Not a story for the cynics! - Rated 
Werther falls in love with a woman who is engaged to another man. As a result he suffers miserably, tormented by his existence, unable to dispel the burning desire in his `sorely beset heart'. I found the translation provided an engaging narrative, allowing the reader to understand the central theme of the story: Werther's tragic inability to adapt to the harsh reality of his situation. Goethe's views on life and death reflect his consummate desire to expose Nature's inherent brutality `forever devouring, regurgitating, chewing and gorging'. And it is Werther's self pity that propels his dark thoughts towards oblivion, `I see no end to my misery but the grave.' As the introduction explains this work should be considered as semi autobiographical and, as such, should be read as the sentimental musings of a talented, observant and profoundly thoughtful writer. If we are honest we could all have a bit of Werther in our `soul'.
Disapointing - Rated 
I expected to enjoy this book. I'm keen on literature from this period and I'm not averse to a bit of tragedy. Unfortunately I found Werther in love to be utterly unconvincing. He struck me as self obsessed and ridiculous. Although he is supposed to be desperately in love with Lotte, the plot involves him staying away from her for a period, during which time he admits to not having leisure to think about her. This does not strike me as the emotional behaviour of a man in love and yet not so much later he's committing suicide because of his supposedly deep feelings for her. He appears more sunk in self pity than love and comes across as a candidate for mild contempt rather than sympathy. Nor could I warm to Lotte. One of her main appeals to Werther is her innocence and purity and yet at times she seems intent on ensuring that she doesn't lose his interest. All in all a disappointing read. Perhaps it just doesn't age as well as other literature of the era.
Overwrought and unbelievable - Rated 
'TSOYW' is touted as being one of Europes first tragic novels. It follows the story of Werther's love for Lotte, a love that is doomed to be unfulfilled because she is marrying another man and, though she loves Werther in return, her feelings are less passionate than his. Werther's growing passion is mirrored by his growing hopelessness and his increasingly obsessive behaviour, and he spirals towards despair and suicide.All of this is recorded in a series of letters written by Werther and, latterly, by the reports of a local official.
Unfortunately this book completely failed to move me, and any initial sympathy I felt towards Werther was lost as the florid and romanticised prose stretched all credulity regarding his state of mind. His feelings on meeting and falling in love with Lotte are well told, and do have a tragic beauty about them. The realisation of falling in love and the silly behaviour that follows will be recognisable to many people. However, when these feelings become darker, as Werther realises that he has no hope, his letters become overwrought with ridiculously flowery prose that reads more like a poet trying to write about a glorious romantic suicide than a young man actually experiencing one. I found it utterly unbelievable, and subsequently lost interest in Werther and the book. The final few days are strung out into an eternity of romantic musings which, again, was more like an attempt at poetry than he thoughts of a dying man. Immature as it may sound, I really was wishing that he would just get on with it.
I'm sure that this book has an important place in European literature and, correctly in context, is a classic, but its content was completely unbelievable and its style lost me, and I won't be reading it again anytime soon.
"Be on your guard..." - Rated 
"...and take care not to fall in love!" Truly the first, and still the greatest, pieces of 'confessional' writing on the up's and down's, the trials and tribulations, that come with that awe-inspiring feeling we know as "love". Whilst a previous reviewer noted this book is not for the recently heart broken, I would say the contrary. Anyone who has experienced both the passionate and romantic conditions of love, and has been affected in all aspects of their life as a result - hint: if you haven't then chances are you have not actually experienced love in its entirity! - simply MUST own a copy of this classic! It is actually of great comfort in many resepcts, inasmuch as you can relate so directly with the feelings described, so to make the reader aware of the fact that you are not the first nor the last to have simultaneously enjoyed and endured such feelings.
A Little Novel that Caused a Huge Sensation - Rated
We tend to think of our era as unique when we descry the impact that the media has on our young people's behavior. Well the same thing happened 200 years ago when this book was first published. Impressionable young readers who identified so completely with Werther went out and committed suicide by the droves. Werther is the prototypical Romantic male, who "feels" more deeply than the rest of humanity. Unlike Heathcliffe, who settles on revenge as an answer to his thwarted designs, Werther takes it out on himself. Of course, there's a great deal of self-destruction at work in Heathcliffe's persona too. I would recommend this to a reader who is just getting to know Goethe. I read it when I was about eighteen and it definitely struck a nerve with me at that time. It made me want to read everything by Goethe I could find in translation. Read it, and if you like it, as I am sure you will, go on to Goethe's two great Romantic novels, Elective Affinities and Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship. I found in my earlier readings that I never went wrong with Penguin Classics translations. They're normally all top-notch, whether Greek, Latin, French, German, Russian, etc. PS: If you're a young reader, please don't take Werther too much to heart. It's only a novel, ok?
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