Rating: 
Summary: Interesting underlying theme
Review: Admittedly, this seems to be one of those books that you either love or you hate, but I really enjoyed it. Perhaps that is because I lived in Germany for three years as an adolescent in the early 1980s, where I experienced firsthand the average German's reluctance to discuss the Holocaust.
The first half of the book follows the illicit love affair between 15-year old Michael, and his 30something lover, Hanna, in post-War West Berlin. The affair ends when Hanna disappears. Michael doesn't see her again until years later, when he is a law student, and Hanna is on trial for a terrible crime. As the jacket states, "As he watches her refuse to defend herself, Michael gradually realizes that his former lover may be a guarding a secret she considers more shameful than murder."
Ultimately, "The Reader" explores the legacy of shame wrought on the post-War generation of Germans by the atrocities committed by their forebears in the Holocaust. Through the story of Michael and Hanna, Schlink exposes the dilemma facing Germans of his generation: reconciling the love they feel for their parents and grandparents with the realization that those very same people allowed the "unspeakable" to happen, either through direct participation or through silent acquiescence
Rating: 
Summary: Minimalist but interesting
Review: As with a lot of the novels I've read by Eastern European writers this book does not spend much time on useless adjectives or flowery language. Instead the story is brisk and well formed. Could have used a bit more character development to enhance the psychological drama of the situation (which seemed to be the crux of the story). Overall a good (short) read that hung with me for a few days.
Rating:
Summary: Ho Hum...am I the only one?
Review: ...I found myself getting very impatient with this novel even though it did offer an interesting glimpse into post wwII German attitudes through the eyes of a rather boring middle class character.
Rating: 
Summary: The Reader
Review: This is a beautiful story which struggles with the new and learning life of a young boy as well as the long and hard life of a grown women (one that still has something to learn) and brings the two together in the most beautiful way that is humanly possible. A book that is not for your morals, but for your heart, one that will most definatly touch it.
Rating:
Summary: astounding effect
Review: my mom sent me this book (and told me to put a sticker over the oprah thing so i could read it in public)... i think because my boyfriend is from germany. and i liked it. i liked the style. i could imagine it in german and it was eloquent and unashamed. i was just plugging through it, sitting on the couch, occasionally pointing things out to roman (the deutsch boyfriend)... not taking it so seriously, but enjoying it. then i got to one page... and i think the author, upon reflection does this in many places, makes the connections so subtly and understated and well, i got to one page and actually BURST into hysterical tears. and that's when i realized how intelligent the author is. this is a great love story. that is what it is. take away nazi germany, take away the kind-of drawn out ending. the middle is everything. you experience the relationship with michael, and as he dwells in his generational guilt and numbness, you do the feeling for him and boy it is sad. and good. both characters are just perfect. real people. honest. even if one did work at auchwitz. maybe it's just me, but the relationship was so much more compelling than the sad ending. and real. it would happen this way, i'm almost sure of it. what made me cry? what was it that had been building like a tense drum (that i hadn't even realized?)... it was a small detail. a fleeting thought the narrator has. it's connection to the earlier "innocent" part of the story just broke my damn heart. it was the word "mare".
Rating:
Summary: A Name to a Face
Review: The Reader was a beautiful and extraordinary love affair between two people, even though their age was quite a difference. I loved the romance of Schlink's quiet style. Having heard many horrible stories from that era, it was an interesting look into the lives of this mis-matched couple.Having not heard anything about this book before reading it, it was definitely hard to put down. A very compelling look into the lives of these characters which were more a metaphor for the situation than that of a relationship between the two.
Rating:
Summary: Much can be read into "The Reader"
Review: I liked this book. I liked the sparse style, the portrayal of emotional and spiritual numbness, the way it begins and the way it ends. The recommendation came from my librarian when I asked her if she had read anything interesting lately. Earlier I had passed "The Reader" by having heard lukewarm comments from others. But from the moment I picked it up, I didn't want to put it down. Disturbing, yes, the relationship between a young adolescent boy and an older woman. Shocking, too, to realize that Hanna was capable of such horrendous crimes. Her shame at her illiteracy is poignant when it is so great that she accepts responsiblity for writing an incriminating document when, in reality, she did not have the capability. Was Michael Berg wrong in failing to alert the judge or at least discuss a valid defense with Hanna? Neither character warrants much of our sympathy. Yet of the two disturbing main characters in the novel, Hanna has the greater capacity to grow and accept responsibility. Michael fails to connect to anyone -- even the daughter he loves. The Reader is a highly discussable book. It would make an excellent choice for a book club.
Rating:
Summary: Quick read, yet surprisingly good
Review: This book was first introduced to me, in Germany, by a German girl who had to read it for school. Having read the book first in German and then in English, I found the English translation to be as elegantly translated as it was written in German. The secret romance, of a 15 year old boy and a woman in her late thirties, starts off as a novel accident. But their relationship deepens, as the boy discovers love, and the woman discovers a person willing to open the portal of literature to which she has no access. She's illiterate. But the boy doesn't find out until she disappears one day, and is accidentally found years later while he is a law student witnessing her to be on trial for having been a Nazi camp guard... To enjoy the beauty of Schlink's style, one has to truly read it in German, titled _Der Vorleser_. But its stylistic beauty survives in English. The book goes beyond the microcosm of two people, into the psyche of post WWII generations. The audience to profit most from this book are current German youths whose connection to their Nazi past has been only through their textbooks and their aging grandparents. To understand this book, you have to be familiar with the internal conflict between responsible guilt and disassociation that all Germans have to confront. And I can see why others, who probably have not probed deep into modern Germany can miss the crucial theme in this book. After finishing this book in German, I found this book to be good. After finishing it in English, I understood why it is now being taught as a modern classic in Gymnasium (equivalent of high school).
Rating: 
Summary: A Disappointment
Review: I was very excited to start The Reader because I had heard such wonderful things about it. Unfortunately, I was very disappointed. I found the relationship between Hanna, a grown woman, and a teenage boy really sick. Then when I saw how their relationship paralleled the relationship that Hanna had with the children in the concentration camps, I was even more disturbed. In addition, I did not find the book thought provoking, or educational as many other readers have. As I was reading I also felt that some of the lack of fluidity must be from the translation from German, which was more interesting to me than the story itself. As a side note, I read this book for a book club, and no one else enjoyed the book either.
Rating:
Summary: Brief, Poetic, & Poignant
Review: Although I am usually a reader of nonfiction, my summer reading brought me to "The Reader," a book that several people have recommended to me over the past month. As I began to read the book, I was immediately enraptured in the author's prose; the book is written in a soothingly poetic style. I was also captivated by the plot -- a young man (Michael Berg) must come to terms with the fact that his former lover (Hanna) is on trial for war crimes committed during the Holocaust. As the book progresses, Michael struggles to reconcile his prior lust for Hanna with the horrendous depictions of her cruelty. Which side of Hanna will Michael remember? Will he continue to admire her? Will his paradigms be changed by the trial? The readers of this book must patiently wait as the answers to these questions silently unfold. Overall, "The Reader" was a refreshing, fascinating book. I was especially pleased by the brevity -- a mere 218 pages. The brevity, combined with the nature of the plot, adds to the poignancy of the book. I recommend "The Reader" to everyone interested in reading a passionate story torn between good and evil. It is truly a masterpiece . . .
|
