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The Reader

3.65 of 5 stars 3.65 · rating details · 78,902 ratings · 5,723 reviews

Simplified Chinese edition of Der Vorlester or The Reader, winner of the Fisk Fiction Prize. A young man tries to make sense of human fallacies and the shame felt by the people connected to the Holocaust in postwar Germany. Distributed by Tsai Fong Books, Inc.

Paperback, 216 pages

Published February 28th 1998 by Phoenix (an Imprint of The Orion Publishing Group Ltd ) (first published 1995)

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Jan 20, 2013 Steve aka Sckenda rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Those Interested in Law, Memory, Guilt and Illicit First Loves

Shelves: holocaust, coming-of-age, law, germany, bildungsroman, father-and-sons, german, manhood, world-war-ii, about-books, memory, movie, movies

“Desires, memories, fears, passions form labyrinths in which we lose and find and then lose ourselves again.” (18)

This book is an exercise in memory– that of the narrator, the German nation, the reader, and me (your humble reviewer who frequently inserts himself into his own reviews). The narrator, Michael Berg, is a German lawyer and legal historian who, from the perspective of adulthood, looks back on his postwar teenage relationship in Berlin with Hanna Schmitz. The book is also a reverie on...more

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Feb 01, 2009 Lavinia rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2009, fiction

I have the feeling there's more than one way of looking at this book. On one hand it can be viewed as a bildungsroman, it follows Michael Berg since the age of 15 till full maturity. On the other hand, it's the post-war German generation coming to terms with their past, the Nazi crimes and their parents' guilt. Guilt, actually, is a recurring theme in the novel: Hanna is guilty of war crimes, Michael is guilty for betrayal (plus he feels guilty for having loved Hanna and asks himself if that mak...more

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Feb 23, 2009 Chandra rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2009-reads, historical-fiction

I picked this up on a whim while traveling this past weekend. I’d finished one novel on the plane and needed something to occupy my time. It was my only purchase at the bookstore that diverged from my to-read list and ended up being the most satisfying. I had zero preconceived ideas about this book and only a small inkling of the plot (based on the movie previews). And I just learned that Kate Winslet won the Best Actress award so odds are most people are aware of the plot so I’ll spare the deta...more I picked this up on a whim while traveling this past weekend. I’d finished one novel on the plane and needed something to occupy my time. It was my only purchase at the bookstore that diverged from my to-read list and ended up being the most satisfying. I had zero preconceived ideas about this book and only a small inkling of the plot (based on the movie previews). And I just learned that Kate Winslet won the Best Actress award so odds are most people are aware of the plot so I’ll spare the details. I have about a million adjectives to describe this book – compelling, disturbing, thought provoking, etc. but none are really quite accurate.

This is a novel that forces us to look at the holocaust through both the eyes of a perpetrator of unspeakable crimes and the man who loved her – a very uncomfortable experience. This is also one of those books that asks more questions than it answers and that also can make people uneasy. Twice Hanna asks the judge at her trial, ‘What would you have done?’ The first time he gives her an oddly generic and unsatisfying answer. The second time he just doesn’t even bother to answer. Odds are we might all have a ready answer for this, but contemplating it a little more deeply might make you squirm a little bit and if it doesn’t I don’t think you’re being entirely honest with yourself. There were far more Hannas than Oskar Schindlers and even more that just sat by while it all happened. The Oskar Schindlers make us feel good about humanity and the Hannas make us face up to the realities.

I agree that the ‘secret’ isn’t in anyway surprising and will be figured out by pretty much everyone who hasn’t been living under a rock very early on. Many people are bothered that this book even has the appearance of taking a sympathetic look at a Nazi war criminal. It reminds me a little of when the videos of Hitler were released in which he is tenderly stroking a dog. Some felt it was too humanizing. I hate to be the one to have to remind everyone that Hitler was indeed human. It’s much easier to process the atrocities if we view him as a complete monster and Germany as a country gone inexplicably mad, but that’s not reality and it’s not doing any one any favors to maintain that myth. The truth is much more complicated and needs to be examined and understood to prevent anything like it from happening again.

This is a novel about guilt and complicity, fear and ignorance and all the things that make people do evil things. In the end Hanna’s secret isn’t some startling revelation that exonerates or even redeems her in anyway. This will relieve some people and puzzle other people. I highly recommend this book! Not everyone will love this book. I've been told his writing style is distancing and off-putting, but I say give it a chance. And please, please, please don’t be turned off by the fact that this is an Oprah book or that it has been made into a major motion picture. It is such a pet peeve of mine to see people discount a book on these two counts. It's very cliche to dismiss everything that is popular - be original and discover merit for yourself.
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Aug 20, 2009 karen rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: littry-fiction, oprah-is-wrong, icky-sex

booring. is that a review?? this was just very flat to me. i wasnt offended by the subject matter - i could care less about the "scandalous" elements. but the writing was so clinical and thin. at one point, i blamed the translation, but c'mon - its not that hard to translate german to english (i cant do it, of course, but its supposed to be one of the easiest translations) i have nothing helpful to say about this except i was bored bored bored. the characters were unapplealing, the "twists" were...more

