Her closest neighbour, named Gottfried but nicknamed Gote, is a neo-Nazi and occasionally violent, which initially shocks her, but by socialising with him and his ten-year-old daughter, she develops a friendship with the man, who helps her by crafting furniture and also turns out to have a brain tumor.

[1][5][6][7] Ronald Düker of Die Zeit wrote that the book was published on the anniversary of the first German covid lockdown and can be read as a contribution to a public debate, in the form of a story with much humanity.

[5] Andrea Diener [de] of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung wrote that it is possible to project a lot of contemporary politics on the novel, but that it benefits if you refrain from it, writing that it neither will disappoint Zeh's admirers nor win over her critics.

Magenau praised Zeh's dialogue and wrote that she cleverly undermines what initially seems like clichés of a clueless city girl and a "village Nazi", which results in portrayals that are human and not ideological.

[9] She wrote that the storytelling is skillful and executed with a clarity that is reminiscent of young adult fiction, but with pointed dialogues, irony, anger and a stoicism that is "the contemporary mood for an eastern German regional novel".