Rating: 
Summary: No Sympathy
Review: I have to say that I am extremely disappointed...in the criticalreviews that I read for this book. It is not well written, thecharacters are flat and lack any real development, and the story lineis completely predictable. Over and over I found myself wondering whythe author kept asking rhetorical questions of the reader throught themain character. As an author it is his job to supply this sort ofinformation to the reader, to develop the thought processes of hischaracters beyond mere questioning to conclusive ideas. That was justmy first problem with the novel. Perhaps as a result of all therhetorical questions, his characters lacked any sort of development.Often I found myself wondering why I should sympathize with any ofthem. I realized that the reason I felt no sympathy was simplybecause I did not know them. The author failed to paint a vividpicture of either of them. He failed to let me into their world or tohelp me experience what they were experiencing. Finally, the storywas completely predictable. It was obvious that she was illiteratefrom the beginning when she asked him to read to her. This was herhorrible secret that she would die for? And this is what we were keptin suspence during the whole novel for? I was very disappointed. Itseemed so contrived. Beyond that, the romance was tawdry and smackedof Harlequin Romance. It seemed extremely cheap, the fantasy of anolder man looking back on his youth, not the tender love that twoadults might feel for one another. Once again, I am shocked to hearreviews call this book "deep," "evocative," and soforth. Read this again people, look at his style, or lack thereof andreevaluate. Perhaps something was lost in the translation, but thisbook was horrible.
Rating: 
Summary: A simple yet beautiful book
Review: It is a simple love story. Yet it is much more than just that. It is also a very sensitive portrayal of how post war Germany is struggling to come to terms with its past. I liked the lucid and simple style of prose, and for this the credit goes to the translator.
Rating: 
Summary: WOW
Review: I loved this book. The Reader is the first book I have read by Mr. Schlink and I am definitely jones-ing for some more of him! Read this book!
Rating:
Summary: A striking story - dark, depressing and yet so human
Review: A truly remarkable work by Schlink. The book grips you from the very start and fills you with conflicting and ultimately philosophical emotions. The compelling characters strongly convey our feeble human nature and in an uncompromising manner, stress the totality and melancholic finality of our existence. A story of immutable guilt and self destruction, not only of the blameworthy (Hanna) but also of the innocent (Michael). As a Jew, the book left me with very strong impressions as well as with some different perspectives to grasp the ungraspable. And yet, as in life, there is no closure in the book - for Michael, Hanna or the victims. But most importantly - there is no closure for the burdened German conscience. Perhaps there should never be one. This is a book I would carry within me for a long while.
Rating:
Summary: Great for discussion groups
Review: This is a wonderful book for a discussion group: an intriguing look at guilt, responsibility, and forgiveness in post war Germany that will have you talking-and thinking- for weeks. For me, the most interesting aspect of the book was the characters. First of all, there is Michael, never able to have a healthy love life after his obsessive affair with Hanna. But much more interesting is Hanna herself. Somehow Schlink manages to make her a sympathetic character, in spite of the fact that she has practically seduced a 15 year old boy (while she is in her 30's), and of course has committed some of the most heinous crimes in the history of the world. Yet somehow I didn't hate Hanna. Furthermore, she becomes even more sympathetic as she seems to develop a conscience at the end of the book: it appears that she has finally realized the atrocity of her actions. After all, when Michael arrives at her jail cell, he notices her shelves are full of books on the Holocaust. By learning, finally, to read, has she finally become able to comprehend what she has done? And does she do what she does because she finally realizes that Michael will never be able to forgive her? Just as she now cannot forgive herself? This book is a valuable addition to the literature on the Holocaust, as it focuses on a perpetrator- not the victims- which perhaps makes it even more disturbing.
Rating:
Summary: So you figured out the secret???
Review: I was captivated from the start. The reference to the Post War German guilt and the secret of Hanna which I expect most readers to figure out early in the novel, did not detract from the beautiful interaction between the characters. The love cementing them for the rest of their lives unbiased by age, or time. Perhaps an additional lesson may be learnt, Don't hold on to the past, the enjoyment of the present may pass you by.
Rating:
Summary: Thought Provoking.
Review: This emotional book is worth the read for its ability to make one think about the many issues that were layed out brilliantly: a young man and an older lover, his high social status versus her working class, his education versus her ignorance. Add to that the guilt that the new generation of Germans who had nothing to do with the Nazis are still faced with; the guilt that is the curse of their heritage. Schlink brings all of these points togther for a fascinating and emotional book through the poignant characters of Michael and Hanna. Although the translation creates stilted reading (thus 4 stars and not 5), I recommend this book highly.
Rating:
Summary: Enthralling story that touches on many levels
Review: I bought this book while on travel in Australia. I figured it would be a quick read on the plane back...little did I know how it would consume my time over the next few hours. I read it...and then I re-read it, and re-read it again. By the time the plane ride came, I had read it three times. Most of us can see a lot of ourselves in the protagonist, Michael or his lover, Hannah. The backdrop of WW II and the Holocaust is a unique means of showing character flaws and how they can drive us to destruction. Hannah's inability to swallow her pride and overcome her "secret" led to her destruction; consequently her atonement in prison and love for Michael led to her rehabilitation as a human being. What is sad about the book is how Michael cannot acknowledge his love for Hannah to the rest of the world, undoubtedly due to her shame of being a convicted Nazi. Even at the conclusion of the novel, he is unable to voice his love to anyone, except to the one person who couldn't care less about Hannah. This book is a wonderful read, and provokes a lot of thoughts. I heartily recommend it to anyone looking to find a little more about themselves.
Rating:
Summary: The Ethics of Guilt
Review: The literary and philosophical beauty of this novel lies in its narrative structure, taking the audience from the protagonist's personal dilemma as an adolescent to the his ethical and political responsibilities as an adult. The Reader delves courageously into the postwar German psyche, taking into consideration the anguish of both personal and collective guilt. While this book presents philosophical and legal hypotheses in plain, accessible language, the depth of these fictionalized ethical quandaries may not bid the younger reader's attention or comprehension to the extent that he or she may finish the novel with a sense of enlightenment or satisfaction. However, The Reader is most certainly appropriate - and recommended - to college level readers and above. The translation preserves the author's terse, yet engaging style with only several grammatical glitches that cause only minimal distraction. On the whole, though, The Reader is a superbly written and engaging novel not to be missed by those who appreciate an ethically-based, yet solid, plot graced with character-driven circumstances.
Rating:
Summary: Puts a human face on German Nazis
Review: Complex and intimate fictional memoir in which a middle-aged German recalls a love affair he had at age 15 with a 36-year-old streetcar conductor. The affair is more of a metaphor for the guilty relationship between Germany and the Nazis, rather than an Oedipal/Lolita study. This becomes more apparent in the second half of the book, when the mentor/paramour Hanna is tried for war crimes and becomes the morally ambiguous human face of German Nazis. The generation gap experienced by baby boomers in the United States was intense, even though American veterans of WWII were heroes in a noble cause. Imagine how different the experience was in Germany, where the older generation was stained with the commission, or at least the tolerance, of Nazi atrocities. Schlink treads a delicate line as he attempts some measure of forgiveness on behalf of the generation he refers to not as "boomers" but as "second generation." Kudos to Janeway for the translation, as the poetic quality of the writing and the keen human insight survive amazingly well in the English version. The book did not win its awards by being insipid, or deserving the worst possible Amazon ranking. The intensely negative reviews elicited are likely a result of the author's willingness to deal frankly with such emotionally charged subjects. It is an important and thought-provoking work, beautifully written.
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