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Sep 02, 2012 Emily May rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction, 1001-read, 2012

I'm not really sure why this book is considered one of the best books of all time and managed to make into the big 1001 list. Most of the time, even if I don't like a book, I tend to understand why someone else picked it. In this case, I'm rather clueless. Is it, perhaps, that people see in it some message about humanity when Hanna won't purchase her freedom with the secret she has kept hidden for years? Is it the vivid sexual tale of a teenage boy with an older woman? Are we supposed to be shoc...more I'm not really sure why this book is considered one of the best books of all time and managed to make into the big 1001 list. Most of the time, even if I don't like a book, I tend to understand why someone else picked it. In this case, I'm rather clueless. Is it, perhaps, that people see in it some message about humanity when Hanna won't purchase her freedom with the secret she has kept hidden for years? Is it the vivid sexual tale of a teenage boy with an older woman? Are we supposed to be shocked by it?

The novel starts with a romance when fifteen year old Michael finds himself ill on the way home from school and is taken in by a woman twice his age. They begin an affair which is described by numerous critics as "erotic". This was the first hurdle my enjoyment came up against. When I was fifteen with raging hormones and an extremely good-looking history teacher, I would probably have been able to appreciate the eroticism of such an opportunity - to have an illicit affair with someone much older and experienced. But that's just a bunch of teenage fantasies that would never have become realities. Now, it creeps me out. I couldn't see it as a love story, I saw it as being about an adult who takes advantage of a child (all very ironic when I think about my first interpretation of Lolita, but I guess I grew up somewhat).

It has been suggested that we are expected to draw parallels between Hanna's secret and the behaviour of most German people during the second world war, that is why Schlink deliberately set the novel in this fragile post-war period. But I'm really not a fan of stories that are one big metaphor for something else... or no, maybe it isn't so much that I don't like that, but more that it has to be done in a manner which I find appealing and it has to be obvious. I refuse to believe in metaphors that have been proposed by some random critic and then jumped on by everyone else. I'm trying not to give away Hanna's secret in case there are people who haven't worked it out straight away, but I wasn't buying into this metaphor.

This combined with the author's sparse tone quickly distanced me from the novel. I just prefer interesting and complex characters, an engaging plot, relationships I care about... I prefer all this over metaphor. In the end, metaphor is subjective and if I can't see it myself without someone else suggesting it to me then I believe either the author failed to make their metaphorical point clearly enough or the metaphor itself doesn't exist.(less)

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Dec 04, 2008 Stewart rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Whenever a film is coming out that is based on an acclaimed book, I try to read the book first (knowing that the reverse order almost never happens for me). The Reader is the latest such circumstance, and I'm glad I made the time for this quick read. The book centers on the reflections of a man who, as a teenager in post WW-II Germany, had a passionate love affair with a reticent and mysterious older woman. Mere months later, she disappears from his life. The rest of the book explains why, and t...more

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Mar 28, 2008 Jennifer rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book just fell short with me, on oh so many levels. One thing that did intrigue me and that I have not yet seen much of is the perspective of Germans after the Holocaust and their views on the Third Reich and Hitler's agenda, especially of the younger generation of that time. That was really the only thing that struck me about this book. The rest was just not enough. For one, the affair between MIchael and Hanna was deplorable. Is it supposed to not be as bothersome because it is an older w...more

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Dec 31, 2012 Chrissie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: germany, hf, kirkus, life-stages, philo-psychol, sample-ok, audio

ETA: I am a bit of a perfectionist. I wanted to make sure I hadn't missed some detail, so I listened to parts two and three again. It was not boring listening a second time; the writing is beautiful and there is so much to ponder. It is about the holocaust so do not expect an easy, light read! It is about second generation Germans and how they view their parents and their actions during the war. This is done with both honesty and humility; it is an important issue to address. The central topic r...more

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Apr 22, 2009 Aerin rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: litrachur, well-that-was-awesome

I had a very hard time with this book. In my opinion it's a masterpiece: a quick, unputdownable read, with stark prose, multifaceted characters, and a story I'm not likely to ever forget. I highly recommend it to anyone.

However, I repeat: I had a very hard time with this book. I finished it a month ago, and I'm still having a hard time with it. It asks so many important moral questions, and none of them have easy answers. I'm beginning to wonder whether they have any answers at all.

The Reader is...more I had a very hard time with this book. In my opinion it's a masterpiece: a quick, unputdownable read, with stark prose, multifaceted characters, and a story I'm not likely to ever forget. I highly recommend it to anyone.

However, I repeat: I had a very hard time with this book. I finished it a month ago, and I'm still having a hard time with it. It asks so many important moral questions, and none of them have easy answers. I'm beginning to wonder whether they have any answers at all.

The Reader is narrated by Michael, who, as a 15-year-old boy in post-WWII Germany, was seduced by a much-older woman named Hanna. At first, he describes their affair tenderly, as if this were a story about romance and coming-of-age, instead of what it really is: a story of pedophilia.

