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Unterleuten

Juli Zeh

4.18 · Rating details · 4,332 ratings · 359 reviews

Der große Gesellschaftsroman von Juli Zeh
Manchmal kann die Idylle auch die Hölle sein. Wie das Dorf "Unterleuten" irgendwo in Brandenburg. Wer nur einen flüchtigen Blick auf das Dorf wirft, ist bezaubert von den altertümlichen Namen der Nachbargemeinden, von den schrulligen Originalen, die den Ort nach der Wende prägen, von der unberührten Natur mit den seltenen Vogelarten ...more

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Hardcover, 639 pages

Published March 8th 2016 by Luchterhand Literaturverlag

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Jul 13, 2018 Ilse rated it it was amazing

Shelves: germany, reviewed, 2018, 2018-autorinnen

While reading this hefty brick (915 grams), I came across the news that chances are small that a second nudist beach at the Belgian coast will open soon, as the Nature and Forestry Agency advised against it because of the presence of the crested lark (Galerida cristata), a rare and protected bird species. This bird provides the government with a welcome excuse to wriggle out of the quagmire, as the ‘activities in the margin of a nudist beach’ could be considered detrimental for the bird's surviv ...more

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Dec 29, 2019 Marc rated it liked it

Shelves: german-literature, germany

With this book Zeh confirms that she is one of the most interesting and best German writers of the moment. "Our kind of people" (unfortunately there's no English translation yet) combines a high literary level with a remarkable current relevance value. To begin with the latter: the book highlights the impact of the ecological issue on a small village community in eastern Germany; after the announcement that a wind farm is going to be installed nearby, the little village of Unterleuten is immedia With this book Zeh confirms that she is one of the most interesting and best German writers of the moment. "Our kind of people" (unfortunately there's no English translation yet) combines a high literary level with a remarkable current relevance value. To begin with the latter: the book highlights the impact of the ecological issue on a small village community in eastern Germany; after the announcement that a wind farm is going to be installed nearby, the little village of Unterleuten is immediately in a state of commotion. This theme comes on top of the feeling of deprivation that already pervades all of the former East Germany, and on top of classic antagonisms like the ones between countryside and city, between rich and poor and between young and old. It’s great how Zeh skillfully plays with all these elements.

The entire saga around the wind turbine farm certainly is the connecting suspense element in this book, but that is only a secondary topic. It is mainly the portraiture of the characters that is the strength of this novel. Zeh puts a spotlight on ten villagers, some of whom have just arrived from the city, but others have already fought quite a few internal wars among themselves in Unterleuten. And they are not cardboard figures: Zeh knows how to give her characters depth, with a complex past and often also a problematic relationship with their loved ones. Moreover, they are almost all dramatic figures, with very petty human aspects, who especially think that they are always right and who see only their own interest; this drives them into absurd situations and eventually also into their own downfall. Especially the decades-long fight between the elderly Grombowski and Kron takes on epic forms and is waged with grim stubbornness and even violence.

This novel is also about major social changes that are taking place and where people in the middle of it benefit from (or try to do so), or fall victim to. In this sense, Unterleuten is a variant of The Leopard by Tomaso di Lampedusa. At a certain moment, it is almost literally mentioned that "everything must change so that everything can stay the same". Likewise, the omniscient narrator perspective adds to the very classic feel of this novel.

The composition of the book, with a constantly changing perspective and small leaps forward in time, gives the story a dynamic character. But it must be said that the end was a bit disappointing and less dramatic than I expected. That may have something to do with Zeh's approach, which is a bit too well-thought through: she does manage her book and her characters very tightly, as a result of which her figures get a little stereotyped, like puppets in a drawn out scenario. I also noticed that in her previous novels.

