Erika turns everything inward, she self harms, punishing herself. It was interesting seeing, late in the book, how the Erika and Klemmer separately chose to act out their frustrations over their failing romance. I don't think this book does that, despite the characters all being narcissistic (Erikas' mother, to an extent Klemmer) or deeply damaged (Erika, her father). I'm thinking Kundera, Nabokov in a different way (Laughter in the Dark for example). I've heard some great writers of the 20th century accused of either writing completely unsympathetic characters, or otherwise writing characters in order to revel in their misery. The characters are complex and extremely flawed, but I don't think of it as a cynical book. The translation into English by Joachim Neugroschel is wonderful, retains the lyrical quality of the prose that the original is said to have. Instead, feel free to promote these in the Monday weekly thread. Don't promote other subreddit read-alongs. If you're going to do something of the sort, you must participate in the comment discussion. Don't just post a link to your website or Youtube video review.

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The Piano Teacher by Elfriede Jelinek