Michael never sees himself as a victim in that way, and at 15, certainly believed himself mature enough to handle their relationship. He enters into it eagerly, and falls obsessively in love with Hanna. He doesn't realize how she uses him; he never consciously connects the affair to his inability to form real relationships later in life.

After a summer of bliss, sex, and reading aloud (the title of the book comes from Hanna's preferred method of foreplay: having Michael read to her from classic novels), Hanna disappears, and Michael never fully recovers.

Years later, as a law student, he runs into her again: she is on trial for Nazi war crimes. With horror, Michael learns that she had been a concentration camp guard who was directly responsible for the burning deaths of dozens of women and children. Hanna and the other guards had refused to unlock the doors of the burning church where the prisoners were corralled, and all but two perished. As he watches the trial unfold, Michael learns that Hanna had been keeping many secrets from him all along.

The book raises many questions: Was what Hanna did forgivable? Even though there were mitigating circumstances, this is a resounding NO. But was what she did understandable? This is harder to suss out. Yes, we hear her explanations, and as we learn more of her background, we realize how such despicable actions were possible. But can we ever understand how somebody could take an active role in such atrocities? That I don't know. How should she be punished? Does the fact that she didn't know what she was a part of make any difference? Are we meant to empathize with her? CAN we empathize with her? Is it possible to atone for something so evil? Is Hanna a victim too? Or is even asking that question inexcusable in the face of what was suffered by Jewish people and others at the hands of the Nazis?

What's so unsettling about this book is that it makes Hanna - a pedophile and mass-murderer - seem like a sympathetic and tragic character. I found myself feeling for her, and then being disgusted that I felt for her, and then being confused at both reactions, and then not being sure HOW I felt. There are no easy answers with this book. It delves unflinchingly into depths of human brutality that I, at least, would prefer to never confront - in reality OR fiction - and left me with no pat conclusions or comforting culminations. Most novels have a viewpoint the author is trying to to convey, but I'm not sure what Schlink was trying to say here. Maybe just that he doesn't know either. Maybe that no one ever will.(less)

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Nov 24, 2010 Malak Alrashed rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I realised that my previous review contained lots of spoilers and very little opinions, so I deleted the whole thing, I may re-write another one, and I might not. However, for now the book has a very touching story, it's also well-written and philosophically interesting because it raises questions about: right and wrong, laws and ignorance. Definitely worth the reading!

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Jan 04, 2009 jzhunagev rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction-contemporary, oprah-book-club-selection, award-winning-best-seller, from-book-to-film, war-stories, dark-chest-of-wonders

There are some books you know will stay with you forever, and Bernhard Schlink's The Reader is definitely one of them. It has been highly critically acclaimed, winning the Boston Book Review's Fisk Fiction Prize, and it deserves all the praise it has received.

The Holocaust is a difficult, though much covered, subject matter, and this novel has a sure touch and an appealing lack of judgment with it. The story begins in the world of almost-childhood of fifteen-year-old Michael Berg, recovering fr...more There are some books you know will stay with you forever, and Bernhard Schlink's The Reader is definitely one of them. It has been highly critically acclaimed, winning the Boston Book Review's Fisk Fiction Prize, and it deserves all the praise it has received.

The Holocaust is a difficult, though much covered, subject matter, and this novel has a sure touch and an appealing lack of judgment with it. The story begins in the world of almost-childhood of fifteen-year-old Michael Berg, recovering from a summer of hepatitis, begins a relationship with Hanna, a much older woman he meets by chance. The first part of the novel, untouched by the shadow of the recent war or Germany's disturbed and dangerous past, deals with Michael and Hanna's burgeoning relationship, and the little fears and worries that can make up one big problem. Eventually, as we know it must, their relationship ends and Hanna moves away.

When the book moves on to the second part, the tone has changed considerably. Michael, now a law student, attends the trial of female Nazi war criminals. To his shock, one of them is Hanna, who had been a camp guard at Auschwitz. I won't say more for fear of spoiling it for you, but the Holocaust is seriously considered in the light of philosophy and moral responsibility. There is an attitude that one becomes numb to the horror of it all if too exposed to it, and this book does not go into ghastly detail, but rather examines even more painful details: who was to blame, how do we live with the suffering, how can one atone, and most of all, what is the next generation to do?

It also looks at what it means to love someone, how much we can accept of them and how blind we can be to those we love. Love, guilt and betrayal feature prominently in this novel.

In many ways Hanna was innocent, and yet it becomes apparent that she lived every day with terrible guilt; Michael was a victim of her actions, and yet he too is guilty by association. The reader of the title is Michael, who read to Hanna during the early part of the relationship; the reader is Hanna, alone in prison occupying herself by learning about the experiences of camp inmates. The reader is selected individuals in the camps who read aloud to Hanna, and may have died because of it. But most of all, the reader is ourselves; the title points the finger at us, because now we have the knowledge, what should we do with it? If all it takes for evil to prevail is for the good to remain silent, then how innocent are any of us? And how can we deal with the subsequent guilt? There are so many layers to this subtly complex novel that having just finished it, I have to start it again. The transforming power of words is negated by their ultimate futility, and actions in this novel speak deafeningly loud.

