30%: Puh. This one is a hard read for me. I definitely wouldn’t have picked it up if it wasn’t a part of Different Seasons which I’m currently reading. I’m not fond of reading about Animal Abuse — usually a reason for me to DNF if it gets too explicit. I’m also not a fan of using Nazis and the Holocaust as a gimmick. Always seems to trivialise it to an extent, no matter how explicit the horrors. 75.0%: This short novel —which is not that short, after all, it seems — drags on much too long for my taste. It meanders, and the point it continues to try to make has been made about 150 pages ago. Yes, the protagonists are horrible. They deserve everything they get and more. The backstory reminds me of Der Verdacht in a way, which is done better, imo. 90.0%: While I’m still not fond of this story, I have to admit that them getting what they deserve feels incredibly satisfying. Even though D would have deserved to face justice. Finished: Overall a disappointing read for the reasons mentioned above. I‘m debating if I should provide a better argument for why I didn‘t like this story, but, in all honesty, it seems like it‘s not worth the effort. The emotional catharsis I had hoped for, wishing the protagonists would get their comeuppance in a satisfying manner was ultimately disappointed too.

30%: Puh. This one is a hard read for me. I definitely wouldn’t have picked it up if it wasn’t a part of Different Seasons which I’m currently reading. I’m not fond of reading about Animal Abuse — usually a reason for me to DNF if it gets too explicit. I’m also not a fan of using Nazis and the Holocaust as a gimmick. Always seems to trivialise it to an extent, no matter how explicit the horrors. 75.0%: This short novel —which is not that short, after all, it seems — drags on much too long for my taste. It meanders, and the point it continues to try to make has been made about 150 pages ago. Yes, the protagonists are horrible. They deserve everything they get and more. The backstory reminds me of Der Verdacht in a way, which is done better, imo. 90.0%: While I’m still not fond of this story, I have to admit that them getting what they deserve feels incredibly satisfying. Even though D would have deserved to face justice. Finished: Overall a disappointing read for the reasons mentioned above. I‘m debating if I should provide a better argument for why I didn‘t like this story, but, in all honesty, it seems like it‘s not worth the effort. The emotional catharsis I had hoped for, wishing the protagonists would get their comeuppance in a satisfying manner was ultimately disappointed too.

What I thought would be a quick story, turned out to be a full grown complex novel with fully detailed characters. In the beginning I felt torn between thinking: "Why is this boy harassing this old guy?" and "What's wrong with that old guy?". In the middle I could understand more of the relationship between those too, but I still don't get the changing of the characters. Not 100%. Why did they go on and done what they've done? This plus some boring chapters and the fact that I thought this book would never end and dragged along endlessly, gives it 3/5 for me.