Ruzica’s Reviews > Superherojke > Status Update

Chapter 13 –The women argue over Vienna, Berlin and their Yugoslav past, revealing how differently they experience belonging. Direktorka reveals her wish to move to Berlin, hoping for a fresh start. Maša fears she is escaping rather than confronting her problems. The chapter explores friendship, migration and the illusion that changing cities can change one's life against a backdrop of growing inequality.

Chapter 12 explores the moral dangers of the women's powers. After surviving the waiter's attack, the narrator proposes erasing Albert, a man who has emotionally neglected his partner. Her desire for revenge clashes with their supposed mission to help others. Maša challenges her hypocrisy, exposing how easily personal anger can disguise itself as justice. The narrator begins to question her own motives.

The waiter's paranoia turns into violence when he accuses the women of stealing his happiness. Yet his bitterness, isolation and sense of persecution mirror their own struggles. Perhaps they recognise something of themselves in him: people consumed by unhappiness who believe the world is against them. The satire exposes how suffering can turn into hostility, while empathy disappears when one's safety is threatened.

Chapter 9 primarily explores two different responses to injustice and exclusion. Direktorka has experienced financial insecurity and struggled to establish herself, yet these experiences have not destroyed her belief that people can succeed if given the right opportunities. The narrator has developed a much darker worldview. She sees society as fundamentally unfair and feels an increasingly strong desire to punish

Chapter 8 paints a chaotic portrait of Vienna’s alternative cultural scene, where ambition, creativity, poverty and self-destruction coexist. The women, now after 10 yearsin their thirties, feel that life has somehow passed them by. Their friends in the culture scene seem equally lost, chasing success while barely surviving. But the parties and social connections provides some normality while struggling.

Chapter 7 explores migration, class and the consequences of power. The women struggle to belong in Vienna and erase Hanelore’s abusive brothers to help her. The grandmother’s magic triggers economic collapse as people, factories and communities disappear, possibly symbolising Yugoslavia’s disintegration. The deeper message is that no one exists in isolation: erasing people destroys entire social worlds.

Chapter 6 explores Direktorka’s struggle to build a better life in Vienna. Despite her education, ambition and artistic projects, she remains financially insecure, working as a waitress. She carefully plans her future but lacks the means to achieve it. Her dependence on Maša and the narrator reveals her insecurity and desire to belong. The chapter satirises class, migration and the illusion of meritocracy.

At its core, chapter 5 explores identity, belonging and power. Having suffered for being different, Maša and the narrator now impose their own ideas of normality on others,deciding who deserves to exist and in what form.The irony is that they become the very forces that once oppressed them. Most disturbing is not their ability to "erase people", but their conviction that they are doing good rather than causing harm.

Chapter 4 reveals the women's supernatural powers and their secret work helping others through an astrology column. Maša is the most gifted and has successfully adapted to life in Austria, yet her talents have not brought financial security. Meanwhile, the narrator reflects on loneliness and emotional distance within their friendship. The satire lies in their ability to change others' lives but not their own.

Chapter 3: reflects on the women's pessimism, loneliness and mysterious powers. Despite their abilities, they struggle financially and feel unsuccessful. Direktorka's extraordinary empathy makes her essential to the group. At their usual café meeting, Maša reads a notice about a 54-year-old man who lost his job after 20 years, highlighting the economic insecurity and vulnerability they recognise in themselves.