If we have a responsibility towards the past, to learn from it, and I believe we do, then this book will help us to go some way towards fulfilling it.(less)

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Oct 19, 2012 Maricela Sandoval rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Prosa ligera, historia previsible. Logra eludir, sin ahondar, al contexto histórico de la Alemania de la posguerra, evocando preconcepciones ya enraizadas en la cultura occidental acerca del resentimiento hacia la generación que albergó al nazismo. En opinión personal, el mayor logro del texto es elevar cuestionamientos jurídicos, filosóficos y morales que cimbran la opinión generalizada y llevan a revalorizar, replantear y rejuzgar a partícipes del nazismo. La historia de amor que subraya el es...more

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Jan 14, 2010 Hayes rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2010

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. This book felt like two different works: two styles, two focuses, two emotional levels. The second was slipped into the first--perhaps intending to give verisimilitude to an otherwise bald and unconvincing narrative (apologies to W.S. Gilbert).

The first story was kind of interesting, although not highly likely: a 15-year-old boy meets, by sheer chance, a 30-year-old woman and starts an affair with her, even goes on vacation with her; he becomes obsessed by her. This part of the book read very mu...more This book felt like two different works: two styles, two focuses, two emotional levels. The second was slipped into the first--perhaps intending to give verisimilitude to an otherwise bald and unconvincing narrative (apologies to W.S. Gilbert).

The first story was kind of interesting, although not highly likely: a 15-year-old boy meets, by sheer chance, a 30-year-old woman and starts an affair with her, even goes on vacation with her; he becomes obsessed by her. This part of the book read very much like a typical adolescent male fantasy (right down to the bubble bath).

Hanna then disappears. Michael suffers, beats his breast, has several failed relationships, becomes a lawyer and an adult.

Now the second story comes into play. After many years Michael finds Hanna in court, on trial for collaborating with the Nazis, accused of being the evilest of evil prison guards. This part of the story was also bald and unconvincing, the testimony flimsy, the motivations flimsier; the conviction doesn't seem likely at all, but I'm not a lawyer, so I wouldn't really know. It reads like a law brief, cold and distant. It might be a description of a trial found in a law textbook. It probably was a description of a trial found in a law textbook, seeing that the author is a lawyer, and a judge.

Then we get back to the first work. Michael has married and divorced and goes about his cold and distant life. At this point the book reads like a typical adult male fantasy: If only you were exactly like my first, if the sex could only be like it was, I might be able to love you (he tells his wife).

And of course there is a reunion of sorts. Michael begins to record his voice while he is reading to Hanna, and sends the tapes to her in prison, continuing the routine, without the sex, of their relationship when he was 15. He even organizes her future life for her, finding her a job and an apartment, for when she gets out of prison.

The ending is the only thing that is realistic and satisfying in a strange way. Hanna shows the ultimate wisdom of knowing that you can't go back again and kills herself on the eve of her release from prison.

I haven't seen the film yet (will I ever? I don't know), but I can bet that the film will be better than the book. This book belongs in my category of books-that-were-always-intended-to-be-films-but-came-out-as-books-first-for-commercial-purposes.

I just wish we could leave screenplays as screenplays and literature as literature. (less)

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Mar 27, 2009 bookczuk rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: bookcrossing, moxie-review

I admit it. This book sat on my shelf a while, and was almost doomed to obscurity when I found out it had been chosen as one for the club by Oprah. But once I picked it up, I whizzed through it.

At first, I wondered if the style of writing- distant, reserved- was a function of the translation from the original German. But in retrospect, I don't think so. The reserve that Michael and Hannah have through much of their relationship- the withholding of information from each other- and the somewhat cl...more

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Jan 31, 2009 Becky rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: ww2, 2009, reviewed, holocaust-and-atrocities, disappointing

When I first saw this book at the thrift-store months ago, I thought to myself that it had to be amazing. The cover image intrigued me, I'm interested in reading books that pertain to the Holocaust, and at only 218 pages, it's short so I felt sure that it would pack a punch.

The first part interested me, due to the fact that I felt the book was leading up to something really dramatic and exciting, but I never felt that spark that makes a book great. Everything felt a bit rushed, and matter-of-fa...more When I first saw this book at the thrift-store months ago, I thought to myself that it had to be amazing. The cover image intrigued me, I'm interested in reading books that pertain to the Holocaust, and at only 218 pages, it's short so I felt sure that it would pack a punch.

The first part interested me, due to the fact that I felt the book was leading up to something really dramatic and exciting, but I never felt that spark that makes a book great. Everything felt a bit rushed, and matter-of-fact, and almost scripted. The beginning of Hanna and Michael's affair was so abrupt that it seemed unnatural.

The second part, which should have really interested me, as it's the part that dealt with the majority of the Holocaust issues, was interesting only because of Hanna's actions. Her secret wasn't really a revelation to me, as I had suspected it for quite a while.