This is a great society novel, and thus ultimately also a true moral novel, in which the human ups and downs are inexorably taken under the magnifying glass, and in which the village community becomes a character in itself, a living organism. There is also a sad haze over the whole novel, especially at the end, when it turns out that little people hardly mean anything, and victories and defeats just turn out to be thin air. That leaves a sour aftertaste. So, all in all a very interesting novel, nicely composed, but to me a bit of soul was lacking. ...more

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Aug 31, 2018 Friederike Knabe rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: german-lit

The three stars reflect my mixed reactions to this novel. On the positive side, Juli Zeh takes real life social and political conflicts and explores them within the confines of a fictional village not far from Berlin in former East Germany. The tensions around technological progress, in the form of a wind farm project, breaks open long held resentments and hostilities of the past power structures. Those readers familiar with the impact on East Germany in tbe aftermath of German unification will ...more

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Jun 19, 2019 Ira Therebel rated it it was amazing

Shelves: german-language, contemporary, fiction, novel, western-europe

"The worst evils in the world are not done by bad people. Surprisingly there aren't that many of them. Much more dangerous are the people who believe they are right. There are a lot of them and they don't have any mercy." (loosely translated)

This is one of the many wisdoms we get from this book that is an absolute pleasure to read.

Set in a small village in ex DDR this is a story of people living in it, their reactions and actions when building of wind turbines is proposed. Doesn't sound that exc "The worst evils in the world are not done by bad people. Surprisingly there aren't that many of them. Much more dangerous are the people who believe they are right. There are a lot of them and they don't have any mercy." (loosely translated)

This is one of the many wisdoms we get from this book that is an absolute pleasure to read.

Set in a small village in ex DDR this is a story of people living in it, their reactions and actions when building of wind turbines is proposed. Doesn't sound that exciting but it really is. What the book is actually about is human nature and how they function in the society. It touches many topics of today's world. The changes in rural areas, protecting of nature, old vs young, West vs East (this particular one is more for the Germans to understand), life in the city vs life in a village, individualism vs community etc. Lots of symbols, the title of the book is already one.

The best about this book are the characters. They are actually very stereotypical. There is a crazy cat lady, an intellectual activist for nature, two old rivals and so on. But Juli Zeh develops into very complex characters. The more we read the more we get to know them and the more real they become. We get this story told from every characters perspective. We find out how they act and what their reasoning it, which stories they believe and how it affects their actions. All of them are acting in their interest and I could empathize with all of them even though they were against each other and had opposite views. This is what I liked the most about this book. How real this people are. They have their faults like all humans do, are selfish, think they are the ones who are right and yet somehow one still likes them because their memories, experiences and how they see life explains their faults and actions.

The book is over 600 pages long and yet it doesn't feel like it. It is a page turner which one can't put down because one wants to know what comes next. It is more thrilling than a thriller and a bit harder to predict.

A little bonus is also this site: https://www.unterleuten.de/ We get to see here a map of Unterleuten. And when it comes to characters we see their own pages. Such as Facebook profiles of Jule and Kathrin, the bird protection website, the website of the company that was installing the turbines and also of the pub they have in Unterleuten. This was kind of fun as it made it feel even more real. But it is in German.

(view spoiler) ...more

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Oct 04, 2016 Michael rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobook, fiction

A poor man's Game of Thrones, which takes place at the back of beyond in Brandenburg. It's told from multiple perspectives which unmasks the protagonists' inadequacies and their lack of insight into human nature. They are not fighting about the iron throne but about wind power and endangered birds. The cast consists among others of a power-mad horse-lady, a crazy cat lady, a child obsessed mother, a starry-eyed idealist sociologist from Berlin, an investor with too much money, a man who would th ...more

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Mar 19, 2018 Susana Escobar rated it liked it

Almost 4 stars, really. Loved the way social mechanisms are portrayed particularly the oppositions DDR/West, city/country, old/Young.
However I think the way everything ends is way too dramatic.

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Oct 02, 2018 Raymond Burt rated it really liked it · review of another edition

A colleague recommended this book to me when I was in Germany this July, and, having plenty of time, I purchased it and began reading. Absolutely gripping. Each chapter takes the perspective of one of the inhabitants of this rural village outside of Berlin. As reviews promised, it is an insightful social commentary on contemporary Germany. With each round of chapters, we learn more about the characters, their views about the others, and about their pasts. The clashes are East/West, urban/rural, ...more

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Apr 18, 2017 Uli Vogel rated it it was amazing

It feels like a whole village of stereotyped characters having lived through the historical period before and after the reunification of the Germanies. Well, so am I. Consequently, this is highly recommended for people like me.

