Rating: 
Summary: EXCELLENT BOOK!
Review: ALL THE BOOKS OPRAH CHOOSES ARE FANTASTIC!
Rating: 
Summary: O.K. but overrated
Review: In their encomia on the cover, Neal Ascherson calls this 'the best novel I read in 1996', while Jorge Semprun hails it as 'one of the most overwhelming novels I have read for a long time'. All I can say is, they can't have read many.I approached 'The Reader' full of eager anticipation: here was the definitive, end-of-the-century novel, by a German, on the Holocaust, Schandgefuehl, reconciliation, coming to terms with the past etc. etc. What I got was a rather lightweight 'rites-of-passage-with-a-twist-in-the-tail'- type story. I agree with the reviewers who feel there is little character development: Michael is a rather shallow individual, and I found it hard to get worked up much one way or the other when Hanna's shady past was revealed. Here, surely, was the point to get the reader to ask him/herself "What would YOU have done in Hanna's situation?", but, alas, the chance went a-begging. Pity. Overall, 'The Reader' gets pass marks as a little cameo piece about a boy and an older woman, but the failure to put the literary boot in when the time was right means that it never really rises above that. Having said that, it's not the worst book I've ever read and at no time did I ever feel like giving up on it, and I'll probably read it again. It just lacks a bit of depth, that's all. Go ahead and read it and, as with all books, make up your own mind, but take those gushing reviews with a large pinch of NaCl.
Rating:
Summary: A haunting, evocative novel that took my breath away.
Review: Not often does one come across a novel this perfect. A dizzying array of emotions swept over me as I read of the love affair between 15 year old Michael and 36 year old Hanna and its aftermath - lust, loss, horror, revulsion. In the end this affair is a metaphor for the relationship between the Germany of the Third Reich and the Post War Germany. Read, The Reader, savor it, you will never forget it.
Rating: 
Summary: Author fails to make you care about characters
Review: The book starts out promising and goes downhill fast. It was predictable. By the end I was just skimming, I didn't want to waste valuable reading time on such a book.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing... A Masterpiece!
Review: A story of growing up... growing older... and the ethical and moral decisions we must make along the way. Definitely worth reading and digesting thoroughly. To be savored.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderfully thought provoking and emotional!
Review: Many reviewers, I believe, missed the point of the story as a whole. Many focused solely on the trial of war crimes and the holocost itself, but disregarded the human elements of love, obsession, shame, and dignity of the main characters. Schlink does a beautiful job of making the reader want to know more about his characters and, ultimately, care about them. Schlink's work is so beautifully done that there is no need for excessive dialoge or flowery language. These elements are often misused, and confused as necessary for literary greatness. The Reader engages it's audience and stimulates thought and emotion. A work that is worthy of it's praises.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent, moving novel
Review: I really enjoyed this novel-- very compelling. Ironically, its style owes alot to Knut Hamsun's "Victoria'; while Hamsun won the Nobel prize, he was later exposed as a nazi sympathizer. The book really gives some insight into what recent historians have described as the 'blandness' of the nazies and nazi sympathizers, and to a certain extent, germans in general during the war.
Rating:
Summary: Once more about the Holocaust
Review: It really seems that German people can't get over their shame and guilt about what happened over 50 years ago; this is another book on the same old subject, but I must say one of the best. Schlink doesn't fall into apologizing, he tries to explain why it all happened. It's simple: nazis weren't inhuman, they were very human, and the reason we are so horrified about their deeds is because we can imagine ourselves in their places. This idea in itself makes the book worth reading, but it's also a story of love and human relationships, and a very true one, if somewhat cynical and pessimistic. A fascinating tale indeed, even if it's a bit difficult to read in all its heaviness.
Rating:
Summary: This book is beautifully written, complex and wonderful.
Review: This short novel bears reading and re-reading. Although translated from the German, there is never an awkward word or phrase. How complex life really is: love, sex, betrayal, the morality of one's decisions. I strongly recommend this book to anyone who appreciates good writing and is interested in what lies beneath the surface.
Rating:
Summary: A simple story becomes a contemporary fable
Review: For those of us who still grapple with the unfathomable question of the extent of man's inhumanity to man - whether that be past and/or present wars, hate crimes, racism, bigotry - this small novel is a stunning experience. Schlink has created at least two unforgetable characters in his tale of the coming of age of Michael Berg with an experienced woman of more years. How he evolves a beautifully honed description of sexual awakening into the nightmare of realization and then leads us to an understanding of all aspects of life civilized and uncivilized is a miracle of writing. A short tale, but one that lives on in the conscience long after the book's covers are closed. This is a genuinely brilliant novel. Share it with those meaningful to you.
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