887. The Reader

The Reader
Bernhard Schlink
1995
Around 220 pages

The Reader! Could we have stumbled upon a bright-eyed, optimistic story about the joy of reading and the wonders of literature? Nope, that's a different list.

Michael Berg is a fifteen-year-old German boy with hepatitis, who has an affair with 36-year-old Hanna Schmitz, a tram conductor. One day, Hanna disappears without a trace. Six years later, Michael is stunned to see that Hanna is being charged for war crimes as an SS guard.

I understand the criticism that Schlink is compelling readers to sympathize with the perpetrators of the Holocaust. It is a fine line, but I also think we should try to find the humanity in monsters, because if we can't humanize villains, how can you identify the villain within yourself? And I ultimately think Schlink did handle this well, particularly in regards to his ending.

I don't want to reveal too much of the plot here, but I think Hanna's motivations were a little confusing, and somewhat stretched the limits of plausibility in service to the central metaphor of the story. But I did like his writing style, and gave me a lot to think about. So for that reason, definitely worth a read, and Oprah and I finally agree on a novel.

RATING: ***--

Interesting Facts:

Sold two million copies in the United States.

Translated into over 25 languages.

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