Obviously requested this one ages ago because it was about a millennial woman from the GDR who lives in Berlin – can't resist! The experimental bits and Q&A format actually grew on me and I was interested in the protagonist's life, but overall I felt this was nothing special and it didn't really do much for me

Absolutely bizarre in the best ways. A brilliantly subversive take on grief and the dystopia of our current social climate.

Did not finish book. Stopped at 47%.
DNF - unfortunately not able to finish this book. Whilst I appreciate the writing style and what the author was trying to achieve, in terms of creating a narrator that was slightly 'messy' in their narration making them unreliable, I just wasn't able to get into the writing style.
Thank you for Netgalley for providing me with a copy of the ARC in exchange for an honest review

This was such an interesting read and i loved how this was written. The characters were all really interesting and this made me want to read it even more. I found the tone and writing style was really interesting too and it came across really well the message Wenzel was trying to convey. I definitely would read more by this author as i really enjoyed this overall.

From the moment I started 1000 Coils of Fear I was sucked in by Olivia's distinct style, biting yet swirling. In a bristling translation from Priscilla Layne, the cool, understated prose expresses so much of what goes unsaid about the weight of history, how you are perceived as you move through the world and the choices that come with deciding how you want to live. There is a humour, as we see a living where two people share private jokes about the mucus-y chain smoker next door and the meals that you cook repeatedly at dinner parties because you know they'll always go down well. It is refreshing to read a contemporary book that speaks so much to that period in your life where you are finding your feet

I raced through this book and couldn’t put it down - it is amazing to me that this is a debut novel and I am sure just the beginning of this author’s writing career. The book covered really important subjects that need to be told far more - racism, queerness, privilege, and others. I loved all the different characters that emerged in the book, and felt really connected to the protagonist’s life and emotions as the descriptions were so vivid and emotional. I will definitely be recommending this book and keeping an eye out for future works by Wenzel!

This was a really interesting exploration of contemporary identity, racial, gender, and secuality, and how that identity is felt and expressed.

One of the things I liked best in this novel, was in the narrative structure and style. It switched between a straightforward narration and a more imaginative metaphorical imagery, adjusting as the rest of the narration developed. It was the use of these two different styles that kept me engaged and involved throughout.

An individual and compelling tale.

*Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the free ARC*

In this incredibly confident debut novel, Olivia Wenzel explores themes of queerness, grief and racism through the eyes of her unnamed protagonist.

Her style is original and engaging - introspective, but constantly questioning and probing in a frantic and frenzied manner. The narrator is bombarded with questions, from inside her head and from those around her, and this unrelenting style paints a clear picture of the anxieties she must deal with.

This style could leave the book feeling messy and unfocused but I think this is fully intentional - the narrator has to refocus her thoughts when they threaten to become too overwhelming.

Overall, an excellent book and worth your time. Wenzel's style is unique, and her ideas are interesting, resulting in a novel that is moving and engaging.

1000 Serpentinen Angst (or “1000 Coils of Fear” in English translation by Priscilla Layne) explores a unique experience of dealing with racism and queerness in post-reunification Germany. Olivia Wenzel was born in Weimar in 1985, a city that was at that time part of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) from an Angolan father and an East German mother. Her protagonist-cum-narrator follows a similar trajectory in life with similar backgrounds. Her life story is sometimes incoherent, much like how an unreliable narrator acts most of the time. Though, the form of the story consists mostly of dialogic call-and-response. The narrator is constantly being questioned by her interlocutor. At times, it gives off a vibe of her being questioned by the authorities in detention, yet at times the conversations could also seem to take place over a phone call. The narrator could be anywhere in her story. Sometimes she is in Germany, the US, Viet Nam, or even Morocco.

The Angst in the title loosely reflects the constant state of anxiety that the protagonist experiences. At first, it seems as though it solely stems from her experience of growing up as a child of colour in a predominantly white society of the then GDR and in post-reunification Germany. But then through endless streams of questions and answers between the two interlocutors, we could observe that the problems that the narrator has been through could also be seen as an intergenerational problem of post-war Germany.

