There was possibly something lost in translation as I really didn't engage with this novel.
The premise is simple enough - mother of 2 with a husband who works away and only comes home every weekend - is busy and stressed and then finds a lump in her breast.
The book doesn't dwell on her health and isn't morbid or sad. It just really didn't excite much emotion at all. I found the main character to not be very likeable, and most of her family and friends were all a bit strange too. The writing style was also a little stilted, but again, it may just be the translation.

I think I would only recommend this in it's native format to those who are fluent in German to get another perspective as it seems that Krügel is a relatively popular author and shouldn't be dismissed.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

You know one of those books that you’re reading thinking ‘huh?!’ most of the time? Well this was definitely one I’d put in this category! As you can see above, it’s the story of Katharina, who we meet at the school collecting her daughter Helli, who is having he absolute mother of all nosebleeds. We learn that not only is this not an out of the ordinary occurrence, but Katharina believes it to be something that her daughter has control over, and uses to her advantage. But then there was always issues with Heilli and it only makes us fall for the pairing a little more

“Right from the beginning she looked so red and angry and screamed such a lot that I put up a kind of shield of maternal love … I love Heilli a little bit more than everyone else in our family does. It’s not that she’s easy to love-far from it- but I suppose I’ve just turned my love for her up a bit hotter and a bit fiercer to make up for it”

And so I was ready for anything, and boy was ‘anything’ thrown at me hard and fast. The book deals with Katharina’s thought process on dying as there’s a ‘something’ in her breast and I found her honesty and frankness both intriguing and endearing as well as devastating “what do you do when you have a something in your breast and your daughter might have to be taken out of school if her behaviour doesn’t change?”

My review will not in my mind do justice for a book that made me laugh(splutter with laughter in fact!), cry, swoon, gasp in shock and which, on the whole, devastated me.

The characters were excellent in their quirks and the descriptions of setting were mind blowing “They miss the hoarfrost and the powdered furrows, the frozen ditches and the low winter sun shining as if through milk glass.”

I read this last winter but thought the release date was a year away and so I had to put it aside (I was wrong), and am sure that this will still be one of the top books I read this year. Exceptional and totally my kind of book. Thanks to Netgalley for the book in return for an honest review.

Rating: 5/5

Hmmm...not sure what to say about this one. I really wanted to love it, but the clunky writing made it hard to follow and stay with. I enjoyed the first part of it, but then found myself being bogged down with the language and details that didn't quite fit.

Thank you NetGalley for the chance to review this advanced copy!

Look at Me wasn’t entirely for me. I enjoyed its feminism but was always aware that I was reading a book in translation. The language is pretty laboured and I found myself begging for a beautiful sentence.

A chunk of everyday life. A women with two kids, one who constantly requires attention and the other very uninteresting. Her husband has taken a job out of town and only comes home once a week. She appears to look forward to the weekends, but they usually end up quarrelling. Enjoyed the conversational writing, but couldn't get too excited about the content.

I enjoyed the conversational style of this book and the glimpse into the day to say struggles of marriage and parenthood, which are, to a certain extent, universal. I will look forward to more work by the writer in English translation.

I found this book very endearing but not entirely enjoyable. I was luckily able to read it till the end and I do plan to reread it to see if my thoughts will change.

I really tried to get into this book and just couldn't. The story enough sounded interesting, but maybe it was the characters or the style of writing. I got about 1/3 of the way in and decided it wasn't for me. Sorry.

This book was a slice-of-life kind of book with many flashbacks to give context and background. Katharina is a mum of two, a music teacher, the wife of architect Costas who has had to take a job in Berlin and only comes home at the weekend. This book is an eventful day in her life. It's funny at times and sad in others and captures the complexities of every life and relationships.

Had a good story line that just didn’t really seem to go anywhere. When the book was at 90% I knew answers really weren’t going to be found, and indeed they were not.

Look at Me is a book that was translated from German to English and I feel that made this a bit more difficult to enjoy. The premise of the story is a mom, a music professional, has a health scare and a very harried and busy lifestyle. Her descriptions of her child with ADHD were spot on and easy to relate to. Look at Me was a light and relatively easy read, but some parts were “clunky”. I had a hard time relating to the characters, but the book was still enjoyable.

Thank you to #NetGalley and the publisher for a pre-publication ebook in exchange for an honest review.

Look At Me is an Adult Women's Fiction novel by German author Mareike Krügel. I received a complimentary copy in exchange for my honest, unbiased opinion. Thank you to the publisher, author, and NetGalley, for allowing me to review.

Mareike Krügel has written four novels, Look At Me is the first to be translated from German to English by Imogen Taylor. Told from the perspective of a mom named Katha, the story is about truths, mortality, marriage, motherhood, sexism, and gender roles.

