The Reader [Paperback]

I came to Bernard Schlink's novel, The Reader, as a result of the publicity surrounding the film of the book. The story is told by Michael Berg who looks back at a relationship he had at 15 with an older woman, Hanna Schmitz. It is a story of unrequited love set in Germany in the context of the post second world war years. Underlying the pains of a love story are huge universal moral themes such as guilt, betrayal, whether or not the burden of responsibility can and should be passed from one generation to another, the issue of being responsible for ones action and the willingness to be held accountable.

It is reasonable to say that The Reader is a novel of ideas. Along with the themes mentioned above, another area of exploration is memory. For Michael his personal identity is built on memory. I found this issue very engaging as I was reminded that it is the joys and pains of memory that at least partly shapes our character.

But such esoteric ideas, if one could call them that, should not deter prospective readers. The Reader is a very accessible novel. On one level it is a story of childhood that charmed and drew me into its world. Yet in another way it is an erotic story that captures the spirit of many teenage boys who desire the older woman - the forbidden fruit. Michael gets the forbidden fruit but at a cost - namely unrequited love and anguish into adulthood that strained further relationships he had with women.

The sombre tone of the narrative fits very well with Michael's anguish. But the tone is sombre not only for that reason, not only because of the illicit liaison, not only because of Hanna's mysterious pasts but more because of Michael's betrayal of Hanna in more than one way. Part of Schlink's great achievement is that through these issues he manages to shed light on how we sometimes bear the burden of guilt. It's an acknowledgement of how we allow ourselves to be constrained by the prevailing social circumstances, and later suffer because of it.

Schlink draws a complex character in Hanna. She is dowdy, moody and unpredictable to some extent. But he also does something more with Hanna. Through her inaction that is alleged to have led to the burning to death of a number of Jews in a church, Schlink makes Hanna a symbol that represents the mob and its heard instinct. In the socio-political milieu she finds herself in, like most of her peers Hanna easily comes to believe that it is her responsibility to carry out duties requested of her. She is certainly no existentialist; she cannot think outside the box and do what is right. Through Hanna Schlink shakes us out of our own complacency and confronts us with the question what would you have done in similar circumstances.

A word about the translation, at times it feels clumsy. For example, after planning a bicycle holiday, part of Michael's thoughts is translated thus: "Strange that this idea and suggesting it were not embarrassing to me" However, overall, although I don't read German, I sense that the translator, Carol Brown Janeway, captured the tone of the original novel - full praise to her.

This is a very short novel that could be quickly read through. However, I urge the prospective reader not to rush through it. Because it is cram-full of ideas, it commands a slow and careful read. I found myself re-reading passage simply to make sure I had grasped the idea being explored.

For all its profound philosophical questions and huge universal themes, The Reader never deviates from being a gripping story. I was emotional stirred and intellectually stimulated by this novel. The fact that such a short novel had a huge impact on me it must be considered a tour de force.

I loved this novel. It's narrative is simple; easy to read and could be described as plain but I felt it fit with the style and pace of the book really well.

Hanna is a complex character - while knowing, from her first encounter with Michael and the nature of this, that we should dislike her - I found Michael's utter obsession with her, and particularly as the book progressed, forced me to see past those initial instincts.

She can further be demonised by her acts and then her behaviours when attempting to defend herself and what she has alleged to have done while working in Concentration Camps across Nazi Germany, but again, it was Michaels depth of feeling for her - the fact that thoughout all three parts of the tale, when you see how Hanna morphs from teenage obsession to an object of love lost through to pitiless captor capable of all evil and on to an aged woman - he never loses his addiction to her.

His entire life has revolved around his love for such a woman and that, for me, was pivotal in my enjoyment of this novel and why I will recommend it to others. This was the latest offering at my book club and the reason why I go - I'm not sure I would have picked it up otherwise.

What I liked about this book was that important questions were raised and the reader was left to wander about in the grey area between right and wrong and good and evil, and make their own judgements. The basic premise of the book was a good one: an exploration of post war Germany and the legacy left by the holocaust. Sadly though the opportunity was missed as the subject wasn't given the depth, complexity and scope it needed.

Fundamentally I think it was missing a very necessary human side - it's the human side of us that is most deeply ashamed and disturbed by that period in history, not the intellectual. On the whole the writing was not emotive enough to convey the nuances it needed to make this human struggle real. It intellectually made me think, but failed to move me emotionally (in spite of the gravity of the events). How I could have been so unaffected emotionally by the events in the church signify to me that something important was missing from this book.

I assumed that the relationship between Hanna (mid 30's) and Michael (15) was a vessel to explore how the different generations could reconcile themselves with what happened in their history and with each other: the ones who were there (Hanna) and the post-Nazi generations that followed (Michael). The war crimes trial being was a good choice of arena to explore this with Hanna and Michael being representative of each side of the divide. However, Schlink failed to make the romance real for me. The scenes of Hanna and Michael were mostly sexual, and those rare moments of a deeper connection were too few and far between to create the impression of a love that could span decades and endure the revelations of character and actions that we are asked to believe it did. If the romantic dynamic had been better developed, this situation could have been very powerful.

The unfulfilling romance aside, I could not connect with any of the characters individually either. They each made questionable decisions (around keeping quiet about Hanna's not-so-terrible secret) but I felt no empathy for either of them - I simply couldn't understand their motivations because I had no idea who they were out of the context of being tools to explore a complex issue.

I have given this book three stars. It does raise some important questions, and literature should always challenge, but it is ultimately lacking something and is very disappointing.

I might recommend this book to a select few.