The narrator’s grandma, born on the eve of the Zero Hour as Hitler’s Germany capitulated against the Allied forces, grew up in the GDR taking up socialist conviction as part of her belief and a cause to work for. Three decades later, socialism began losing its power over the East Germans in the 1980s, allowing her mother to grow up as a punk rebel who married an Angolan and stayed in prison due to her anti-socialist activities. The narrator, as the third generation’s spokesperson of this story, has to face a multitude of problems as she faces racism, the suicide of her twin brother, as well as her queer identity with her departure from her earlier heterosexual predicament.

Angst has been accompanying the narrator for as far as she can remember, a factor she internalises as part of her upbringing. The constant streams of dialogues could also be seen as a way for the narrator to understand herself, or in the Freudian interpretation, the questioning by the interlocutor helps the narrator to dig further into herself through an analysis. The way it registers colloquial terms in the conversations is also quite innovative, something I rarely see in German literature which most often than not relies on long sentences, thereby catering more to a broad range of literature classes.

Wenzel’s protagonist shows the significance of her experience, which takes its peak on a trip to Viet Nam as she sought an encounter with her former lover Kim in Hanoi (Kim herself a Vietnamese growing up in the GDR and a lesbian, another minority figure). She was hoping to make a discussion with her, to make herself understood and to confront her fears. Although, it’s not quite clear whether the narrator actually lives through the experiences she described, which brings the notion of Serpentinen, denoting multiple perspectives and repetitions. The case of Wenzel’s protagonist expands further the experience of being people of dual heritage in the German society, beyond the contemporary cases of refugees and former Gastarbeiter.

This was such an interesting read and i loved how this was written. The characters were all really interesting and this made me want to read it even more. I found the tone and writing style was really interesting too and it came across really well the message Wenzel was trying to convey. I definitely would read more by this author as i really enjoyed this overall.

✨book review - 1000 coils of fear✨

A narrator tells us about her life, her mother's life and her grandmother's life. Sometimes her father's life, and sometimes her brother's much shorter and very much mourned life. It's told through fragmented vignettes of her thoughts and memories - past and present, each impinged with feelings of grief, passion, anxiety and sadness.

The narrator is fascinating. Her thoughts are sometimes funny, sometimes horrifying and quite often, confused. Layering the narrator's voice with different levels of her character /consciousness puts them in conversation with each other as the intersection of race, class, gender and sexuality lead to questions of belonging. The voices portray deep inner conflicts that make our narrator a complex character.

The style of the book (exploring the inner psyche) does wonders for its pace. It's fast like fleeting thoughts often are. Some thoughts come up continuously, and some memories are more vivid than others, but each had a profound effect on the narrator. The directness with which mental health is discussed and portrayed helps tremendously with this - it gives the whole thing a lucid-dream-like feel that's haunting in its poignancy.

The focus on family and familial bonds is the thread that pulls it all together. Intergenerational trauma has led each character off a cliff. But alongside this broad social commentary is the smaller but equally significant focus on how a family gets along together, or rather, doesn't. The story, (her story) begins long before she was even born and the book reflects the deep and traumatic prison of the past, both within wider culture and the smaller family unit.

There's so much going on here and I simply adored it. The fast-paced stream of consciousness, as well as a deeply troubled and complex narrator and a fragmented story, make this a terrific book. There isn't a single thing missing. It's powerful and sad and lucid and lively.

CHEFS KISS.

This was a brilliant book. I loved how it was written, like an internal monologue, and the discussion with her alter ego was a visible way to show her internal struggles about her family dynamics, trauma, and with being both privileged and marginalised in multiple ways. It was very raw, honest and engaging. I ended up reading it all in one sitting. Such complex subjects told in an accessible way. Definitely recommend it.

I didn't always fully understand what was going on, but I really loved this book and read it in two sittings. The unnamed protagonist (is it autobiographical?) will stay with me, what a fascinating compelling woman. I really enjoyed the format and how the location kept switching. Its beautifully paced and the story flows, fierce and relentless and while the numerous themes examined are heavy in nature, there is a gorgeous lightness to the prose.
I will buy a paperback of this and read it again, slowly.

A young woman attends a play about the Berlin Wall coming down, and is the only Black person in the audience.

She is sitting with her boyfriend by a bathing lake, and four neo-Nazis show up.

She is having sex with a stranger in New York, and Donald Trump wins the US presidential election.

