The Reader

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Summary: An intriguing, thought-provoking book
Review: I'd just finished reading "The Triumph and the Glory", an inspiring new novel that concludes in post-war Germany with the epic Berlin Airlift, when I saw this book posted on Amazon. I ordered it immediately, just finished it, and thought it was exceptionally gripping, a profound statement about life in post-war Germany. The entire subject is fascinating to me, my step-father was born in Germany in the 1930's and grew up in Berlin during the war, so both of these fine books hit close to home for me.

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Summary: German view
Review: I was astonished to find Bernhard Schlink in the New York Times Bestsellerlist and would like to add the view of the German post-war generation. The moving and unsettling theme in this book is the question, if we can forgive ourselves the love and the bond we feel for our grandparents and parents allthough we know (or not know) about their share of the happenings before and during the third Reich. It is easy to blame "the Nazis" in general or the hanger-ons who gave them their power and to dissociate from all of it. But it is harder to face all of it on a personal level.

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Summary: Provokes deep emotions, maybe unwillingly
Review: Bernhard Schlink accomplished exactly what he intended in this book. Maybe it is from the German culture, or the translation of the German language, but what you get from this book is not a set of fictional circumstances. You get the examination of a tortured mind. A boy has to deal with becoming a man at the hands of a woman he loves without discretion. Now he must face that he may not have ever really know her. He is taught to examine as an intellectual process, but emotions will not be controlled by any intellect. He is faced with more questions at the end than at the beginning. Children are always sure. They believe that daddy is the strongest guy in the world. It is when they become adults that they must deal with the truth and still love their fathers. We must examine ourselves in the light of Mr. Schlink's questions and yet, in the end we can only guess how we would handle ourselves in the circumstances of the Holocaust. Hopefully, we will never have to deal with the reality of that situation. Nor condemn those that are.

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Summary: I hoped it would get better...
Review: ...but it never did. The big secret was a let down, and the characters were void, "numb" was the word the author used. This book is alright for those who have a good imagination and can fill in the emotions and motives of the characters, but isn't that the writer's job? To be fair, there were a few pages in the book that should be read twice because they are quite profound (and there is also a need to get something for your time), but as a whole, the book may have lost itself in the translation.

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Summary: Mesmerizing
Review: I found this book oddly mesmerizing. It's an unusual story

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Summary: The feeling of guilt that never ends
Review: This is a novella that presents several issues that might be too difficult to understand for someone who is not connected to that time or the German people of Schlink's age that have struggled with the guilt of their fathers for all of their life. Schlink tries to differentiate between love, guilt and his duty to accuse or defend Hanna, who represents the German people that committed these crimes during the holocaust. As a German I have struggled with the same guilt, have gone to the camps to find an answer, so that I can understand. But can anybody ever understand? This is an extra-ordinary book that confirms to us, the children who were not involved and yet carry a tremendous guilt, that we will never be able to free ourselves from that guilt.

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Summary: A beautiful, haunting story of love and loss...
Review: This novel is a beautiful, haunting story of love and loss that readers won't forget. Part 1 is sensual and honest...poignant and tender. The remaining two parts echo the beginning. The reader goes on a psychological journey through the mind of the narrator as he chronicles his adulthood and the haunting of that life he can't seem to lead. This novel deals with coming of age and the Holocaust in a very different way, and readers will struggle with moral and ethical issues. I could not put this book down...and I read it in one sitting! I highly recommend this book. It's one I will never forget.

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Summary: Thoughtfully written, much to discuss and consider
Review: I am amazed at the negative reviews on The Reader. This book is incredible in its depth contained in the wonderful story which wastes no unnecessary words. It asks a number of questions, it asks us to consider another perception other than our own, to consider all sides of an issue and how complex life really is. On the surface, it would appear that Hanna was a cruel SS guard, and yes she was. She was also much more than that and we know her as a kind friend before we know her as a prison guard. A person reading about this trial would assume that Hanna was gulity as sin and deserves to die over her crimes against humanity. And yet we know the story is much more complicated than that. Who can question the shame that brings people to act as they do? Don't we all cover up shame and at what price? The author also raises the excellent question of what we as the next generation are to make of the Holocost, what are we to do with our knowledge? This book is beautifully written and highly recommended for those who want to ponder some issues and not simply be entertained.

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Summary: Excellent book-real literature
Review: I am appalled by some of the reviews Amazon's readers have submitted. This book is obviously not for the romance novel set. Those raised on fast-moving pulp fiction that revolves around sex and violence might not appreciate this simple, yet profound piece of literature that explores the relationship between those Germans born after WWII and their parents. The author answers no questions, he raises them and offers them to the reader to digest. These are important questions: how guilty is each German who lived through WWII? What are the responsibilities of their children? Can those children ever live normal lives under the cloud of what their parents did or didn't do? The protangonist of this story could not. He is forever scarred. What about his parents, the Germans represented by Hanna, his father, the truck driver? It's a great deal to think about. It is beautifully written, though I think the author made some excuses for his parents' generation despite his good intentions.

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Summary: The Reader will keep you curious until you finish!
Review: It is the story of a fifteen year old boy and a woman twice his age who find each other at the wrong time and place, not to mention their age gap. It is a story of love, lust, loneliness, hoplessnes and loyalty. I learned from this book.