Ryan Goodmn’s Reviews > The Berlin Boxing Club > Status Update

A part that wowed me was the use of a cool simile. After the part where Karl hurts the boy that is with Greta, Karls sprints out of the ice cream shop and a good simile is used. "I started running but I could barely feel my legs moving. It was as if the sidewalk were sinking beneath my feet with each step"(296). This part wowed me because of the cool picture it painted in my mind and because of the descriptiveness.

I was on the edge of my seat when Karl's family received an unexpected knock. At 1:00 AM Karl's family heard a knock on the door and they worried the police were going to arrest them. Although it was unlikely, the argument in their possible last moments was tense. "Don't answer it, my mother said. If they were here to arrest us, they wouldn't knock said my father"(238). This part made me worry because it was intense.

A scene that impressed me was the description of the tension between Karl and Herr Koplek. Karl wanted to punch Herr Koplek and the author did a good job demonstrating the tension and the anger that Karl felt. "I stood there with my fists cocked, feeling the blood pulse through my fingers wanting more than anything to unleash a torrent of punches on him"(216). This description written by the author impressed me.

A shocking part was when Herr Boch didn't describe Jews as inferior. Herr Boch was talking about human blood and a kid said that Jews have rat blood. Herr Boch said all human blood is the same, he also referred to Jews as humans. "All human blood is basically the same"(78). This shocked me because it is very risky (especially as a teacher) in this time to say Jews are humans and to expose propaganda against Jews.

A part that was interesting was when Robert Sharenow used a lot of detail to explain a scene. The author used plethora of detail to express the damages done to Karl after he was terrorized and it was very impressive.
"Dried blood formed a patchy goatee around my mouth and a purple bruise framed the entire right side of my face,"(19-20). This amount of detail really painted the scene and was impressive in my opinion.