Engaging in a witty question and answer with herself, she takes stock of our rapidly changing times, sometimes angry, sometimes amused, sometimes afraid, and always passionate. And she tells the story of her family: Her mother, a punk in former East Germany who never had the freedom she dreamed of. Her Angolan father, who returned to his home country before she was born to start a second family. Her grandmother, whose life of obedience to party principles brought her prosperity and security but not happiness. And her twin brother, who took his own life at the age of nineteen.

a story about a mixed race german woman navigating life with a white mother and a black father in different parts of the world, and how each people treats her differently. it’s an exploration of how identities matter to a person and a reflection on how society treats minorities.

the lackluster and frustrating part was how in the midst of all of the minorities the narrator is a part of, the fact that she’s a woman holds no value in this book. she’s never holds men accountable for their shortcomings, especially as they have a big influence in this book.

Olivia Wenzel wrote a fascinating and multilayered novel with an intense journey of loss, sorrow, anger, joy and hope through the poetic style of writing which reflected many different aspects of society that many like to shy away from.

Translated from German, Wenzel laid out the complexities of society and how racism and privilege differs with your identity. In New York, she is black and immediately welcomed into the community, in Vietnam she’s a wealthy German tourist, in Poland she’s endangered of being mistaken for a refugee and in her home country, she’s looked down upon. With each dialogue with herself, the reader is taken on a journey about belonging, generational trauma and breaking the mould forced upon us.

Throughout the story, the disconnect between all the family members are clear, the main character is neglected in her time of losing her brother. As the novel progressed, the mother’s story was revealed which highlighted that cycle of generational trauma. I enjoyed the historical context of German society, the effects that Russia had on East Germany, as well as the abuse and racism that many of the women suffered which is portrayed through her grandmother. There are parallels between the main character and the grandmother through this shared experience as well as the disconnect between the family as the narrator’s racist experiences are disregarded as being the “norms” and social beliefs of that time.

The way this novel was structured was very interesting and unique in the way everything is told through the shared narrator, at times an interrogation with herself and over-questioning the events, emotions and outcomes. Anxiety and loneliness played a vital role in the narrator especially with the reflection of her brother and acceptance. Whilst I did enjoy this and piecing the information together, I did find the lack of speech marks confusing at times. This would be a great read for those looking for an insightful and educating read or those who enjoy heavier topics and critical observations of societal expectations.

Many thanks to the Little Brown Book group & Netgalley for sending me this arc to review.

This was an interesting read. However, I felt at times that there was too much crammed in which left me craving a bit more stability almost. The author uses various styles and forms to get her story across which made it lack flow.
That being said, I found the ideas of identity, gender, race and society really interesting. The family dynamics were also fascinating. The storytelling was fascinating and often compelling and I would recommend this book, despite my struggles with it.

1000 Coils Of fear is written as the thoughts and coversations of a unnamed woman from Germany.

It took me a while to get into it but once I did I enjoyed it. And would recommend it. Its a powerful read that discuss' important topics and messages.

This book is one filled with thoughts and views on multiculturalism. The narrator is black, comes from East Germany and her mother is white. Her father is Angolan and has absconded his responsibilities at an early age in her development and yet the narrator seems to hold no animosity towards him, only her mother.
She is bisexual and has a girlfriend who is Vietnamese and boyfriends who are German. Towards the end of the novel she becomes pregnant and finds herself in the same situation as her mother with an absent father and the possibility of a white child. Again there is no problem with the man.
This was my main take from this story - it seemed strange with all the other themes that feminism was absent.
The narration was in the first person and in the form of a conversation. I interpreted that the second person or questioner in bold capitals changes in the different sections - from a confrontational USA border guard asking about her visit, to a therapist and then her own internal monologue.
I was intrigued by the title of the book and the references to a snack machine - comparing the dispensing coils with life situations?
I found the mixed race point of view a new facet to racism literature and the style got my synapses firing!

It took me a while to get into this novel due to its unusual style but there’s a revelation a third of the way through that really changed my experience of what I’d read thus far and which gives important context to what had gone before. I raced through the rest or get novel after that but I think a bit of perseverance is required to get to that point. I also thought this was a very good translation and almost never didn’t sound like I was reading it in its native language, which is a huge achievement. Recommended and thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.