The third part was boring to me. Michael annoyed me in his alienation from others, and his refusal to accept other women as they are and instead tries to make them fit into this ideal Hanna-mold that Hanna herself didn't even fit. It felt to me that he gave up living after his affair with Hanna deteriorated, just as he had given up against her so many times while they were together. Hanna was the star, and Michael was responsible for the stage-dressing and supporting roles.

One thing that irritated me throughout the story was Michael's inability to remember the things that he wants to tell us about. I understand that most people do not have 100% recall, but I counted at least 5 examples of where he would try to describe what he couldn't remember. This just seemed so lazy to me. Like the author expects the reader (meaning us) to do all the work of imagining the scenario for him, so that he does not have to give it life of its own. I suppose that some will say that Michael's inability to remember everything makes the story more real, but I just kept thinking what a cheat it was.

This was an OK book. I'd recommend it if I thought that the person would really enjoy it, but I myself felt disappointed by it over all. (less)

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Dec 29, 2009 Nyamka Ganni rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorite-couple, favorites

All I want to say is that I'm happy that I read it.
This is kind of book that would never be forgotten. Story is just so good that I'm actually in love with it. While I was reading I was tried to understand the actions of Hanna and Michael. At some point Hanna's decisions made me angry and made me want to understand her continuously. What would I do if was her?......
And also the things Michael did for Hanna sometimes make me upset and sometimes happy! It was really nice to feel the situations th...more

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Jan 13, 2009 Michael rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

In his thought-provoking exploration of Vergangenheitsbewaeltigung Schlink presents the reader with a number of moral conundrums as well as with compelling portraits of the two principal characters. Since the reader comes to know the characters and experience the conundrums from the point of view of the narrating character only, the reader must decide both the accuracy and the completeness of the assessments given. Called to judge the actions of both characters, the reader experiences the diffic...more

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Dec 04, 2008 Mary rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A fast read. Germany post-WWII when they are just coming to terms with their Nazi past, "the reader", a teenage boy of 15 is awakened sexually by a woman twice his age with a secret past. Besides sex, a large part of their time together is spent with him reading literature to her. After an intense affair she vanishes, leaving him devastated and emotionally numb as he moves through the next few years. In college, he encounters her again as a law student at her trial for war crimes as a Nazi guard...more

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Feb 02, 2011 Joana added it · review of another edition

Shelves: romance

A história é narrada na primeira pessoa por um homem que, em adolescente, se apaixonou por uma mulher mais velha e com ela viveu uma relação amorosa e que, misteriosa e repentinamente, desapareceu. O narrador volta a encontrá-la anos mais tarde, num tribunal, como ré num processo de acusação de ex-guardas de campos de concentração nazis.
Talvez tudo que se segue pretenda reflectir sobre o sentido da vida ou a falta dele. O Leitor é um dos livros mais desconcertantes que conheço. Apesar de ser um...more

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Oct 05, 2012 Cheryl rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: holocaust-wwii, favorites, historical-fiction, re-read

THE READER is a favorite book, one that I wanted to re-read for further revelations of WWII. Bernhard Schlink, a second generation German lawyer and author of the Nazi era, has written an intimate legacy of guilt of the twelve years of Hitler's Third Reich. Second generation of guilt has to do with Schlink's personal relationships with his parents, Germany's law makers, and University professors. How did the most cultured country of Europe commit such atrocities?

Michael, a fifteen year old Germa...more

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May 29, 2009 Paula rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Paula by: Cercle Litteraire

Shelves: french, novels-and-stories, best-reads-of-2009, second-or-third-time-around

I've read Le Liseur twice now in its French translation from the German. The film The Reader tracks the novel quite closely, with the only significant change one that comes at the very end, when Michael visits Hanna's grave. In the film he is accompanied by his daughter. In the novel, he goes alone. The story is a disturbing one, with its ultimately unanswered questions regarding guilt, shame, betrayal and responsibility. The novel can be read as the personal story of Michael Berg and Hanna Schm...more I've read Le Liseur twice now in its French translation from the German. The film The Reader tracks the novel quite closely, with the only significant change one that comes at the very end, when Michael visits Hanna's grave. In the film he is accompanied by his daughter. In the novel, he goes alone. The story is a disturbing one, with its ultimately unanswered questions regarding guilt, shame, betrayal and responsibility. The novel can be read as the personal story of Michael Berg and Hanna Schmitz set in post-war Germany, but it can also be read as an allegory in which Hanna represents Germany, the country itself, and the generation of the parents, those who were adults during the Hitler years. Michael represents the next generation who were children or not yet born during the war. It is the lack of an accounting, of memory on the part of the parents’ generation that ultimately victimizes Michael and future generations, as their own silence and betrayal is a product of that of parents who didn't confront the past, who just moved on. This betrayal of memory on the part of the German populace after WWII is a subject that has been effectively explored by the writer, W.G. Sebald. Michael Berg is 15 when he becomes involved with Hanna, who at 36 is 21 years his senior. He initiates the relationship, but Hanna, as the adult, may be exploiting, and in a sense raping, him nonetheless.
Hanna’s secret and her secret shame is her illiteracy, an, unexplained in the novel, handicap which determines the course of her life, including her employment as a concentration camp guard during WWII and her later condemnation and imprisonment for what she did there. In fact, Hanna ultimately admits to more responsibility than she actually had in events surrounding a terrible fire in a locked church that killed all but two of the Jewish prisoners guarded by Hanna and several other women. Rather than admit her inability to read either the accusations against her or the book written by a girl who, along with her mother, survived the fire, Hanna is sentenced to life in prison.
The course of Michael Berg’s life is determined, in turn, by his relationship with Hanna and his feelings of betrayal both of her and by her.
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Apr 04, 2009 Shannon (Giraffe Days) rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2009, historical-fiction

