"Stefan Zweig was a dark and unorthodox artist; it's good to have him back."--Salman Rushdie
The great Austrian writer Stefan Zwei... read full description
The great Austrian writer Stefan Zwei... read full description
reviews
Sep 27, 2011
David
rated it: 
Disclaimer: Despite whatever I say in the following review, and no matter how much I mock Beware of Pity, I did actually enjoy it. To a limited extent.
Stefan Zweig is an enormous drama queen. Every emotion in his novel Beware of Pity is hyperbolic, neon-lit, hammy. His narrator doesn't feel anything as prosaic as mere mere joy. No way. He's more apt to be 'blithe as a twittering bird.' People aren't only surprised; their faces turn white as a specter, their legs threaten to give way More...
Stefan Zweig is an enormous drama queen. Every emotion in his novel Beware of Pity is hyperbolic, neon-lit, hammy. His narrator doesn't feel anything as prosaic as mere mere joy. No way. He's more apt to be 'blithe as a twittering bird.' People aren't only surprised; their faces turn white as a specter, their legs threaten to give way More...
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Oct 28, 2011
Marwah
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نصحني بها شخص وحذرني بأن من يقرأها ستتحرك بداخله الشفقه بشكل لم يعتاده
عدت لاعدل الريفيو لانه اكتمل اثرها الان في نفسي و احسست بأني كتبت كلمات قليلة في حقها
نظره سريعه للرواية:
تتكلم عن فتاة مقعدة يشفق عليها شخص في الجيش على ما اذكر ويبدأ يزورها باستمرار للترويح عنها
وتبدأ هي تقع في حبه لكنها احست بشفقته وعاطفته تجاهها كان هذا الشئ يضايقها لكنها تجاهلته
هي كانت تحبه لدافع الحب وهو احبها بدافع الشفقة وتقدم لخطبتها ايضا بناءا على ذلك
و More...
عدت لاعدل الريفيو لانه اكتمل اثرها الان في نفسي و احسست بأني كتبت كلمات قليلة في حقها
نظره سريعه للرواية:
تتكلم عن فتاة مقعدة يشفق عليها شخص في الجيش على ما اذكر ويبدأ يزورها باستمرار للترويح عنها
وتبدأ هي تقع في حبه لكنها احست بشفقته وعاطفته تجاهها كان هذا الشئ يضايقها لكنها تجاهلته
هي كانت تحبه لدافع الحب وهو احبها بدافع الشفقة وتقدم لخطبتها ايضا بناءا على ذلك
و More...
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Feb 12, 2012
Olivia
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This book has a compelling theme - the negative consequences of the "wrong" kind of pity - but a sort of weird moral I could not get into. Basically, there is a good kind of pity, and that is the type of pity where you sacrifice yourself for the person you pity. I can't really get into that philosophy, and by the end I was somewhat annoyed by the narrator.
Nonetheless, it was a good story, and I empathised with the narrator, even if I found him annoying. In a way, it's one More...
Nonetheless, it was a good story, and I empathised with the narrator, even if I found him annoying. In a way, it's one More...
Jun 03, 2011
Nikitabanana
rated it: 
Set in the months leading up to World War I and in an out-of-the-way Austrian garrison town, Beware of Pity is about Hofmiller, a young cavalry officer stationed at the town. Poor and from an undistinguished family, Hofmiller is uncomfortable among his fellow officers, most of whom are wealthy which makes him especially protective of his reputation and honor. When a friend secures him an invitation to the home of Herr von Kekesfalva, the local landowner and richest man in town, Hofmiller is thri
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Jan 10, 2010
Jan
rated it:
"Beware of Pity" is a great psychological portrait of an officer in the Austrian army, right before the outbreak of the great war. At the outset, young Anton Hofmiller commits a terrible social gaffe by asking the crippled daughter of a local noble to dance, and it is in saving face that he embarks on a journey of pity, honor, and obligation, plunging ever deeper into her life and her family's.
Stefan Zweig paints an excellent portrait of a young man torn by conflicting fee More...
Stefan Zweig paints an excellent portrait of a young man torn by conflicting fee More...
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Dec 27, 2011
Aya Refaat
rated it:
العنــوان يلخص الأمر برمته.. حذار من الشفقـة!
