The Reader

Rating:
Summary: Hard to explain
Review: This book is hard to explain because of the many different emotions that it leaves you with. I don't really know how I feel about this book. It was a good read and definitely raised many questions in my mind, but left me unsettled.

Rating:
Summary: The Reader, not what I anticipated
Review: when I read, or more correctly tried to read, the Reader, I wasn't taken by it very much. I was surprised by that, as I had previously read Black and Blue, and Jewel, and just got done with Where The heart is, and I couldn't put those down. I guess I didn't much care for the sex in almost every page, for such a short book, and I am not really too interested in WW2. This one, for some reason just did not send me.

Rating:
Summary: Complex and Very Disturbing
Review: I read this book two weeks ago, and it is still on my mind, even though I have already begun to read another novel. I even sent it to a friend to read, so we could discuss it! It was interesting reading, but left you with lots of questions that are not easily answered or easily dismissed. I found that I had little sympathy for Hannah, and I consider this more of a child-abuse story than a love story. He was haunted all his life by a woman who took advantage of him when he was only 15! I am haunted also by the other young "readers" that Hannah "used" while working at the concentration camp. Hannah's very nature poses lots of disturbing questions; nevertheless, the book holds your interest and I would recommend it to others.

Rating:
Summary: For the non-superficial reader....
Review: A book that just doesn't have you happily float along until it's over; this book pulls you deep below the surface to not only see, but feel the passion,love, pain, anger, despair and most important morality. Simple, yet complex. You'll still be thinking about this book even after you are done. A book to read and read again!!!

Rating:
Summary: Horrible, horrible book
Review: The Reader was a horrible book. It was just this side of pornographic, and kept going on and on about their sexual encounters. Hanna was an interesting character though I thought she was quite undeveloped in character. I'm surprised at Oprah's selection this time. A lot of her other recommendations have been very good. I hope she does better next time.

Rating:
Summary: A postwar Holocaust novel and all is not black or white
Review: Written from the point of view of a man too young to have any responsibility, yet he must agonize over the crimes of a woman who has had a proufound effect on his life. This book is erotic and thoughtful. There are only a few characters but all are clearly drawn and the reader must wrestle with all previous conclusions.

Rating:
Summary: I wished this book were longer.
Review: I read this book in one sitting! It held me captive. The young boys relationship with the older woman at the beginning of the book was written beautifly. It set me up perfectly for the rest of the story. It's been a long time since a story has brought me to tears.... this one did. I especially enjoyed it because it didn't have a "Hollywood" plot or ending, it spoke more of real life where things don't always go the way we'd like. It touched on alot of moral and ethical issues without deciding the answers for me.....I appreciated that. It made me THINK and that is a wonderful gift to get from a book.

Rating:
Summary: A dynamic tragic love story.
Review: Bernard Schlink is a dynamic story teller with great writing style. I was spellbound throughout as it flowed so beautifully. I felt the energy, pain and confusion in the relationship, but I especially felt the pain of the troubled young woman holding a personal secret she felt too terrible to reveal. I recommend it highly for excellent reading material.

Rating:
Summary: Incredibly disturbing in a boring-sort of way
Review: I could not wait to read other reviews after I finished The Reader and I am so disappointed that very few people are shocked at how Hannah took advantage of a 15 yr old boy! If the sexes had been reversed, this book would have never made any book club lists. Why does the general public seem to think it's okay if a young boy is involved in a sexual relationship with a woman his mother's age, but a 36 yr old man having sex w/a young girl would be considered outrageous? This whole issue was difficult to get past, therefore the more serious Holocaust issue became secondary to me. Hannah's illiteracy is sad, but no excuse for her behavior.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting, Yet Something was Missing
Review: I purchased The Reader due to Oprah's recommendation. I respect Oprah's book selections because I have liked almost all of her selections. But this book was hard for me to get into. I read it three times, hoping I had missed something. But I don't think I did. This book asked so many questions of me. Something that was both uncomfortable and distracting. I'm not used to being interrogated in a way by the book I'm reading. Not to say that this is bad, but merely something I am unaccostomed to. I thought the book was inciteful, but it did not give me what I had hoped. I probably went in expecting too much, several of my girlfriends loved it. This book did not leave me with anything I didn't already have, only with a feeling of 'that's it?'