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The Reader
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The Reader
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The Reader
Audiobook4 hours

The Reader

Written by Bernhard Schlink

Narrated by Scott Campbell

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

3.5/5

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Currently unavailable

Currently unavailable

About this audiobook

Hailed for its coiled eroticism and the moral claims it makes upon the reader, this mesmerizing novel is a story of love and secrets, horror and compassion, unfolding against the haunted landscape of postwar Germany.

When he falls ill on his way home from school, fifteen-year-old Michael Berg is rescued by Hanna, a woman twice his age. In time she becomes his lover--then she inexplicably disappears. When Michael next sees her, he is a young law student, and she is on trial for a hideous crime. As he watches her refuse to defend her innocence, Michael gradually realizes that Hanna may be guarding a secret she considers more shameful than murder.

LanguageEnglish
Release dateNov 11, 2008
ISBN9780739375969
Unavailable
The Reader
Author

Bernhard Schlink

Bernhard Schlink was born in Germany in 1944. A professor emeritus of law at Humboldt University, Berlin, and Cardozo Law School, New York, he is the author of the The Reader, which became a multi-million copy international bestseller and an Oscar-winning film starring Kate Winslet and Ralph Fiennes, and The Woman on the Stairs. He lives in Berlin and New York.

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Reviews for The Reader

Rating: 3.72431033524121 out of 5 stars
3.5/5

3,669 ratings205 reviews

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  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    Aside form the film adaptation, I only recall this one because for a while it was the worst book I had ever completed. I am unsure whether it still mantains that distinction
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Extremely compelling basis for a novel - I only wish that it had been written by a more skilled author, who could have made this a masterpiece. As it is, it was a little clumsy, getting worse towards the end. Schlink is a "tell don't show" writer - which would have worked well with a lovelier writing style. Instead it's very plain and declarative - perhaps as an effect of the original German (or the translation). Think of the difference between Marquez and Coetzee: one writes subtly of plain things, the other writes plainly of subtle things. Schlink writes plainly of things which should have been subtler. What ambiguity remains is actually more frustrating than enticing. Like the fact that the narrator never clarifies the date of the first sequence, or that he never confirms whether he told the judge the truth or not. Both have clear answers which one can infer (1958; no he didn't) and on which the plot depends. It doesn't aid the novel in any way for those questions to be kept open, so it just feels like a case of clumsy exposition. With all that said - it was a short page-turner with a fundamentally fascinating premise. I only wish it could have been more.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I really can't believe I read this book in one day. What an amazing story and an amazing writer. I loved it from beginning to end. It's a story about a young boy having a relationship with a much older woman. Later on when he sees her again, she is on trial in court. The ending suprised me and I did not see it coming. Excellent story and a must read.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This was an amazing novel. From beginning to end, I was completely spell-bound by the story and the lens that Schlink weaves--to explore the world, his characters, and himself. It is a fine achievement and I think this is one of the best pieces of German literature that I have read in some time. The characters were instantly remarkable and each set scene had burdened tension, rife istability, and altering character arcs.Tremendous novel. Two thumbs up: recommended!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    As an adult, Michael recounts and reflects upon his relationship with Hanna, a 40-year-old woman, when he was a mere 15. His memories include the surprising discovery of when she was on trial for her past involvement with the Nazi Party.I was absorbed in Michael's story from the first word until the very last. There was romance, philosophy, law and compelling writing that brought about many thoughts and questions. It's a memorable read. (4.25/5)Originally posted on: Thoughts of Joy