لدرجة إني توقعت الأحداث.. ومع ذلك جاء أسلوب ستيفن زفايج في السـرد مشوقا.. أكثر ما أحمـده عليه أنه كان كآلة زمـن عادت بي إلى طفولتي.. تلك النوعية من الأعمال الأدبية "المترجمة" التي اعتدت عليها في صباي..
الضعف الإنساني الذي طالما عكر صفو الملازم "هوفماير" وشفقتـه اللامتناهية.. كانت دائما محل النقد!
"هو ليه ما يوضحش الأمور بصراحة.. وكل واحد يعرف الحقيقة.. ونرتـاح"
لكنـه في حيرتـه اللامحدودة أقرب ما يكون More...
لدرجة إني توقعت الأحداث.. ومع ذلك جاء أسلوب ستيفن زفايج في السـرد مشوقا.. أكثر ما أحمـده عليه أنه كان كآلة زمـن عادت بي إلى طفولتي.. تلك النوعية من الأعمال الأدبية "المترجمة" التي اعتدت عليها في صباي..
الضعف الإنساني الذي طالما عكر صفو الملازم "هوفماير" وشفقتـه اللامتناهية.. كانت دائما محل النقد!
"هو ليه ما يوضحش الأمور بصراحة.. وكل واحد يعرف الحقيقة.. ونرتـاح"
لكنـه في حيرتـه اللامحدودة أقرب ما يكون More...
Jul 12, 2007
Namrirru
rated it:
Very interesting story and characters. What was kind of annoying, I think was supposed to annoy the reader. The protagonist over-analyzes everything! Very little happens in the course of the book, but the reader is fooled into thinking that this is some horrific drama because of his exaggerated insecurities. He's touchy, impressionable, unsure of himself, and kind of wimpy. And on and on he goes. It suits his character and reminds me of people I've known like this in real life.
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Jun 08, 2010
Barbara A
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I was pleased to be introduced to an important and influential writer with whom I was unfamiliar. To be so is always something of a gift. Having said that, nothing but determination made me finish the book. Between Joan Acoella's introduction; the author's forward; and his technique of foreshadowing though stream-of-thought consciousness, there was really no story to tell---everything had been telegraphed (or emailed?) ahead.
Interestingly, I happened to find,just last night,a refe More...
Interestingly, I happened to find,just last night,a refe More...
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Mar 13, 2011
Nick
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A vulnerable, weak-willed Austrian cavalry horsesoldier is caught up in a damaging relationship with a paraplegic, wealthy young woman in the months before the outbreak of World War I. His attraction to her family's wealth and status, and the impact that has on his standing as a young officer--plus his pity for her sorry condition--entice him to spend time with her. She's skillful at manipulating peoples' pity and sees in him a ripe victim. She confesses her love to him as a means of trapping hi
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Dec 05, 2011
David
rated it:
Qué bien escribía Zeiwg!! Magnifica, perturbadora novela sobre la inseguridad en uno mismo, la compasión y el sentimiento de culpa. Algunos de los personajes principales son tullidos o tienen graves limitaciones físicas: una inválida, una ciega, un viejo enfermo, que malviven con sus inseguridades, sus remordimientos; el narrador padece una debilidad de carácter psíquico – lo que se muestra en sus constantes huidas, en su constante búsqueda de apoyos en los demás, en los episodios de angustia
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Dec 05, 2011
Bettie
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Jan 03, 2012
Paul
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This is one of the best books I've ever read. It does everything that really great books should do. It takes the idea of pity and really explores it as a human emotion. It left me feeling as if I might be a bit wiser about how to be a decent human being. On top of that, it is readable and I found it a bit of a page-turner due to the brilliant characters.
It is so cleverly constructed too; a layering of narrative on narrative so that as each person tells a story or relates a rumour they More...
It is so cleverly constructed too; a layering of narrative on narrative so that as each person tells a story or relates a rumour they More...
Feb 15, 2011
Stacy
rated it: 
Is it possible to be so irritated by some book's characters that you really want to burn this book? If you haven't experienced something like that and want to know how this happens - read this one.
Irritation. That is the only word I can use describing the novel.
I honestly read half of the book (as I don't like to leave things unfinished), but the other half - just some sentences from each page. And believe me - you won't miss anything. Because there are only - thoughts, descri More...
Irritation. That is the only word I can use describing the novel.
I honestly read half of the book (as I don't like to leave things unfinished), but the other half - just some sentences from each page. And believe me - you won't miss anything. Because there are only - thoughts, descri More...