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Aug 03, 2019 Zelda rated it really liked it

Shelves: this-shit-is-dark, mystery, contemporary, politics

I am very, very bad with summaries, so... feel free to consult wikipedia for it. But basically, the story follows the inhabitants of Unterleuten, a small village in rurual eastern germany. There, an energy company intends to build a wind power plant, so they try to purchase the necessary lands. There are several of them, and they are in the hands of people with vastly different interests. So we learn about their interests, dreams and hopes, as the book tells the story of multiple families inhabi I am very, very bad with summaries, so... feel free to consult wikipedia for it. But basically, the story follows the inhabitants of Unterleuten, a small village in rurual eastern germany. There, an energy company intends to build a wind power plant, so they try to purchase the necessary lands. There are several of them, and they are in the hands of people with vastly different interests. So we learn about their interests, dreams and hopes, as the book tells the story of multiple families inhabiting the village.

Unterleuten reads a lot like a thriller, especially the second half, as the book picks up a lot of momentum. I actually needed three tries to finish the book, because it starts out quite slow. Every chapter, the perspective switches and we follow another one of the large cast of characters. All of those characters feel alive and very distinct from one another. There is Linda, a young and very ambitious woman, new in the village, who dreams of her own stud farm, there is Kron, whose whole family, over several generations, are well-known and respected and who wants a future for this family. Gombrowski, the mayor of the village, with his sometimes questionable actions. Jule and Gerhard, new in Unterleuten, seeking a peaceful and quiet life away from Berlin. And many, many more, of course...
All of these characters feel very different and in my head, they all had a distinct voice, while reading the chapters told from their perspective.

I read the book in German, and I actually don't know if it is available in english (some of Juli Zeh's works are, as far as I know). But from a technical standpoint, this novel is not that special. Juli Zeh writes in a simple and concise manner. I liked it a lot, it added to the rural flair this book omitted and I am not a big fan of telling things in an overly complex way. Unterleuten tells a complex story, with many characters, moral disambiguity and colliding interests in a very simple way.

In my opionion, the book has its weaknesses, mostly the beginning. It took a while to suck me in and I actually needed holidays with not much else to do, to work my way through the first almost two of the six parts the book is split into. After that, after I got a grasp of all the relationships these characters had, after making my way through a lot (A LOT! Really. A lot) of exposition and seemingly unimportant side characters, I started to love this book.

I breezed through the last two thirds in only a couple of days. As I said previously, the characters are amazing and I found myself deeply caring for them and their fates, not quite identifying with them, but rooting for them, turning page after page hoping for them to get what they deserve. There is no right or wrong, no good or bad, just people. All those characters are deeply flawed, but they all change over the course of the story. The "main plot" about the wind park soon became sidelined for me, as I instead cared more about what it did with the characters, but that doesn't mean it is boring. Quite the opposite, there are several storylines, carefully crafted together to form a knot that gets slowly disentangled.

I am still not sure, if this book deserves five stars, though. It is very, very good and I enjoyed it a lot, but I also stopped reading twice, for a couple of weeks. Still, I managed to return to the book, both times, because it didn't leave my mind completely. I cared about the characters, but I grew bored of not much happening. After accepting the slow pace at the beginning, though, it was a very enjoyable read. So I think, 4 stars seem quite right to me. It is a very good book.

So who would I recommend it to? Well... everyone who speaks German (sadly, that seems to be a requirement, since I haven't found an english translation), loves character driven stories with a slow beginning and enjoys reading about what people do for their own gain. ...more

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Sep 28, 2017 Thomas Hettich rated it really liked it

Shelves: book-club-adliswil, 2017

This is a very enjoyable read. Although 635 pages long, not once did I consider to stop reading it (something that I am prone to doing). The main plot is set up in the first 100 or so pages and from then, for me, it was not the furthering of the plot that I found most interesting, but rather how we get to know each person further (every chapter changes viewpoint between 11 main characters) - we learn the characters backstory, their motivations, to appreciate and root for each of them. How a pers ...more

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May 06, 2017 Tim Nowotny rated it it was amazing

This was a big surprise to me. It is written like a good thriller as you can expect from the author.
The characters are great and you are always in for a few surprises. Reflecting over this book is beneficial as it does the seven samurai (telling the story from different unreliable points of view) with you but not needed for enjoyment.
I bought it after reading it digitally just so I can give it away!

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Dec 08, 2018 Jeroen Swinnen rated it liked it

Very well constructed - almost like a game - and entertaining at a little above ‘intellectual soap level’ with a few highlights, but not the sociological masterpiece I expected after all the hype. As a study in human behaviour, I found it just not interesting enough (with the somewhat detached ending as a surprising highlight), and as a story, for me it was written in a cold manner, too much from a distance, which made me not care enough. Also, it’s at least 150 pages too long.

