Retrato do autor

19

Autor(a) de Schadenfreude

5 Works 27 Membros 6 Críticas

About the Author

Includes the name: XIX

Obras por 19

Schadenfreude (2013) 19 exemplares
Hero's Torch (2014) 3 exemplares
The Kingdom of Heaven (2014) 3 exemplares

Etiquetado

Conhecimento Comum

Sexo
male

Membros

Críticas

This book might need to be read more than once to catch the nuances.

The author, 19 wrote a story that is like those ambiguous pictures that ask the viewer “Is this a young woman with a rose on her neck or is it an old crone with a shawl?” Either answer is right, and more often than not the view can easily see both images, but in the end, one might stand out more than the other. You initially see one thing, but with a bit of a paradigm shift, the other image stands out in stark relief, and the viewer goes back and forth. There is no answer, there is only what the viewer sees and choses.

I can spend hours and pages breaking down this story into various scholarly essays that would garner me an A in Psychology, History, or English Lit (although I graduated a few years ago). But that is not a review, it’s is a book report and case analysis.

So as a review I will say that yes, you should read this book. Keep in mind it does take place in Nazi Germany, in Auschwitz to be precise. There are detailed and graphic depictions of what went on in those Doctor’s laboratories. The Mengele twin testing, the hypothermia tests, and other historically known and accurately portrayed incidences that went on. There is little to no interactions with the general populations. Also, the story itself may cause distress if the reader finds themselves a bit too “understanding” to situations. It is a prime case of situational ethics.

I won’t say much else because the story needs to be read without any preconceived notions. If you go in with someone else’s ideas and takeaways it might prevent your own discoveries and conclusions. It takes a while before the abuse and torture morph into something else, even when the abuse and torture continue.

The book is continually pushing the line in trying to say, is this still a romance? Is this still love? Or are you, the reader, becoming like Erich and grasping for anything else besides the obvious because to believe that it isn’t love means that his own feelings are wrong and misplaced, that he truly has no hope and nothing to look forward to.

Remember, Erich is set up in the first chapters to have the psyche and sexual leanings that will put him in the perfect position to take the abuse and rise to the challenges in the book, while endearing him to Kaltherzig in a way that no other previous “boy” had.

Had Erich never met Kaltherzig, never been arrested and sent to the camps, where would his life be? I am curious to know what other reviewers feel about this story. Do they find love, or is it the results of abuse/objectification/experimentation/paternalism/deprivation/behavior modification?

If anyone draws the parallels to current BDSM Master/slave roles, keep in mind, Master/slave roles that are healthy have both people being equals in two different roles. Both have a mind to say. The Master holds the reins, but the slave allows them to be held and can walk away at any time.
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Assinalado
Library_Breeder | 4 outras críticas | Apr 28, 2023 |
I've been looking for this book for a long, long time.

I've never read anything in my life that reaches this level of intensity. I'm blown away by how good it is. This sounds like hyperbole but it's really not. Beautifully written, unstintingly cruel. It's not something I'd describe as porn exactly or necessarily. Yes, it's sexual. The main character is a slave used for sex and other things, and his psyche warps to adapt to his terrible circumstances. It's never comfortable or flippant. It's about surviving the unsurvivable, and Stockholm Syndrome. Its emotional veracity won't leave you unaffected.

I've noticed some people leaving reviews of the book despite not having read it. If you haven't read this, you don't know how brutal it is. And if it had been any LESS brutal, it would have done the disservice to the memory of real victims that these commenters assume it does.

I think stories like this have a right to exist and be told. I'm going to treasure this sickening, radioactive, incredible, haunting book. I don't think it's for everyone, and if you have your doubts whether it's for you, skip it. But if you're intrigued, I highly recommend this book. It goes all the way there and you'll never forget it.
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Assinalado
BananaSquirrel | 4 outras críticas | Jul 31, 2021 |
'Space Opera' is the tag the author has attached to this novel at vendor site Smashwords. It is an appropriate tag for it, and other tags could be coming-of-age, dystopia, revenge, love-story, bloodlust, in no particular order.
I understand this novel is the edited version of an online draft version and that it was the author's firstling. Even in the text itself the progression as a writer shows.

For example, from chapter sigillarica:
“What you are right now, you will never be again,” Oberon warned him. “Good,” Leander said. That felt exactly right. That felt fierce and unrepentant. The one chance gone, and now he was beyond it, free of it.

Or from chapter ars longa vita brevis:
“I used to call it the Fury. It’s like the world is too loud and too bright and big, and it’s like the whole world is doing it on purpose, and it makes you so mad you can’t even see, but it’s scary, because it feels like you’re—” “Falling,” Oberon finished. “And it hurts.” He was breathing like the air was escaping through an open hatch.

With language like that I most certainly will forgive an unexperienced author for using a coulda-woulda-shoulda-but-didn't plot mechanism towards the end of the novel.
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Assinalado
Bluerabella | Jan 17, 2015 |
This review is for the published 2013 Smashwords ebook version.

Prospective readers of Schadenfreude should consider the fact that this story contains disturbing subject matter. Much of the story is set in Nazi Germany during the ww2 years. To be more specific main character Herr Doctor Obersturmführer Kaltherzig is portrayed as a colleague of Dr. Mengele in Auschwitz. If this setting does not offend you off the bat, further consider that various 'medical (read torture) procedures', some of them performed on youngsters, are described in detail.

If you think you can manage the stomach the horror of the above, and decide to read this story, you'll find an intelligent and well-written study of Stockholm Syndrome. This is a theme recurring in several recent popular dark erotica novels at the time I'm writing this (e.g. Kitty Thomas' Comfort Food).

What is surprising to me is one of the reactions I have noticed about readers of novels with the Stockholm Syndrome theme. A large number of them seem to develop something akin to Stockholm themselves: they end up actually appreciating, liking or even 'loving' the male character that is the pivot in these stories.

Schadenfreude will most likely not produce this reaction in readers. There is nothing likeable or loveable about Kaltherzig. What is more important, the author does not steer you in this direction either. Kaltherzig is consistently portrayed as the nauseating bastard he is.

Likewise, the depiction of the crumbling of main character Erich under the violence and horror of the situation resembles water dripping to hollow out a stone: steady and inexorable.

The author presents his story in a high quality of prose. Nothing is romanticized. There may even be points where you start to contemplate putting the text away for fear of what you'll find if you continue to read.
Read on.
Yes, it will be bad.
But the author will protect you (and Erich by the way) with his polished language and clever scene sequencing - to an extent. Because it's there, allright. Lingering to let the words sink in you will clearly see the extent of the damage done to Erich, and what you are shown will most likely break your heart.

The fascination of the novel, for me, lies in the quality of writing and the detailed study of circumstance, character, action and effects.

And therefore: Highly recommended.

(But heed the warnings that I started this review with. I put them there for a reason.)

Compared to the 2008 draft version of this story, the minor issues that existed have been solved.
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Assinalado
Bluerabella | 4 outras críticas | Sep 10, 2013 |

Estatísticas

Obras
5
Membros
27
Popularidade
#483,027
Avaliação
3.9
Críticas
6
ISBN
5