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Aug 27, 2011
Alex
rated it:
Tour de force!!! --The intensity and richness of the psychological imagery is what novel is good for (and other media such as film or painting cannot reach) and Zweig crafted a peerless specimen in this aspect. In addition, all major characters are so moving and heroic yet they together make none other than hopeless tragedy, whereby the author presents to readers a poignant question nobody can answer. Also there are excellent suspensions and surprises. Nothing in this novel seems cliché or bo
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Oct 07, 2011
Ferris
rated it:
Stefan Zweig's treatise on the dark nature of pity is a fantastic read for several reasons. The plot is a page turner with deeply developed characters such as the narrator, Anton Hofmiller, an Austrian cavalry officer who struggles with the inner voices of pity, honor, and self-indulgence. There is Edith von Kekesfalva the beautiful, tempestuous lame girl whose ambivalence about her plight is the cause of the undoing of multiple characters and Doctor Condor, the physician who espouses fascinati
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Aug 11, 2011
Kostas
rated it:
I just finished the book and all I can say it's just an astonishing read.Writer's ability to make you feel the climax of all these emotions really makes the reader part of the novel. Despite someone finding the social context a bit demode, the feelings and emotions are there to be felt in the same way as back then,not much have changed after all and pity is indeed an emotion underated both in life and literature. And if the plot is not as exciting for some readers,there are really extracts of su
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Jul 10, 2011
Burak
rated it:
İki çeşit acımak vardır. Bunlardan, gerçekte kalbin sabırsızlığından başka bir şey olmayan, duygusal ve güçsüz biri,yabancı bir felaketin üzücülüğünden elden geldiğince çabuk kurtulmak ister, bu acımak ortak olmak değil, yabancı bir felaketten içgüdüsel olarak korunma çabasıdır. Duygusallıktan uzak ama yaratıcı olan öteki ise,
gerçek acımadır; o ne istediğini bilir. Gücünün sonuna kadar ve hatta o sonun sınırlarını aşsa bile, tüm acılara katlanarak, o felakete ortak olmaya kararlıdır... More...
gerçek acımadır; o ne istediğini bilir. Gücünün sonuna kadar ve hatta o sonun sınırlarını aşsa bile, tüm acılara katlanarak, o felakete ortak olmaya kararlıdır... More...
Sep 04, 2011
Jan
rated it:
I found this book more interesting as a snapshot of life at the fag-end of Austria-Hungary than as a compelling human narrative. I got the point about the danger of pity, both to the giver and the recipient, and the idea that it is wrong to objectify anyone for any reason (a pretty well established principle these days, perhaps less so a hundred years ago). The problem I had with the book was that I had no sympathy with any of the characters. If you are going to be a paraplegic it's much bett
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Nov 15, 2011
Mikki
rated it:
Stefan Zweig is a master when it comes to weaving tales of psychological drama. Beautiful descriptive prose that allows the reader a step-by-step journey into the minds of his characters as they slowly come undone. This is the story of how a man, hand held out to another in pity, is caught in a chokehold grasp and pulled onto a roller coaster of emotional blackmail.
It's 1914. The setting is a military post in Austria just months before the first world war. A young officer More...
Aug 26, 2011
bobbygw
rated it:
This is a beautifully written, deeply moving novel, set in 1914 in a small, provincial garrison town near the Hungarian border, told in retrospect, using the present tense, by Anton Hofmiller, principal character, a second lieutenant in the army. Bored with the town and his dull life (while being a good Army man, disciplined and focused, and respected by his charges), he accepts a dinner invitation from Herr von 'Kekesfalva' (Hofmiller protects his and his family's true identity, no doubt to avo
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Oct 23, 2010
Bob
rated it:
A young Austrian army lieutenant stationed in a provincial garrison befriends a well-to-do local family, whose 17-year-old daughter's legs are paralysed from some unnamed disease. Despite seeming to genuinely enjoy her and her family's company, he spends endless time worrying about the feeling of pity for her that partially motivates him. When she eventually declares her love for him, he is shocked and, in stages, runs away. The endless repetition of (to contemporary eyes) excessively negative c
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Jan 05, 2011
Oscar
rated it:
Leer a Zweig siempre me produce una sensación catártica. Su manera de escribir es tan cristalina, y su descripción de los sentimientos más profundos tan delicada y acertada, que quedas fascinado sin remedio; tu alma queda totalmente impregnada de todas las vivencias de los personajes. Y uno no puede dejar de pensar en cómo pueden conocerse tan bien los sentimientos y, por qué no, también los pensamientos de las personas.