Katha is a musicologist who teaches music to Kindergartens. She hasn't been able to finish her thesis or find a satisfying career due to her daughter Helli, a very busy, impulsive, eleven-year-old who may have ADHD. Katha's son Alex is "the perfect son", smart, considerate, and good looking. Katha's husband Costas accepted a job working away from home after being laid off from his dream job.

We also get to meet Sissi (Katha's sister), Ann-Brit (Katha's long time friend), Theo & Heinz (transgender neighbors), and Kilian (Katha's male friend from school).

I found Katha to be incredibly annoying and had a really hard time caring about her. Helli stole the show for me. She reminded me a lot of my own nine-year-old son.

There are a few moments that come across as unbelievable, but that may be due to the translation. Look At Me is a quirky, funny story with a crazy ending that reminds us to be grateful for what we have and the people who love us.

Have you ever had a really adventurous day? I'm sure you've had! "Look at Me" by Marieke Krugel is a book on one such days in the life of a pre school music teacher. A very simple yet endearing story of how life shapes up very differently from what we had imagined it would turn into. It's a story of human emotions, love, friendship, envy, feminism even.... .
The story was so simple that it would have turned boring, had I taken too many breaks while reading it. Thankfully I got time on a nice and long flight to complete it on my second sitting with the ebook. The only time I lost interest was when Katharina, the music teacher, did something out of her character towards the end of the book. .
I will rate the book Very Good. (May 2018)

Look At Me was not a book I enjoyed. I could not connect with the characters as much as I tried to. Maybe because it was translated into English from German, it lost some of the correct wording? I just don't know. I received this book from the publisher through NetGalley for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I absolutely loved this book :) And I loved Katharine and her inner voice, all her inner thoughts. I'm a mom myself, a working mom, and my passion is reading. Just like her passion is music. And her struggles and her thoughts in the course of that one day, are so relatable! You can view a detailed review on my Goodreads account here:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2393140599

Or, on my blog review for books in translation- here:

http://starryeyedenigma.com/2018/05/25/book-review-two-books-in-translation-two-different-perspectives/

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley. This will not effect my review of this book. Please visit my blog at thejwordpress.wordpress.com
Look at Me, a novel by Mareika Krugel explores the life of Katharine Theodoroulakis in a single Christmastide day.
The day begins with a trip to once again pick up her daughter, Helli, from school. The day ends with Katharina’s meltdown and rescue at her husband’s Christmas office party. During this 18 hour or so period there are sad, funny, strange and just plain weird interactions to be faced.
Unfortunately the reader is not drawn into this story. Katharina seems to wander through the day recounting events but not evaluating or deciding anything. Her failure to act only causes more stress for her. At some point, we need her to be an adult.

Interesting novel about a woman obsessed with a health condition while assessing her choices in life.

An interesting look at a a busy mom's approach to dealing with her recent discovery of a lump on her breast. Katharina, the cornerstone of her dysfunctional family is raising her two children while her husband who works out of town. He usually comes home on weekends, but not this weekend. The book opens with Katharina on her way to pick-up her daughter, who is probably autistic, because she had a bloody nose. After picking-up her daughter she shops, deals with an exploding dryer, chased excaped pet rats, meets her son's new girlfriend, cooks, helps a neighbor with a medical emergency, and prepares to meet with her friend who she hasn't seen in years. Katharina cannot seem to get around to taking care of herself. Look at Me by Mareike Krugel kept my attention, however, I did not find the characters in this book especially likable. I think that I was uncomfortable with the translation.

Look at me is a translated novel of an awarding winning author, It spans over the course of one day yet takes you on a rollercoaster of emotions ranging from dread to hysteria at the oddest moments, not only that, but it also manages to paints emotions and suffering in simplest words, making it so human. Reminding us of the universe of shared experiences, of everything we go through, this author can make simplest things so unbearable to think about and makes you smile at the stranges place you wouldn't have before.

I am truly at loss how to review this particular book. You can never accuse this book of being boring, reminding you again that the whole occurs at a single day in the life of our main character Katharina, the book reveals all the other characters and struggles slowly and soon they are so familiar to us, as if we have always been a part of their lives, we come to know them, love or hate them, all in a single day and this was done marvelously well.

I really wanted to like this book. I adore women's fiction, so I was excited to see a lot of the elements that I was looking for in a book - dysfunctional families, stressed out mother and some humor. However, I found the writing to be rather messy, confusing and awkward. Perhaps because of the translation? I really can't say. I didn't find Katharina to be very likable or relatable, so I lost interest pretty quickly.