The Reader (Oprah's Book Club)
by Bernhard Schlink
published
March 7th 1999
by Vintage
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binding
Paperback, 224 pages
literary awards
1999 IMPAC Dublin Award Nominee
isbn
0375707972
(isbn13: 9780375707971)
description
Oprah Book Club® Selection, February 1999: Originally published in Switzerland, and gracefully translated into English by Carol Brown Janeway,...more
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avg 3.50
When people ask me for book recommendations this is one of the top five that I recommend. I fell in love with this book and complex relationships that the characters experience. One never really does know what they might do until forced into a situation.
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Read in May, 2008
recommends it for:
people who like to think a bit; from time to time at least
To summarize this book I could use one word: amazing!!
From the first second i picked it up, I could not put it down until I read last page. It’s so intriguing, but at the same time simple; the prefect mix of two of this make the book a master piece.
Short about the plot:
The story is located in post WWII Germany. We are introduced to a 15 year old boy who has hepatitis. On his way back from school he became ill and a woman that found him on the street took him back home. When the boy's...more
From the first second i picked it up, I could not put it down until I read last page. It’s so intriguing, but at the same time simple; the prefect mix of two of this make the book a master piece.
Short about the plot:
The story is located in post WWII Germany. We are introduced to a 15 year old boy who has hepatitis. On his way back from school he became ill and a woman that found him on the street took him back home. When the boy's...more
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Read in March, 2008
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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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 th...more
The Reader is able to address th...more
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Has a copy to sell/swap
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Read in January, 2008
recommended to Charles by:
nonerecommends it for: not many
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
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Read in January, 2000
recommends it for:
People interested in philosophy and the Holocaust
This excellent book deals with second-generation guilt in Germany after the Holocaust and with a more important question, "What would I have done?" Yet, there's another issue within this small book: How can a person feel more shame over the inability to read than over their role in the Holocaust? This book was an Oprah selection, and good one.
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This was indeed a beautiful love story as well as a story of hate and a lost life. I couldn't really ever get into it, however. And that actually may have been the point. Since he could never really connect with her, did Schlink make it so we could never really connect with either of them? Hmm... I just changed my rating.
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This book really earned its Oprah's Book Club sticker. It was simplistic and obvious and just not that interesting, despite the topic: a 15 year-old German boy reads to his 40 year-old lover, who turns out to be a Nazi criminal. I think the trial scene actually had some interesting twist but I still found the whole thing weak.
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Read in April, 2008
This was good. Very interesting. I liked the way it was written. It was a quick read which is especially good for me at this time (and being a very slow reader). I don't like predictable books and this certainly wasn't predictable.
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Great book for adult beginning readers. Extremely simple sentences, but complex topic. I also found the characters fascinating and compelling.
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Read in September, 2008
I enjoyed this book a lot more than I thought I would.
When I originally picked this up, it was just another book lying around my house. I only stated to read it because I had nothing else at the time. I thought I wasn't going to like it, somewhat forced myself to get through the first couple chapters (which wasn't very hard seeing the longest chapter in the book is only about 5 pages long), but when I finally got into it, I didn't want to put it down. I was so captivated, and it was such an ...more
When I originally picked this up, it was just another book lying around my house. I only stated to read it because I had nothing else at the time. I thought I wasn't going to like it, somewhat forced myself to get through the first couple chapters (which wasn't very hard seeing the longest chapter in the book is only about 5 pages long), but when I finally got into it, I didn't want to put it down. I was so captivated, and it was such an ...more
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Read in June, 2008
I read this whole book yesterday, while travelling home from a wedding, most of it on a plane after I'd finished the New York Times. It was a hand-me-down from my sister and I liked it, but I don't feel like it will stay with me for too long.
The best parts of The Reader were the author's comments and thoughts about the post-war generation in Germany, which is a topic I have been interested in ever since I first went to Germany. How much guilt should you feel about something your parents did?...more
The best parts of The Reader were the author's comments and thoughts about the post-war generation in Germany, which is a topic I have been interested in ever since I first went to Germany. How much guilt should you feel about something your parents did?...more
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Read in May, 2008
Traveling through Germany in 1970 I had the opportunity to stay with Hannes, a teenager I befriended at a youth hostel. We hitchhiked back to Mulheim where I spent a few days with Hannes and evenings with his father, a former SS guard, and a new bottle of a Rhein wine each evening.
