All right, after reading Into the Water by Paula Hawkins, I started reading another Holocaust themed based novel (don’t ask me why I am reading too much based on Holocaust). Have you all watched the movie with Kate Winslet and Ralph Fiennes in it? I haven’t watched the movie, just saw the trailer. I read the book.
The Reader
Hailed for its coiled eroticism and the moral claims it makes upon the reader, this mesmerizing novel is a story of love and secrets, horror and compassion, unfolding against the haunted landscape of postwar Germany.
When he falls ill on his way home from school, fifteen-year-old Michael Berg is rescued by Hanna, a woman twice his age. In time she becomes his lover—then she inexplicably disappears. When Michael next sees her, he is a young law student, and she is on trial for a hideous crime. As he watches her refuse to defend her innocence, Michael gradually realizes that Hanna may be guarding a secret she considers more shameful than murder.
Paperback: 218 pages
Publisher: Vintage Books; 1st edition (1997)
Language: English
Genre : Romantic Suspense/Literary
About the Author
Bernhard Schlink is a German lawyer and writer. His novel The Reader, first published in 1995, became an international bestseller.
If you are thinking about fifty shades since this book describes eroticism, it’s not like fifty shades. Michael Berg, a fifteen year old boy falls in love with a thirty something old woman named Hanna who had helped him to recover from Hepatitis. However soon, Hanna disappears away from his life and comes back again many years later when Michael sees her in the court as Hanna has been accused as a SS solider and murdering women who were sent on death march and burned to death.
The whole story is sad, complex and morally devastating. The book is divided into three parts–Part 1 describes about how Michael Berg met Hanna, their clandestine affair and finally Hanna leaving Michael’s life, never hearing from her again. Part 2 describes Michael, who is now a law student seeing Hanna in the courts when he discovers that Hanna has been hiding a secret that is according to her is worse than the atrocities she had committed. Bernhard investigates the complex situation many Germans faced during the post war period–the atrocities committed by the Nazis in general. The character, Michael has faced with a dilemma–whether to forgive Hanna for the atrocities that she had committed (SPOILER ALERT) she was illiterate in other words. You could actually feel that during the last bits of the book that Michael avoids to meet Hanna in prison and instead records his voice on a tape and sends to Hanna in prison. His marriage is also short lived. This book is not just a love story but also about moral issues. Michael Berg is struggling in terms of forgiveness and at the same time feeling guilt and shame by even making himself visiting one of the concentration camps in Germany.
This book is also short and I manage to read the book within a few days.
Over all, I rate this book as
Truly enjoyed the book
Stay tuned for the next blog!
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