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Mar 31, 2020 Hal rated it really liked it

Delightful story set in a fictitious small village in the vast rural area around Berlin. A cast of several couples and families living there, either born and raised on the sandy grounds or newcomers trying to find their place there.

Everyone has their own agenda: protecting the local birds, setting up their semi-legal car repair shop, establishing a riding horse stable, or just settling old scores. Tempers get going when the village is selected for a wind park development that could benefit some Delightful story set in a fictitious small village in the vast rural area around Berlin. A cast of several couples and families living there, either born and raised on the sandy grounds or newcomers trying to find their place there.

Everyone has their own agenda: protecting the local birds, setting up their semi-legal car repair shop, establishing a riding horse stable, or just settling old scores. Tempers get going when the village is selected for a wind park development that could benefit some (EU subsidies!) and hurt others (the landscape and birds!).

There are intrigues, power plays, alliances and deceit, and most of all a beautiful set of character studies: Each chapter is told from the point of view of one of the protagonists and digs deep into their life and how it has taught them to see the world. Of course, everyone thinks of themselves as reasonable and fair and of their actions as natural response to the situation as they perceive it. In the end, pretty much all of them end up doing both terrible and noble things, though the motives are invariably selfish.

Disputes and even hatred arise not so much through genuine conflicts of interest, but rather through very different perspectives and assumptions which are never discussed. Tellingly, the only time two protagonists openly address a longstanding issue, towards the end, they manage to immediately resolve it ((view spoiler)). Which is not to say that open communication would fix everything or anything in the village – those are more than mere misunderstandings, rather entirely different philosophies of right and wrong which shape the way everyone understands what's happening to them.

One star deducted because a lot of open questions remain unresolved ((view spoiler)). ...more

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Jun 06, 2018 Clair rated it it was amazing

My third novel after Nullzeit and Alles auf dem Rasen.
I will have to come back to Alles auf dem Rasen one day, totally didn’t get it and kind of daydreamed the whole time while reading it. Maybe it just wasn’t the right time, maybe it’s just not for me.

Nullzeit I absolutely loved and the little village of Unterleuten fascinated me.
With Juli Zeh’s characters it’s like viewing people through a magnifying glass.
Every single character is described in detail without creating a hero or even a slig ...more

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Feb 01, 2020 Melanie F rated it really liked it

Years before Unterleuten came out Ms Zeh wrote and published (under a pseudonym) the little self help book that one of the characters is reading. She (and her publishers perhaps) made facebook pages for some of the characters, leaking her fictive world into the “real” albeit digital world. This makes Unterleuten more than just a novel, but for me a piece of performance art.

That being said, the book was just too long. I stopped reading when the woman on the train platform with the dog. Not spoil ...more

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Oct 03, 2018 Menno Zandee rated it liked it

I might have had "great expectations" about Juli Zeh's novel "Unterleuten" (Dutch translation: "Ons soort mensen"). True, the story about a small rural village in the former DDR after the "Wende" is a proof of her craftsmanship in writing good prose. The point of view shifts from the one to the other citizen of the village, and Zeh beautifully depicts each character with it's peculiarities and shortcomings, and bluntly said: egocentric point of view. "Unterleuten is a jail" is the motto of the b ...more

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Feb 11, 2019 Mimi rated it really liked it

Shelves: fiction-2018

This book tackles life in a small village outside Berlin.
The book is characterised by a very strong profiling of each village resident. Each resident depicts a set of small human traits, the reader can identify with.
The village represents the clash between the current world view and the demons of a distant past. It is a thin line to walk the challenges of the future and keep or conquer the values of the past. There is only one certainty in life, and that is change. Every human being deals with t ...more

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Aug 21, 2018 Liz Thackray rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: german

[Read in German]
Interesting book, but a difficult read. Each Chapter follows the fortunes of a different protagonist in the story of a community in the former DDR. The stories intertwine and develop, with a lot of back stories as well as apparent current events. It gave an insight into some of the changes in communities in the former DDR, now being settled by outsiders - or being seen as investment opportunities. I am glad to have finished the book, but found it less than satisfying in so many, ...more

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Jul 04, 2020 Littlebookterror rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2020, in-audio-format, orig-german

The ending was underwhelming enough that I cannot give it four stars.