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This book, it seemed to me, was a book of questions, none of which are really answered by protagonist or reader or author. It left me feeling sorry. For who and for what? I'm not quite sure. But I felt sorry and empty and full of questions that will inevitably just sit and go nowhere. It's a thinking book, a questioning book, and if you're okay with both of those, then by all means read it.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    It is a tragic story of lost innocence, guilt, and regret. Hanna is a mysterious older woman who becomes involved with a young, 15-year old boy named Michael. Michael is drawn in by Hanna's mystery and enjoys reading to her during their meetings. When Hanna appears again a few years later--to Michael's horror and surprise--she is not who he thought she was. Or was she? I miss this kind of story where the characters are mysterious and secretive and they never truly reveal their feelings throughout the story.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Very good. Slightly disturbing.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The novel is easy to read, chapters are short and the plot is intriguing. I enjoyed reading it and the main character of Michael Berg is well portrayed. I also found the character of Hanna as lacking in characterisation somewhat, because she is kept in the background, rather than being on the foreground with Michael. This, as such, diminishes the impact of her big 'secret' when revealed to readers.This is a good book to read nonetheless, but I don't dwell on it because of the peculiar way the author emphasised one character at the expense of another, when the other is actually the focal point of the plot. The first person narrative is all very well, but I found it difficult to have empathy with Michael Berg, when the character just seems to be selfish and centrered on his obsession, rather than acting on improving things for Hanna.The light tone of the narrative and the major 'issue' with Hanna which is discovered are contrasted and too far apart to be logical, this is why I don't give more than 3.5 points in my rating. Maybe I'll enjoy it more in a few years' time, in which case this review will be revised then.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Stunning in its simplicity. The telling of one man's truth, in so far as he knows it, of his life with and without a complex woman. She shaped his life more than anyone else and his struggles to understand her influence are poetic. Really beautiful work.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    loved it. absorbing
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    Since the first selection I read from the Oprah Book Club was so awesome, (A Virtuous Woman), I decided to add all of them to my TBR list. The Oprah stamp of approval is pretty much the only reason I picked up this book, however that stamp of approval is starting to mean much less because I really did not like this book. The only thing keeping me from giving it one star is the fact that talent gleams randomly throughout the pages. The author is really fabulous at capturing and describing moments and emotions that most people experience. (My favorite passage is a paragraph that starts on pg. 38. In it he discusses how awkward he felt growing up and how he had such hope that one day he would be confident and successful. He had all of these unfulfilled big dreams which he sees reflected in the faces of the youth around him. That hope saddens him because he knows that very rarely does life fulfill and exceed your expectations.)

