Rating: 
Summary: It's a quick read, but the thoughts it provokes last long.
Review: There must be a Hanna in each of our lives in some way, whether she is the lover, the love lost, or the misunderstood. This book brings together so many different ideas--first love, social issues, moral issues, history. The story told here is too real to not be true, too possible to not be real. Though it is a quick and simple read, the messages it contains are profound and will last much longer than it takes to read the book.
Rating: 
Summary: excellent
Review: a must rea
Rating:
Summary: Schlink opens windows of thought for the brave to see
Review: Bernhard Schlink touches on a subject most Americans are sheltered from in our own post Vietnam crisis. He has provided an awareness and an avenue of questioning. When Michael reflects on sadness, or happiness and the shattering of it, and recounts conversations with his father he reavels a writing style and opportunity for reflection for the reader, not commonly found in fiction. Cybertoe obviously has quite an interest in Oprah's picks, or he wouldn't be wasting our time with such drivel. For the educated reader, this book provides thought provking entertainment.
Rating: 
Summary: Blah....don't know what the hoopla is about.
Review: Wish that I hadn't wasted my time reading this book...too many good books out there.
Rating:
Summary: Boring, horrible ending
Review: Normally while reading a book you are drawn into the characters and sympathize with at least one of them. These character were badly written, you felt that even at the end of the book you knew nothing about them. And the trial, which I suppose was supposed to be the pivotal point in the novel, came from so far out in left field and with no explanation or logic. I felt let down after reading this, especially after all the praise Oprah had given it.
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Summary: I read this powerful and poetic book in one sitting.
Review: I have read many books about the Holocaust and certainly rate this among the best. I found it simultaneously gripping, thought-provoking and moving.
Rating:
Summary: Deep, thought provoking, and intelectual....
Review: I picked up The Reader from a local bookstore yesterday and finished it late last night. I was moved by the story and found the themes of love, morality, and honesty universal. There were so many layers in this novel that I was amazed that he could relate so much in such a short read. He is very blunt and to the point, which made it an easy read, but the subject matter gave it a depth that astounded me. His style reminded me of Albert Camu because his discriptions were real and beautiful without being over-discriptive, but it exuded a dark optimism that is difficult to express.
Rating: 
Summary: 3 1/2 stars, if I could do that.....
Review: The spare prose in The Reader is off-putting at first, but then takes on its own rhythm and that rhythm, ultimately, works. The book raises a lot of interesting questions about the nature of love, and of what it is that one human being may owe to another, and I think these questions "work" precisely because of that spare style. Also, because of that style, certain simple sentences have the weight of a ton of bricks. There are many sentences that I clearly remember even weeks after finishing this book.It was ultimately flawed for me, however, because it seems to be trying to make an apology for Hanna's participation in the Holocaust, as if to say, "Gee, if not for this, then that would have never happened." I couldn't buy into that and it bothers me that many people possibly are. I am not a watcher of Oprah, but it made me wonder what her position is on that aspect of the book. Might she also wish us to believe that the perpetrators of slavery were really okay guys, just misunderstood? I doubt it.Nevertheless, it was a worthwhile book and a provocative read. I was hesitant to read it at first because of the love affair between the boy and the woman (a turnoff as a topic, but possibly autobiographical?), but I was ultimately glad I read it. I am pretty sure it would be a good bookclub book for there is much here to discuss.
Rating:
Summary: A good read
Review: I just had to write a response to Cybertoe. I enjoyed this book which, incidentally, I purchased before knowing about the recommendation by Oprah. I suggest that you read (even partially) a novel before critising it as 'retarded'. Jeez...armchair ignoramuses make me so mad! I bet that Cybertoe secretly has a heap of "recommended by Jerry Springer"s...
Rating: 
Summary: One of the worst selections Oprah has made!
Review: I have read every book Oprah has selected and this was the absolute worst. Did not hold my interest at all. It was easy to tell it was translated from another language..very cardboard sounding!
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