I haven't seen the movie yet, only a preview on a DVD a few weeks ago* (which reminded me I had the book on my shelf), but I have to say: while reading this I kept thinking God this would make a great film! And Kate Winslet would be great as Hanna! I like to think that if the movie hadn't already been made and put the idea in my head, it would have been a prophetic thought.

When Michael Berg was fifteen he became sick with Hepatitis; several months of convalescence later, he goes back to visit th...more I haven't seen the movie yet, only a preview on a DVD a few weeks ago* (which reminded me I had the book on my shelf), but I have to say: while reading this I kept thinking God this would make a great film! And Kate Winslet would be great as Hanna! I like to think that if the movie hadn't already been made and put the idea in my head, it would have been a prophetic thought.

When Michael Berg was fifteen he became sick with Hepatitis; several months of convalescence later, he goes back to visit the woman who helped him when he threw up on the street, to thank her. A quiet, strong woman in her thirties, Hanna works as a tram conductor and lives a solitary life. Catching a glimpse of her taking off her stockings, Michael flees in shame when she notices him looking. But a week of obsessing over her sees him returning, and they quickly become lovers.

He keeps his relationship with her a secret. At her insistence, he picks up his studies and manages to make up for his lost time while sick. He loves Hanna and, in a way, feels she has ruined him for any other woman - which becomes clear when Hanna suddenly disappears and Michael tries to move on.

While at university studying law, he takes part in a seminar which involves sitting in on a trial of people accused of war crimes when with the Nazis during World War II. He has spent so long cultivating a dispassionate, cold shell that Michael feels nothing when he sees that one of the women on trial is Hanna.

He is there for every day of the trial, but only once do they make eye contact. He can't understand why Hanna is not defending herself as well as she could, why she is letting the other women on trial blame her for everything - until he realises what her real secret, her real shame is. If he explained it to the judge, there would be no way Hanna could be convicted of these heinous crimes at Auschwitz and another labour camp - but he wrestles with his moral and ethical right to do so.

Schlink was born in 1944 and is a Law Professor in Berlin. Certainly, while reading this, I felt like the author had been there, seen that. Narrated by Michael at some later stage in his life, it reads like a real life - and in a way it is: a great many lives given voice in one slim novel. One of the questions Michael raises concerns the children, like himself, of the generation who sat by and did nothing while the Nazis persecuted and plundered. I never really thought about it before, but I can imagine, thanks to Michael, how hard it would have been for this post-war generation to respect their parents, and understand them without having lived through it themselves to truly know what it must have been like.

Apart from that, this book - and Michael - doesn't judge. The relationship between a fifteen year old and a woman twice his age isn't judged - neither is it ever exposed. Hanna's involvement in Auschwitz is judged by the court but not by Michael, who instead tries to understand Hanna and her motivations. He also tries to understand his own feelings for Hanna, but is often lost in the nostalgia of his adolescent love affair. The Reader isn't about black and white, or good and evil - it's about all the grey bits that make up the moral and ethical complexities and contradictions of humans. It isn't about having a conclusion, about coming to a final understanding, but the process of reaching an understanding and the futility of a conclusion.

I admit that as I was reading this I didn't pay much attention to the details, only to the narrative and the characters. I wouldn't be surprised if there are many things I overlooked, symbolism and recurring themes and such. On a re-read, I would focus more closely on what else Michael chooses to tell us, and why. This would be a great novel to study: deceptively simple, it harbours secrets barely tapped at.

*Rented the movie a few weeks ago but only got halfway through. It was disappointing because, though done well and the acting was great etc., it was just a visualisation of the book and gave/offered nothing new. (less)

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Mar 29, 2009 Susan rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: own-in-book-format, fiction, historical-fiction, read-in-2009, reading-challenges, regrettable-reads

I'll start my review by telling you that I have not seen the movie based on this book - I thought I wanted to, but now I don't really see the appeal.

15 year-old Michael Berg becomes ill on his way home from school one day and is rescued by Hanna Schmitz, a streetcar conductor more than twice his age. When he is well again, he seeks out Frau Schmitz and becomes her lover. Michael eventually spends more time with friends from school and feels as if he is betraying his relationship with Hanna, and...more I'll start my review by telling you that I have not seen the movie based on this book - I thought I wanted to, but now I don't really see the appeal.

