The Reader

The Reader

By: Bernhard Schlink

1995

A few weeks ago I celebrated my 31st birthday. At that time I was trying to think of authors, film directors and characters in novels who share the same birthday. I tend to do this with novels. I am always interested to see what characters share birthdays with me and my loved ones. The only character that I could think of who was also born on October the 21st was Hanna, from the The Reader. Coincidences such as these help me to feel connected with works of fiction (and I am sure I am not in the minority here) and entreat me to read further. I did not have much trouble moving forward as I read this one in one sitting. 

This is a simple novel that has garnered praise from critics and has been celebrated with an adaption to film that has also received similar adoration. The simplicity of the novel is in its form, the terse prose details the relationship of a young boy and a much older female bus conductor. Their erotic relationship becomes troubled by miscommunication and miscomprehension as they continue to see each other and even take vacations together. There are times when Hanna is cross with Michael for seemingly no reason and there are times when Michael is confounded by her lack of communication and strange distancing. The reader begins to think this is due to the age difference between the two lovers as they are many years apart, and that the boy is simply infatuated to the point of disillusionment. This segment of the novel was wonderful, highlighting a taboo pairing which is morally questionable.

I will have to agree with most readers on Goodreads in saying that the remainder of the novel does not complement the first half. The story then tries to awkwardly create similarities between the relationship Micheal and Hanna had years ago with a trial where Hanna is accused of war crimes during WWII. The transition between these two segments undermines the strength of writing in the first half and almost derails the novel completely. The one saving element is the realization that Hanna is in fact illiterate. A device Schlink utilizes to add character to Hanna, who would rather plead guilty to war crimes than announce her illiteracy. It invites the reader to rethink the circumstances which led to miscommunication in the first half of the novel, where Hanna's pride becomes the reason for her odd behaviour. After this realization, the novel then becomes mired by this fact. Michael, as an older man, sends her audio recordings of poetry and other German literature to keep her company in prison. She then learns to read independently. If Schlink had saved this revelation until the end of the novel and continued to pile on awkward scenarios, this book would have been better.

Apart from Hanna sharing the same birthday as me, I found little to truly grasp unto with this novel. Sure its ethical ambiguity was compelling, but that became unnecessarily overblown with the Nuremberg trial like ending. 

Grade:

C-