    I enjoyed Mr. Schlink's writing very much, but this novel left me feeling empty. There was no hope to be found. Everyone's life had fallen to pieces. I hate feeling empty, like all the light and hope have been sucked dry. Therefore this novel will receive a 2/5 stars.

    I really love the cover of this novel. It's simple yet incredibly inviting. I think it connects to the tale in a few ways. The relationship between Michael and Hanna is complex, especially for a fifteen-year-old. He fulfills multiple needs in Hanna's life, but it seems to me that his needs cannot even begin to be fulfilled by her. She's emotionally vacant. The book and the flowers show the roles Michael plays in Hanna's life. It's saddens me that she is so flat and so checked out of life.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    When I started this book I came close to not finishing it because I thought the beginning was rather hmmm how to state this nicely fresh? no not really but lewd in a sense because I wasn't attached to the characters and already I was thrust into their sexual escapades. I am not a prude by any means, but I also in a book want to be drawn into a world where I care about the characters and that was lacking from the first word of the book.

    As I progressed into the book I kept feeling this sense of "What is the point of reading this book?" every single moment felt like a disconnected story that didn't fit the overall picture of what the writer wanted to portray. He went back and forth between the voice of the character in so many places that I felt that I couldn't accurately understand where I was story wise. I wanted to like this book based solely on the fact that it was made into a movie featuring Kate Winslet, but I realized that just because you appreciate an actress in a film based on a book doesn't mean that the book is going to be good. This was simply an okay read for me and one that I may not have finished had it not been a required read for my English 400 course.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The post-reunification generation, faced with a legacy of collective guilt and shame, has attempted to come to terms with the horror and guilt of Nazism. By exploring responsibility for the genocidal horror of the Holocaust they sought to construct a new identity. This seeking to come to terms with the war can be seen in a German literary text, Bernhard Schlink’s (1944- ) novel The Reader (published in English in 1997). This fictional work explores the issue of German national identity. It provides a good insight into how powerful a work of fiction can be, ‘how a literary text may engage with the problems faced by a European people still questioning their national identity as a result of a traumatic past’ (Walder, 2003, p. 70).The Reader moves from the past to the present in an intimate retelling of narrator Michael Berg’s experiences. As a fifteen year old, Michael is struck down by hepatitis. After throwing up in the street he is helped home by Frau Schmitz, a stranger from a nearby neighbourhood, ‘when rescue came it was almost an assault’ (p. 2). After a lengthy illness he visits her with flowers to thank her for her assistance (p. 8).Hanna Schmitz is an inscrutable streetcar conductor more than twice his age. Michael is fascinated by her and on their third encounter they begin an affair. He is swept up by his infatuation whilst also noticing her idiosyncrasies which include insecurity, emotional closure and fits of temper. Hanna, the dominant one in the relationship, demands that Michael keep up his studies if he wants to keep seeing her (pp. 33-34). She asks Michael to read aloud to her, which becomes an integral part of their time together (pp. 39-41). As time moves on Michael finds their relationship increasingly difficult as his school and social life begin taking up more of his time, but when Hanna unexpectedly leaves the city without a forwarding address he is devastated (p. 80). When Michael next sees Hanna, he is a law student sitting in on the case of six women accused of being Nazi guards at Cracow, a satellite camp for Auschwitz (p. 88). To Michael’s shock, Hanna is one of those accused. They are charged with not only selecting inmates to be sent to Auschwitz, but also for failing to rescue Jewish women prisoners burning alive in a church after a bombing raid (p. 106). The book serves to ‘remind us how ordinary people can turn into the slayers of those of their compatriots who become identified as different’ (Walder, 2003, p. 97). During the trial Hanna’s poignant inquiry of the court judge; ‘What would you have done?’ (p. 127) seems directed to everyone. According to Walder (2003), ‘The novel has been credited with providing a richer, more nuanced account than before of the perpetrators and bystanders of this past, going beyond the usual outright condemnation of the older generation’ (p. 70).Michael is part of a post-war generation trying to come to terms with the Nazis and the predicament of their parents and relatives roles in the war. ‘We all condemned our parents to shame, even if the only charge we could bring was that after 1945 they had tolerated the perpetrators in their midst’ (p. 90). The infatuation that Michael had with Hanna intensifies once again, along with his self condemnation and mental persecution as he realises how intertwined their lives are; ‘the finger I pointed at her turned back to me. I had loved her’ (p. 168). Narrated is a complex situation full of emotion as Michael battles with numbness at the details of the accusations and at being personally entangled with one of the perpetrators. He asks ‘some few would be convicted and punished while we of the second generation were silenced by revulsion, shame, and guilt – was that all there was to it now?’ (p. 102). Michael explores his sense of having betrayed Hanna, firstly in his youth by keeping their relationship a secret, and then by not speaking up at her trial about her illiteracy which could have well reduced her sentence and offered an explanation for some of her actions. ‘She was guilty, but not as guilty as it appeared’ (p. 136). According to Schlink, ‘Hanna’s illiteracy is symptomatic of those who had forgotten their moral alphabet during the war’ (as quoted in Anton, 2007, p. 109). Instead of declaring her illiteracy, Hanna accepts sole responsibility for a written report (p. 134) and is sentenced to life imprisonment (p.160). Walder (2003) wonders that ‘when the narrator accuses himself as a boy in such harsh terms for denying his lover, do we understand this as comparable in any way to the German denial of their country’s secret past, their inextricable involvement with those who carried out the dreadful crimes of the Nazi era?’ (p. 94). After the trial ends Michael is still fixated on Hanna; ‘my love for Hanna was, in a way, the fate of my generation, a German fate’ (p. 169). He carries the burden of his knowledge about her throughout his life, until he eventually realises a way to continue having a relationship with Hanna and try to put the past to rest (p. 181). Michael is part of the generation who had ‘dissociated themselves from their parent’s and thus from the entire generation of perpetrators, voyeurs, and the wilfully blind, accommodators and accepters, thereby overcoming perhaps not their shame, but at least their suffering because of the shame’ (p. 169). This novel allows the reader to ponder the impact of the World War 2 on the lives of the generation after the Nazi’s. It is a valuable and insightful work, a ‘morally sensitive and profound attempt by a German writer to plumb the legacy of the holocaust’ (Walder, 2003, p. 96).
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Michael Berg is 15 years old when he meets Hanna Schmitz, a 36 year old woman. As he visits her and gets to know her, the both fall for each other and begin their ritual: bathing and then Michael reads aloud to Hanna. One day, Hanna disappears and Michael is tormented by her absence. He next sees her during her trial for war crimes. He is a law students taking a seminar based on the trial of female guards in Nazi-Germany. He learns that she was a guard and was involved in an especially heinous act. This was such a moving story that spoke a lot to me about the importance of people's kindness towards others and how much of a difference we can make in other people's lives.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Campbell Scott has a delightful Voice. I would like to hear him again.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Well this was quite disturbing.
    Unique but disturbing.
    But it has very short chapters.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    beautiful yet sad story, I feel sorry for both Hanna and Michael
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    You can't help but weep. It will tear your heart up.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I began listening to this book for a class and could not stop listening to it. The relationship portrayed in this novel keeps you engaged. The history that comes to light is tragic and makes for a very well rounded, enticing novel. Very good.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This story of a woman who affects the life of a 15 year old boy was handled with taste and class. I sort of guessed what her crime was, but never figured out the reason why. I will be reading this one again, to take in the writer's delicate way with words.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This is my second read of this book. I found myself deeply engaged with the narrator, Michael, who has an affair with an older woman at 15. Years later, he is studying law and she is on trial as a Nazi war criminal. The story is introspective, and explores the impact of early relationships on our choices. Well written...I'd read it a third time!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    boring in first 2 sections [2 star rating at best], SEARING truths in third section
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A beautiful short novel that tells about a time when terrible crimes were done in the name of the State and people had to decide how to respond to what can only be called evil. It is also a story of love and the development of understanding - all done in a beautiful way that entrances the reader. Few books can do what Bernard Schlink has done in this fine novel.
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    Where to begin? If you care about how we define words like evil, victim and suffering, don't read this book. But if you do, please thunk about the implications of a book that has a quote on the back that suggests that "Hanna may be guarding a secret she considers more shameful than murder."
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This was written as a work of fiction, but those in the “know” claim it was based off the female Nazi guard with the nickname “The Bitch of Buchenwald.” This book is disturbing on so many levels, even how it made me feel! Michael is 15 when he meets (by accident) 36 year old Hannah Schmitz who works for the transit company. They spend a blissful summer, mostly in bed. Hannah likes to be read to and Michael reads the classics to her. Michael has developed strong feelings for Hannah. Hannah leaves town and after a time of grieving we next see Michael in law school in Berlin sometime in the late 40's or early 50's. . His law class has been assigned to attend and watch a particular war crimes trial. Hannah Schmitz is a defendant and is sentenced to life imprisonment. Michael spends years taping books for Hannah and sending the cassettes to prison. I won’t go any further so as not to spoil. Hannah is not a likeable woman, nor should she be. I was heartbroken for Michael, but in all reality he was much better off without her. This book brings up all kind of moral dilemmas. This book will have me thinking about it about for a longggggggggg time. 204 pages 5 stars
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This is one that will stay with me for a long time, and I'll turn it over in my head many times. I am still not sure I understand the Hanna's reason for wanting to keep her big secret a secret, it didn't seem like that big a deal.
    But this book asks many questions and meditates on the relationship between the Germans that were part of the war and those who lived just after. I suppose the whole book can be taken as metaphor for two generations. but that would deny the relationship between the two main characters.
    Of course, I do need to go watch the movie now.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    German literature with a whole different perspective on WWII than I previously read. I can't believe that I did not review this at the time I read it. It does involve a trial of a woman who participated in WWII and how a person might come to that point in life where they do the unspeakable.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I read this for the first time around the time the movie version was released. Still gorgeous prose, troubling story, great narrator character.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I really liked the beginning and end of the book.