Por pura casualidad, el escritor de esta historia se encuentra e More...
Por pura casualidad, el escritor de esta historia se encuentra e More...
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Sep 09, 2008
lisa_emily
rated it:
Some of the more interesting aspects of this book include Zweig's very intricate language. Granted, I am reading a translation, but having read another of his work -Master Builders- I can see how there is a particular quality to his writing. Let's see if I can explain- Zweig will give a description- but go into details as if zooming into the core of that thought, feeling, motive, idea, etc. Here is an excerpt from early on in the book:
"I lived dancing, and, what is more, was a More...
"I lived dancing, and, what is more, was a More...
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Dec 21, 2009
Madhuri
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I think this book is a good psychological reading. Taking one through painful details of how pity can hold and seize a person, it analyzes too well how each pitiful reaction is conceived and exacted. The protagonist is faced repeatedly with moral choices, and he almost always shows a leaning towards doing 'good' and playing God, and is always tormented with the constraint of this choice.
At times, I found myself getting impatience with the pace of the book, it seems at times that there is t More...
At times, I found myself getting impatience with the pace of the book, it seems at times that there is t More...
Feb 01, 2009
Bryant
rated it:
Here's a novel in which hearts don't seem to beat. Instead they creak like old planks of wood. Passions run low and duties run high. The main character finds himself caught in a predicament bound by manners, a sense of honor, and what he repeatedly calls his damnable pity. The attempt to expiate his sin of unwittingly asking a young crippled girl to dance leads to a black hole of bitter selflessness and guilty kindness.
Although the novel is distinctly weak in conjuring place, c More...
Although the novel is distinctly weak in conjuring place, c More...
Jun 18, 2009
Irina
rated it:
Zweig's writing is full of psychoanalysis of his characters’ emotions, soul, and state of mind. He is always on the journey to finding out what controls his characters’ actions.
"Beware of pity” novel is about a young Austrian officer, who attends a party at the house of the Nobel aristocrat (at least who appeared to be one at first), invites the host’s daughter to dance without knowing that she is handicapped and in a wheel chair. In order to correct his mistake, he starts comin More...
"Beware of pity” novel is about a young Austrian officer, who attends a party at the house of the Nobel aristocrat (at least who appeared to be one at first), invites the host’s daughter to dance without knowing that she is handicapped and in a wheel chair. In order to correct his mistake, he starts comin More...
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Feb 17, 2010
David
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An old-fashioned but interesting novel. Narrators telling what other narrators tell, but with everyone sporting seemingly perfect recall. Still, it is psychologically well observed, and some of the scenes of misunderstanding and impending emotional harm are excruciatingly rendered. I also enjoyed the depiction of Austro-Hungarian officer/military life just before WWI, just before Everything changed.
Tragedy swallowed by catastrophe, with doomed interludes of euphoria.
What More...
Tragedy swallowed by catastrophe, with doomed interludes of euphoria.
What More...
Dec 24, 2008
Lisa
rated it:
Read this last year on the advice of a friend and was BLOWN away. Zweig is hugely famous in the world, except for America. He was a contemporary of Freud's and you can tell -- he's very into the psychology of human behavior. The title refers to a spontaneous act of chivalry done to a crippled girl, which sends the hero spinning deeper and deeper into a no-way-out situation. The story will resonate with you forever. Someone needs to make a movie of it NOW!
Feb 22, 2011
Hareton
rated it:
ძალიან კარგია. ფინალი განსაკუთრებთ. ცოტა ბოლოსკენ ბევრი სენტიმენტები იყო, მარა მერეეე. ყველა პერსონაჟი კარგია, განსაკუთრებით კონდორის და კეკეშფალვასი.
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Dec 08, 2010
Robert
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I picked up a sturdy 1939 hardcover of this in June, after recognizing the title in a used book store from a poem by Ariana Reines. A meticulous & melodramatically precise description of a single emotion, carried out for 500 pages. Wish I had read this years ago.
"Why should I not let myself be loved in all heedlessness, if it made others so happy?"
"Why should I not let myself be loved in all heedlessness, if it made others so happy?"
