The Reader
September 8th 2007 00:43
Image: fantasticfiction.com
I have noticed lately there is a slight, but ever so discernible trend towards knocking book clubs - which is of no great surprise, it is what happens to ‘the popular’. So scoff if you must, but if you are on the lookout for a good book, you can’t go past a book club devotee.
Which is how I discovered my latest find.
Just before heading overseas I had a conversation with a fellow book cluber and she convinced me I must read The Reader by Bernhard Schlink. In fact, she was so anxious for me to get this book that she organised a copy to be sent to me in Canada, where I missed it! So on to Australia it went, which was where I caught up with it on my return.
Well, of course I wasn’t disappointed. How could I be! No one would go through all that trouble for a lousy book!
At the age of 15, Michael Berg has a chance meeting with Hanna, an older woman who completely enthralls him, and propriety is no match for his teenage lust. But during their affair Hanna remains a mystery, both to Michael and the reader. So we watch as inexperience turns to passion, then to possession and finally indifference. Then one day Hanna disappears and Michael’s attachment is severed and his life continues much as a young man’s should. But Hanna is not gone, and when their paths cross again … well, all I can say is - this is what good books are made of!
Translated from German by Carol Brown Janeway, there appears to be nothing missing in the translation. With compassion and clarity we live the sad legacy left by Nazi Germany. Not only for the rest of the world, but for Germany itself. And Schlink does this with just two of our most basic human emotions – love and hate.
This book says many things about us as a race. We love, we hate … we regret and forget. But if we are not intent on destroying or controlling each other with violence – do we then choose to do it with love? And is it really that simple?
Have a read and tell me what you think. And thank you Pat for the book. I loved it!
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Comment by pat the reader
I loved your review and am so pleased the book finally arrived. Miss you and would love to touch base re books et al in the near future.
Kindest regards
Pat