Book Review: The Reader
The Reader by Bernard Schlink
I recently watched the movie version of The Reader and absolutely had to read it. In this instance, the book and the movie are almost opposite of normal. Usually you watch a movie and it's a truncated version of the book. You read the book to get more information. In The Reader book, there is almost less information. Not in a bad way; I love the way it's written. But I feel like the movie took the book and expanded on it. And it is so faithful to the book that I think you could have read the book first and still loved the movie.
The chapters are short and I think that reflects how it is written. It's elegant without being too wordy. And it speaks very much to the bibliophile in me. I love the idea of reading aloud to a lover. In the book, the lovers are more argumentative. They have more fights and it's Michael who always capitulates for fear of losing Hanna. And there is an added scene where Hanna screams at him for having left their hotel room early in the morning, despite the fact that Michael left her a note. Still, there is such passion and romance that you don't get stuck on their fights or the fact that she is more than twice his age. I was just enjoying their romance, especially the realities of it (I hate romances where characters are perfect or perfectly flawed*).
And then the hammer falls. Hanna is a former Nazi guard responsible for the deaths of hundreds of Jews. I think the book lets you feel Michael's confusion even better than the movie. It also lets you feel Hanna's confusion as well: she honestly doesn't know what she should have done instead of what she did. She asks the judge earnestly what she should have done instead. She tells the blunt truth about what she did with no thought as to how it appears to the court. This is where we really see who Hanna is: an uneducated woman who wanted a simple job to avoid having her secret discovered. She is not a monster, but she did monstrous things. And through Michael, we feel the conflicting emotions of his generation towards Nazis as well as his conflicted emotions about having loved someone who was a Nazi. Young people distancing themselves from their parents even if they were not actively involved in any Nazi-related activities (Michael's parents are guilty of not having done anything). Courts that feel the need to make examples out of everyone and rely heavily on unreliable testimony to get justice...although how can there be justice? It's interesting to explore even if it is not as exhaustive as I'm sure other more scholarly books are. Michael ends up not standing up for Hanna; he lets his revulsion for her win over his love.
Then years later Michael starts recording books on tape for Hanna, almost without knowing why. And this is how she finally learns to read and write. It's as if his love/compassion for her wins out over his revulsion...mostly. He does not ever reply to her letters and never sends any personal message with the tapes. Nor does he ever visit, with the exception of a week before she is to be released. Even then, he is still conflicted about her. And that must be what pushes Hanna over the edge. Not that Michael is responsible for her death. But Hanna has no one but Michael...and he is repulsed by her, can barely bring himself to look at her. What sort of life is waiting out there for Hanna? Especially if she is asked about her resume? ("Well, I worked in a factory, then I was a Nazi guard, then I was a ticket taker on a trolley, then I was in prison for 18 years for mass murder....") It is a tragedy that could have no other outcome. And yet, I completely enjoyed the book from start to finish. I am definitely going to buy it as soon as I can allow myself to spend the money.
I highly recommend this book. It's definitely in my top 5 of all time.
Rating:
I recently watched the movie version of The Reader and absolutely had to read it. In this instance, the book and the movie are almost opposite of normal. Usually you watch a movie and it's a truncated version of the book. You read the book to get more information. In The Reader book, there is almost less information. Not in a bad way; I love the way it's written. But I feel like the movie took the book and expanded on it. And it is so faithful to the book that I think you could have read the book first and still loved the movie.
The chapters are short and I think that reflects how it is written. It's elegant without being too wordy. And it speaks very much to the bibliophile in me. I love the idea of reading aloud to a lover. In the book, the lovers are more argumentative. They have more fights and it's Michael who always capitulates for fear of losing Hanna. And there is an added scene where Hanna screams at him for having left their hotel room early in the morning, despite the fact that Michael left her a note. Still, there is such passion and romance that you don't get stuck on their fights or the fact that she is more than twice his age. I was just enjoying their romance, especially the realities of it (I hate romances where characters are perfect or perfectly flawed*).
And then the hammer falls. Hanna is a former Nazi guard responsible for the deaths of hundreds of Jews. I think the book lets you feel Michael's confusion even better than the movie. It also lets you feel Hanna's confusion as well: she honestly doesn't know what she should have done instead of what she did. She asks the judge earnestly what she should have done instead. She tells the blunt truth about what she did with no thought as to how it appears to the court. This is where we really see who Hanna is: an uneducated woman who wanted a simple job to avoid having her secret discovered. She is not a monster, but she did monstrous things. And through Michael, we feel the conflicting emotions of his generation towards Nazis as well as his conflicted emotions about having loved someone who was a Nazi. Young people distancing themselves from their parents even if they were not actively involved in any Nazi-related activities (Michael's parents are guilty of not having done anything). Courts that feel the need to make examples out of everyone and rely heavily on unreliable testimony to get justice...although how can there be justice? It's interesting to explore even if it is not as exhaustive as I'm sure other more scholarly books are. Michael ends up not standing up for Hanna; he lets his revulsion for her win over his love.
Then years later Michael starts recording books on tape for Hanna, almost without knowing why. And this is how she finally learns to read and write. It's as if his love/compassion for her wins out over his revulsion...mostly. He does not ever reply to her letters and never sends any personal message with the tapes. Nor does he ever visit, with the exception of a week before she is to be released. Even then, he is still conflicted about her. And that must be what pushes Hanna over the edge. Not that Michael is responsible for her death. But Hanna has no one but Michael...and he is repulsed by her, can barely bring himself to look at her. What sort of life is waiting out there for Hanna? Especially if she is asked about her resume? ("Well, I worked in a factory, then I was a Nazi guard, then I was a ticket taker on a trolley, then I was in prison for 18 years for mass murder....") It is a tragedy that could have no other outcome. And yet, I completely enjoyed the book from start to finish. I am definitely going to buy it as soon as I can allow myself to spend the money.
I highly recommend this book. It's definitely in my top 5 of all time.
Rating: