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The Reader by Bernhard Schlink
Translated from German by Carol Brown Janeway
Historical Fiction, Published 1997
Read Feb 2009
3/5
From the Cover:
Set in postwar Germany, The Reader is a provocative, morally challenging, and deeply moving novel about a young boy’s erotic awakening in a clandestine love affair with a mysterious older woman. Falling ill on his way home from school, 15-year-old Michael Berg is rescued by Hanna, a woman twice his age. For a time, the two become passionate lovers. Then, one day, Hanna disappears without a word. Years later, as a law student observing a trial in Germany, Michael recognizes his former lover on the stand, accused of a hideous crime. And as he watches Hanna refuse to defend herself against the charges, Michael gradually realizes that she may be guarding a secret more shameful than murder.
Book Quotes:
Imagine someone is racing intentionally towards his own destruction and you can save him – do you go ahead and save him?
Review:
I wanted to read this book after seeing the movie trailer with Kate Winslet. While I thought the book was thought provoking, I didn’t really like it or think it should be considered a love story. Pride, guilt, shame, cowardice and an overall feeling of numbness surrounded this novel for me.
I don’t think Hanna ever loved Michael and Michael only thought he loved Hanna. Michael is only 15 and he is easily taken in by Hanna who uses him and then leaves him. But I don’t think Michael is innocent. He struggles with keeping the affair to himself and becomes consumed with anger, jealousy and possessiveness. Later when Michael has a chance to partially redeem Hanna’s actions during the trial, he does not act. He does nothing. Michael is guilty for not standing up for truth and honor. He realizes that Hanna could not be as responsible for the crimes committed at the concentration camps because she cannot read or write. That is why she had him read to her, why she had the women at the camps read to her. But Hanna is prideful and refuses to let on that she did something wrong. Without showing any remorse, the full judgment of all the crimes committed to the Jews at the concentration camps is put on Hanna.
Michael never recovers from his relationship with Hanna. He never moves on, even after marrying and having a child. He is so consumed that he cannot love. In an act of redemption, Michael sends tapes of him reading to Hanna in prison. Hanna tries to redeem herself by learning to read and write in prison and by helping others. In the end, Hanna never forgives Michael for not visiting or witnessing her growth and Michael never forgives Hanna for not loving him and once again she leaves him forever with no goodbyes.
Movie Trailer:
[...] The Reader by Bernhard Schlink – Review [...]