The Reader helped me bring to the foreground my feelings from that time when, although warmly embraced in this family, I felt then that things were just a little bit off. Hannes' father was sort of, "well, we...more
The Reader helped me bring to the foreground my feelings from that time when, although warmly embraced in this family, I felt then that things were just a little bit off. Hannes' father was sort of, "well, we...more
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Read in April, 2008
Fiction
Holocaust responsibility from a first generation after, German point of view.
A well written, easy read.
I think what the author is getting at is that we are so often faced with choices and we stand by and do nothing because we are unwilling to take the responsibility and consequences of making the choice.
While this is absolutely a valid point and probably speaks for why so many horrible things were allowed to happen, I don't think that the author has put together situations t...more
Holocaust responsibility from a first generation after, German point of view.
A well written, easy read.
I think what the author is getting at is that we are so often faced with choices and we stand by and do nothing because we are unwilling to take the responsibility and consequences of making the choice.
While this is absolutely a valid point and probably speaks for why so many horrible things were allowed to happen, I don't think that the author has put together situations t...more
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Read in March, 2008
recommends it for:
everyone, espeically those interested in Nazi Germany
I found this book very compelling-I read it in virtually a day. It was described as very sensitive in reviews-I definitely agree. It gave a heart-breakingly human and honest account of the holocaust and seemed a refreshing take on it too.
I did find it hard to access Michael's character though as he grew older. I didn't see much insight into his motivations for continuing to read to Hanna, yet not caring for her enough to write anything personal. I also struggled with my reactions to Hanna. ...more
I did find it hard to access Michael's character though as he grew older. I didn't see much insight into his motivations for continuing to read to Hanna, yet not caring for her enough to write anything personal. I also struggled with my reactions to Hanna. ...more
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Read in March, 2008
After reading Homecoming last week, I picked up Bernhard Schlink’s more famous (i.e., Oprah-endorsed) novel The Reader. Reader is clearly a precursor to Homecoming, particularly in its discussion of Schlink’s seemingly-favorite story, The Odyssey.
The novel’s plot is fairly straightforward. Fifteen-year-old Michael Berg has a brief affair with Hanna Schmitz, 21 years his senior. Years later, they are reunited when Hanna is tried for Nazi war crimes.
...more
The novel’s plot is fairly straightforward. Fifteen-year-old Michael Berg has a brief affair with Hanna Schmitz, 21 years his senior. Years later, they are reunited when Hanna is tried for Nazi war crimes.
...more
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Read in September, 2007
"The Reader" by Bernhard Schlink takes place in Germany and tells a tale of a 15 year old boy who is seduced by a 36 year old woman. Interestingly, this dynamic does not play a huge part of the story or its ethical ponderings, but what's excellent about the book is how well the boy's---and later, man's---character is developed. It's written in the first person and his introspection is among the best I've read in a long time. In fact, he's one of the few male characters I can remember w...more
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Read in January, 2005
I've read a few books about the Holocaust but always from the Jewish point of view; never one from a German point of view after the war. This book focused on the German guilt after the WWII for the next generation of German children. I gave this book a two because while I felt the topic was interesting, I also thought the writing was too choppy (probably something lost in the translation).
I also felt little for the characters of Hanna and Michael. It wasn't just the fact that I didn't like ...more
I also felt little for the characters of Hanna and Michael. It wasn't just the fact that I didn't like ...more
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Read in December, 2007
recommends it for:
no one really
Sometimes the book just doesn't live up to expectations. This happened with my reading of this book. It is the story of a young boy coming of age in post Nazi Germany. He has a love affair with an older woman who turns out to be someone he hadn't expected.
I was going to give it 2 stars because the characters annoyed me to the point of almost quitting in the middle; and it is a short book. He turns into this man who takes in everything as his fault, he lets this woman keep him like some play t...more
I was going to give it 2 stars because the characters annoyed me to the point of almost quitting in the middle; and it is a short book. He turns into this man who takes in everything as his fault, he lets this woman keep him like some play t...more
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Mein liebster Geschichtswissenschaftler machte mich ja unlängst darauf aufmerksam, dass es schon länger eine jedenfalls für mich etwas überraschende Kontroverse um Bernhard Schlinks „Der Vorleser“ gibt. Nun ist „Der Vorleser“ ein Buch, das auch ich schon verschenkt und empfohlen habe. Es ist einige Zeit her, dass ich es gelesen habe - aber ich erinnere mich gut daran, es mit Interesse und auch Genuss gelesen zu haben: Ich mag die Sprache von Schlink, wie ich auch seine Einstellung zu...more
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