Reviews round-up
Good Girl
by Aria Aber
4 of 5 critics positive
7 reviews: 4 positives, 1 mixed; 2 not stating a verdict in public
What the critics said
Positive
Read the review ↗“is all too timely”
The Kafka-esque struggle of an Afghan German girl is all too timely
Positive
Read the review ↗“shows that there are plenty of ways to tell an outsider's story”
A New Kind of Immigrant Novel
Positive
Read the review ↗“This powerful debut plunges the reader into a raging battle”
Good Girl by Aria Aber review – coming of age in Berlin
Positive
Read the review ↗“Aria Aber's exciting debut novel”
Sex, Drugs and Clubbing Are a Means of Escape for This ‘Good Girl’ (Published 2025)
Mixed
Read the review ↗“whose development feels, even at its end, unfinished”
Good Girl by Aria Aber: A portrait of the artist as a young Berliner
Verdict not stated
Read the review ↗Women’s prize for fiction 2025: six experts review the shortlisted novels
Verdicts are read from each outlet's own headline and summary; quotes are their words, credited and linked. Where a paywalled summary does not give the critic's view, we say so rather than guess. How it works.
