The Reader

Originally published in Switzerland and gracefully translated into English by Carol Brown Janeway, The Reader is a brief tale about sex, love, reading and shame in post-war Germany. Michael Berg is 15 when he begins a long, obsessive affair with Hanna, an enigmatic older woman. He never learns very much about her and when she disappears one day, he expects never to see her again. But, to his horror, he does. Hanna is a defendant in a trial related to Germany's Nazi past and it soon becomes clear that she is guilty of an unspeakable crime. As Michael follows the trial, he struggles with an overwhelming question: what should his generation do with its knowledge of the Holocaust? "We should not believe we can comprehend the incomprehensible, we may not compare the incomparable... Should we only fall silent in revulsion, shame, and guilt? To what purpose?"

The Reader, which won the Boston Book Review's Fisk Fiction Prize, wrestles with many more demons in its few, remarkably lucid pages. What does it mean to love those people--parents, grandparents, even lovers--who committed the worst atrocities the world has ever known? And is any atonement possible through literature? Schlink's prose is clean and pared down, stripped of unnecessary imagery, dialogue and excess in any form. What remains is an austerely beautiful narrative of the attempt to breach the gap between Germany's pre and post-war generations, between the guilty and the innocent and between words and silence. --R Ellis, Amazon.com

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View books by Bernhard Schlink.

Potentially brilliant, but sadly under-developed - Rated
What I liked about this book was that important questions were raised and the reader was left to wander about in the grey area between right and wrong and good and evil, and make their own judgements. The basic premise of the book was a good one: an exploration of post war Germany and the legacy left by the holocaust. Sadly though the opportunity was missed as the subject wasn't given the depth, complexity and scope it needed.

Fundamentally I think it was missing a very necessary human side - it's the human side of us that is most deeply ashamed and disturbed by that period in history, not the intellectual. On the whole the writing was not emotive enough to convey the nuances it needed to make this human struggle real. It intellectually made me think, but failed to move me emotionally (in spite of the gravity of the events). How I could have been so unaffected emotionally by the events in the church signify to me that something important was missing from this book.

I assumed that the relationship between Hanna (mid 30's) and Michael (15) was a vessel to explore how the different generations could reconcile themselves with what happened in their history and with each other: the ones who were there (Hanna) and the post-Nazi generations that followed (Michael). The war crimes trial being was a good choice of arena to explore this with Hanna and Michael being representative of each side of the divide. However, Schlink failed to make the romance real for me. The scenes of Hanna and Michael were mostly sexual, and those rare moments of a deeper connection were too few and far between to create the impression of a love that could span decades and endure the revelations of character and actions that we are asked to believe it did. If the romantic dynamic had been better developed, this situation could have been very powerful.

The unfulfilling romance aside, I could not connect with any of the characters individually either. They each made questionable decisions (around keeping quiet about Hanna's not-so-terrible secret) but I felt no empathy for either of them - I simply couldn't understand their motivations because I had no idea who they were out of the context of being tools to explore a complex issue.

I have given this book three stars. It does raise some important questions, and literature should always challenge, but it is ultimately lacking something and is very disappointing.

I might recommend this book to a select few.

A story told but not experienced. - Rated
Putting aside the atrocities of a post-war Germany and the affects that these atrocious ripples caused through the generations thereafter, and the tender/raw relationship between Michael and Hanna, all of which are beautifully explored by Schlink, I still threw the book across the bedroom when I finished it.

Because Hanna's illiteracy is so obvious throughout the novel, I felt there was going to be a greater revelation to come. It never did. What's more, we are only ever TOLD of Hanna's remorse and of her reasons for committing suicide, and so the potential emotional payoff is diluted. I felt cheated that I didn't experience it with her - hence the flying book.

Very disappointing.

Very good - Rated
This book was great. I read it after watching the movie. Rarely does the film exceed the book but unfortunately it is true in this case. The book, though compelling and well written, took a different focus to the film. I felt the book focussed more on the trial (which is understandable being written by a legal professional) whereas the movie focussed on the love affair between Hanna and Michael.

This book will be a classic for years to come and does deserve a lot of credit. A remarkable storyline and a book which does leave you revelling in thought.

Moving and unforgettable - Rated
I also saw the movie adapted from this book, and loved both. Beautifully translated by Janeway, this is a poignant tale of love, sex, relationships, betrayal and obsession in Germany after WW11. A more-than-worthy Fisk winner, and an unforgettable book.

The wrost book even read - Rated
I read the book before went to see the moive, neither of them were good, the storyline was ok but the book was badly written, film was even worse, like porn. sadly never see my money back!