I did enjoy the overall atmosphere, the German setting and characters as well as the political landscape of Unterleuten. Linda Franzen appealed to me from the start and I loved her characters the most.
When the birds were first mentioned I had hoped we would learn more about them or that they would be a bigger plot point. Honestly I had wished anything that been a more prominent part of the plot which I why I was not satisfied ...more

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May 21, 2018 Kristine rated it really liked it

Chapters are told from the perspective of the different stakeholders and it's amazing how Zeh puts herself in the shoes of each. As a reader, you get insight in how their brains are wired and why. Juli Zeh dissects human kind as well as society, and skillfully weaves relational issues into current political and environmental ones. Much enjoyed it from cover to cover.

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Feb 11, 2019 Jana Viktoria rated it really liked it

I was skeptic when given this book for my bday. I work in renewable energy and thought a bit like „same old same old“. And partly it is. The discussion about the wind park is so real?! But then the characters are superb and I love how she makes them
Interact. And the unexpected twists of course which by the end are just kind of logical?!

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Feb 09, 2020 Carolin rated it really liked it

Good read that hits close to home and plays well on parts of what it means to live in the East German country side and the complexity of the social system that is a village. I did feel though it dragged on a bit and painting each of the many characters utterly flawed is great but also doesn't really make you root for them. 4/5 stars

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Mar 28, 2020 Alexandra M rated it liked it

Nice literature, well written & amazing insights on the main characters. Sometimes a bit difficult to make progress, very detailed- but nice topic: about socialization, living together in a small town somewhere near Berlin and the book is very clear about the fact: we never know the people surrounding us. ...more

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Jun 09, 2020 Matt Pfaff rated it it was amazing

It's epic! Both a psychodrame and a story about people and an environmental thriller.
It's always wonderful to follow Juli in her tracking of people's minds and behaviours.
For readers interested in some German history it evolves more understanding for the psyche of both East Germans and West Germans.
By the way - the motion picture shown on TV in 3 parts was also recommendable.

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Oct 07, 2017 Tim Vriesacker rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

In this impressive novel, Zeh describes the 21st century as 'the era of unconditional egocentrism'. 'Unterleuten' is a modern age 'Game of Thrones': a set of relentless characters that are driven by greed and self-interest, intrigues galore, an excellent plot... Bloody great book!

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May 31, 2018 A rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: dutch-literature

A thrilling novel about the complicated relations between villagers in Unterleuten, a small village in the former German Democratic Republic. The village as an isolated unit, seperate from the state, where justice is taken into the villager's own hands, based on old feuds. A real page turner.

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Dec 11, 2018 Aline Boogaart rated it it was ok · review of another edition

A long-winded story about a village in former East German. It is said to be European literature of the highest level, but I just found it a tedious story with some interesting thoughts and observations.

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Aug 05, 2020 Sander rated it liked it

At some point, the Berliner game developer complains he can't keep all the villagers apart like it's some unnecessary complicated Dostoyevski novel. That's a lovely piece of ironic self-reflection by the author.

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May 15, 2017 Ann De Haes rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

One of the best books I read in a long time. The whole town came to life, and I immediately made my travel companion read it too so we could talk about it.

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Aug 04, 2017 Anika Ge rated it it was amazing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iH7Nn... ...more

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About Juli Zeh

Juli Zeh

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Juli Zeh is a German novelist.

Her first book was Adler und Engel (in English: Eagles and Angels), which won the 2002 Deutscher Bücherpreis for best debut novel.

Juli Zeh has lived in Leipzig since 1995. Zeh studied human rights law in Passau and Leipzig, passing the Zweites Juristisches Staatsexamen - comparable equivalent to the U.S. bar exam - in 2003. She also has a degree from the Deutsches Li ...more

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Quotes from Unterleuten

“Wenn ich in Unterleuten eins gelernt habe, dann dass jeder Mensch ein eigenes Universum bewohnt, in dem er von morgens bis abends recht hat.” — 9 likes

“Im Wald gab es Töten ohne Hass, Fortpflanzung ohne Liebe, Kooperation ohne Gesetze, Ernährung ohne Wissenschaft und Lebensfreude ohne Philosophie.” — 1 likes

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