Book: Reading "The Reader"

The Monocled Review

(Pictured Left)

The Screaming,

Monocle, Fedora

and Rubber Chicken Review

(Pictured Right)

*****

Sorry about the delay, here is the review of “The Reader.”

Next week is “Twilight” and after that no other books have been suggested: so remember to leave a comment!

*****

Synopsis:

“The Reader,” by Bernhard Schlink focuses on the life of Michael Berg, a fifteen year old boy from Germany. One day he meets Hanna Schmitz, a 34 year-old tram conductor. The two begin a sexual relationship which lasts for several months before Hanna suddenly disappears.

Life goes on for Michael, and years later he meets Hanna again; this time in a courtroom where Hanna is on trial for war crimes committed during World War II. As he watches the trial, Michael begins to gain a greater understanding of both Hanna’s and his own emotions and lives.

Plot:

The plot of this movie cannot be judged as much by what happens, but by how it happens and how it is handled by the characters. The back-cover synopsis sums up the total events of eighty percent of the plot quite nicely; but this story is about so much more than simply what happens.

The book is comprised of three parts. The first being Michael’s meeting with Hanna and their experiences together: Secret visits to Hanna’s house, a summer biking excursion, Michael looking for Hanna on the tram where she works… the book goes into great depth detailing the experiences which Michael and Hanna built their relationship on.

Characters:

The characters are what make this book, despite their only really being two: Michael and Hanna. All the other characters in the books are blatantly secondary and do not receive much development.

Michael is shy individual who is gradually changed through his experiences with Hanna. He is heavily dependant on others, often turning to them to tell him how he should act and live his life. He is constantly mulling over his emotions within himself; and throughout the book he is always trying to determine how he should feel about what is happening to him.

Hanna is a wonderful and mysterious character. Throughout the book, we are gradually given hints concerning her personality and how her mind works. We are never given too much information, and as a result Hanna holds the same mysterious air to us as she does to Michael.

Writing:

I loved the language in this book. All of the scenes were vividly painted with fluid language. The workings of Michael’s mind were clear: the writing was excellent in conveying Michael’s thoughts to me as a reader.

Compared to other pieces I have read, this book had very little dialogue; but the dialogue which was included was very good. The book was originally published in German, but all of the dialogue retained a very fluid feel even after translation.

Overall:

I loved this book. The writing was excellent throughout, and the characters were wonderfully developed. They were human: layered, flawed, and sympathetic. I recommend this book with a caveat: there are plausible interpretations to the story that would make it seem sympathetic towards the German internment and concentration camp guards of World War II. That being the case, if the camps are a personal subject to you, you may want to skip reading this book.

4 / 5 Stars

*****

Plot:

Not a whole lot really happens in this book. You got pretty much a montage of a relationship, a montage of a multi-week court case, and an epilogue. There was only, like, one or two twist in the entire book and for the primary one it was like, ‘Okay. And?’ You spend the book waiting for something to happen, but then nothing happens.

Characters:

Michael is great. He’s a total player, hitting on anything within sixty feet of him, and that’s only in part one. In the second part of the book he turns into the classical badass gentleman – the type of guy from the olden days who defined anything to do with giving into physical or mental discomfort as womanly.

Hanna was awesome: she didn’t take shit from ANYONE. Even when she was being accused of god damn war crimes, she was treating the accusations like a check-the-box restaurant survey. It was either ‘Yes, I did it,’ or ‘No, get off my case.’ No bullshit, just truth. Nice.

Writing:

This guy is kinda like Shakespeare in the ‘Why use three words when you can use twenty seven?’ train of thought. He would describe EVERYTHING in a scene, even things that really didn’t matter – like curtains. The book still moved pretty fast, but I could do without knowing the color and shape of every little object in the room.

Overall:

This book iffy. The characters were awesome, but everything else was slow and overinflated. It also kinda seemed like it was painting the Nazis as good guys. If you have a lot of free time on your hands, try this thing. If not, you aren’t missing much.

2 / 5 Stars

*****

ANSWERS TO SATURDAY QUESTION OF THE WEEK:

“I’m thinking the Colts will win 31-17.” -- Eric

And… that’s the only one we got.

MONDAY QUESTION OF THE WEEK:

Recently there has been proof that Octopi have learned to use coconut shells as tools for protection and hunting. The question is:

How long before the Octopus species develops further and overthrows humans as the dominant race on earth?

What other books do you want to see reviewed? Leave a comment and let me know!