15 year-old Michael Berg becomes ill on his way home from school one day and is rescued by Hanna Schmitz, a streetcar conductor more than twice his age. When he is well again, he seeks out Frau Schmitz and becomes her lover. Michael eventually spends more time with friends from school and feels as if he is betraying his relationship with Hanna, and they understandably begin to drift apart. Then one day, Hanna completely disappears from his life. The next time he sees her, he is a young law student, and Hanna is on trial for crimes she committed as a prison guard at Auschwitz. As Hanna attempts to defend herself (badly,) Michael realizes that see is harboring a secret she feels is even more shameful than her crimes as part of the Third Reich.

I was on a wait-list for weeks at my library to get my hands on this book. I had high hopes when I began reading, but in the end, I was disappointed. The writing fell extremely flat, and it simply failed to engage me in the story. The entire novel read like a story outline - what happened to the meat? The plot was full of promise that was never delivered. It was so dry and thin, it's only real virtue being the fact that I was able to read it really quickly.

I felt nothing for the characters - they were shallow, and I did not care at all what happened to them. There was no development of any of the characters, and they seemed as flat as cardboard cut-outs. The relationship between Michael and Hanna that so many people call "erotic" and "romantic", I found to be superficial at best. I felt no emotional pull between the main characters - they were cold and unfeeling on the pages, and left me with a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach.

I really wish I had chosen another book for my reading challenge. I feel cheated by The Reader, as if it was a complete waste of my time. It was very simplistic and redundant. I kept waiting for the plot to thicken, and SPOILER ALERT - it never did! I cannot recommend this one to anyone, so read at your own risk.(less)

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May 28, 2008 Emily Kramer rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

It took me more then one try to get into this one but once i made it past the first sex scene i was hooked. This story begins with an affair between a fifteen year old boy and a thirty something year old women and then doubles back to matters more serious and complex. If I knew this book was about the Holocaust at all, I wouldn't have picked it up. But then I also went to Berlin without going to the Holocaust museum. And I've never seen Schindler's List.

The Reader is able to address the Holocau...more

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Apr 25, 2009 Hannah Messler rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This lady who sells books gave me a copy of this yesterday and it's a super fast and mostly good read . . . the lady said she hated it and it was one of the stupidest books she's ever read, which, I don't know, I didn't feel that way. But now I want to read reviews to see what the hell, coz I thought it was fine--not the best thing I've ever read, but not the worst.

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Apr 07, 2010 Charles rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: not many

Recommended to Charles by: none

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Apr 01, 2012 Arun Divakar rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The concept of love never ceases to amaze. From the cradle to the grave, a human being is guided,driven, motivated or annihilated because of it. Even when the presence of this feeling is what makes life tick for all humanity, we tend to call the romantic variant as 'falling in' love. This has always seemed ironical to me for if this feeling was as spiritually uplifting as it is believed to be, why don't we call it 'rising in' love ?

Ah ! But I digress from the point here ! This book is fuelled by...more The concept of love never ceases to amaze. From the cradle to the grave, a human being is guided,driven, motivated or annihilated because of it. Even when the presence of this feeling is what makes life tick for all humanity, we tend to call the romantic variant as 'falling in' love. This has always seemed ironical to me for if this feeling was as spiritually uplifting as it is believed to be, why don't we call it 'rising in' love ?

Ah ! But I digress from the point here ! This book is fuelled by an affair. The love contained in the plot made me plod through the dusty attic of my mind from where the lines above clattered out. The plot centers around the affair of a younger man with an older woman. An affair ruled only by sex and sex alone. During the adolescent phase, the thoughts of love are always entwined with lust in the mind. Like copulating serpents they lie and it is a futile task trying to make out where one ends and the other begins. The journey of Michael Berg through the curves of Hanna Schmitz's anatomy is also one of self discovery for him. In the loss of innocence lies the keys to his future and he is at the verge of getting to those keys when the short and stormy affair blows out. The pain of withdrawal while at first unbearable, slowly becomes a dull ache. With the passage of years there comes a clinical detachment while seeing the ones we loved and lost long ago. The beauty of the language can be acutely felt when the author describes that memories of long ago stay behind like a city as a train pulls out of a station. The memories are there, behind you but in the passage of the train they disappear behind a bend in the track.

The story changes lanes here and does a total flip and from a loved-and-lost tale, it becomes an intricately plotted tale of human morality and guilt. In a particular passage which depicts a court scene, I was reminded of a couple of lines from a Steig Larsson book There are no innocents, only varying levels of guilt . Through those court room scenes we are asked the fundamental questions about morals and principles, about guilt and remorse, of crime and punishment and other such things.While you are made fully aware that the accused while not being fully innocent does not deserve what comes to them.

To sum it all up, this is an extremely tragic tale. The love in here is like the strong gust of wind that threatens to uproot us while standing on a ledge.For the characters in here though, the wind becomes a little too strong to bear !

Recommended.(less)

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Jan 30, 2009 Gayle rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

What a haunting book. At first I didn't think I'd like this novel, fresh on the heels of my reading Zusak's lyrical, tightly constructed flow (The Book Thief). This novel has a lot more exposition, which suits its more philosophical purpose. I now have a reading hangover, because I started one night (couldn't sleep once I started it) and had to finish it the next (couldn't sleep until I finished it).

Schlink poses difficult questions that tie into the plot, like what ultimately motivates a charac...more

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Mar 23, 2009 Stephanie rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: books-read-in-2009

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Most of the women in my book club could tell you that I never rule out a story because of its lack of a happy ending. I still felt betrayed by The Reader even though I understand Schlink's attempt at poetic justice.

I found myself understanding Hanna's attraction of the weaker child, Michael. I saw her as a heroine, injecting Michael with a sense of confidence that he would not have attained for many years had he lived his life like a normal teenager.

Then I found her as a poison, tearing apart at...more

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May 31, 2009 booklady rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2009, adventure, crime, literature, historical-fiction, philosophy, war, psychology

As a general rule, I consider the word “erotic” in any book publicist lingo a euphemism for soft porn, so when I perused the description of Bernhard Schlink’s novel I wasn’t sure if it would be worth bothering with despite its intriguing (to a booklady such as myself) title. The first half of the book did indeed seem to fit my expectations of little more than titillation under the guise of literary searching. However, if the reader (small “R”) can overlook the blatant sexuality inherent in a you...more As a general rule, I consider the word “erotic” in any book publicist lingo a euphemism for soft porn, so when I perused the description of Bernhard Schlink’s novel I wasn’t sure if it would be worth bothering with despite its intriguing (to a booklady such as myself) title. The first half of the book did indeed seem to fit my expectations of little more than titillation under the guise of literary searching. However, if the reader (small “R”) can overlook the blatant sexuality inherent in a young man’s premature and blighted ‘awakening’ which predominates the beginning of The Reader, there are aspects of the book which definitely make it worthwhile.

Michael Bern is fifteen when he meets Hanna Schmitz, who is more than twice his age. What starts off as a physical affair turns into something quite different, a voyage of discovery through the Great Books of Literature. Homer’s Odyssey provides the thematical basis for the rest of the book which is that although our destiny is ever homeward, in fact we can never return to the same ‘home’ and certainly we can’t if we intend to reach this – or any – destination via physical or mental means. Indeed, the entire purpose of Literature is to change anyone who steps into its proverbial river. In this respect, Schlink’s novel is an archetype in much the same vein as Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress ; one will be both the richer – and the poorer (in terms of lost innocence) – for setting out on a journey of reading. I believe that is why both authors tie sexuality to the art of reading.

Valuable insights/qualities in The Reader include: the folly and volatility of youthful self-perception; the complexity of the human creature, i.e., the fallen from Grace still possess a great desire to do Good, see Justice and know Truth; unanswerable questions, at least to those lacking any spiritual dimension or basis and a severe critique on books and reading.

Based on my initial prejudices about this book I obtained it from the library as opposed to purchasing my own copy in which I usually highlight favorite quotes, outline and/or make notes to myself. As such, I was forced to make use of removable page tabs to indicate notable passages; I stopped marking such places when I reached fifteen. However, the ultimate insight can be found on page 157. A more mature Michael is trying to come to grips with Hanna’s role in The Holocaust and his own shared responsibility for her crimes, despite the fact he was born after World War II. Here is what he says:

‘I wanted simultaneously to understand Hanna’s crime and condemn it. But it was too terrible for that. When I tried to understand it, I had the feeling I was failing to condemn it as it must be condemned. When I condemned it as it must be condemned, there was no room for understanding. But even as I wanted to understand Hanna, failing to understand her meant betraying her all over again. I could not resolve this. I wanted to pose myself both tasks—understanding and condemnation. But it was impossible to do both.’

Indeed, perhaps that also describes the position I find myself in as a reviewer of The Reader. As an incredibly insightful book which I did not like, I’ve struggled with how to rate it. Ultimately, I’m settling on two stars but only as a compromise between my distaste for the story's somewhat cynical and morose perspective and my appreciation of the truths the author offers. I am reminded of Sophie Scholl and Dietrich Bonhoeffer, two German martyrs of the same era who found something worth living – and dying – for much greater than reading.(less)

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Mary Alice I gave up on the movie after 20 minutes.
May 31, 2009 08:59pm

Alexis The beginning of the movie struck me the same way the beginning of the book struck you. I am interested in reading the book. Considering the authors d...more
updated Jun 01, 2009 01:46pm

booklady My philosophy is don't judge a book by its movie. This is especially true in this case! The movie can only do justice to the sensual aspects of the st...more
updated Jun 02, 2009 06:05pm

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About Bernhard Schlink

Bernhard Schlink is a German jurist and writer. He became a judge at the Constitutional Court of the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia in 1988 and has been a professor of public law and the philosophy of law at Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany since January 2006.

His career as a writer began with several detective novels with a main character named Selb--a play on the German word for "sel...more

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“There's no need to talk about it, because the truth of what one says lies in what one does.” — 159 people liked it

“I'm not frightened. I'm not frightened of anything. The more I suffer, the more I love. Danger will only increase my love. It will sharpen it, forgive its vice. I will be the only angel you need. You will leave life even more beautiful than you entered it. Heaven will take you back and look at you and say: Only one thing can make a soul complete and that thing is love.” — 111 people liked it

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