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.
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PRODUCT INFORMATION
Summary
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.
Description
"The Reader" is both a literary surprise and a moral challenge: a riveting, provocative, and deeply moving novel about a young boy's erotic awakening in a passionate, clandestine love affair with an older woman, and what happens to them both when the secrets in her past are revealed. Fifteen-year-old Michael Berg becomes ill on the way home from school. A woman takes care of him. Later, the boy arrives at her home with a bunch of flowers to thank her. And then comes back again. Hanna is the first woman he has ever desired. But there is something slightly off-key about her. His questions about her family and her life go unanswered. One day Hanna simply disappears. Michael's life goes on, but he can't forget her. Years later, as a law student observing a trial in Germany, Michael is shocked to realize that the person in the dock is Hanna. The woman he had loved so passionately is a criminal. Much about her behavior during the trial makes no sense. But then, suddenly and terribly, it does Hanna is not only obliged to answer for a horrible crime, she is also desperately concealing an even deeper secret. As the past erupts into the present both Michael's past with Hanna, and the past of Germany itself Michael must accept that he will never be free of either of them.
Awards
Short-listed for Heathrow Travel Product Award: Travel Read, Fiction 2009
Critic Reviews
“AN OPRAH'S BOOK CLUB SELECTION "A formally beautiful, disturbing and finally morally devastating novel." -- Los Angeles Times "Moving, suggestive and ultimately hopeful.... [ The Reader ] leaps national boundaries and speaks straight to the heart."-- The New York Times Book Review "Arresting, philosophically elegant, morally complex.... Mr. Schlink tells his story with marvelous directness and simplicity."-- The New York Times "Haunting.... What Schlink does best, what makes this novel most memorable, are the small moments of highly charged eroticism." --Francine Prose, Elle”
"A formally beautiful, disturbing and finally morally devastating novel." --Los Angeles Times "Moving, suggestive and ultimately hopeful. . . . [The Reader] leaps national boundaries and speaks straight to the heart." --The New York Times Book Review
"Arresting, philosophically elegant, morally complex. . . . Mr. Schlink tells his story with marvelous directness and simplicity." --The New York Times
"Haunting. . . . What Schlink does best, what makes this novel most memorable, are the small moments of highly charged eroticism." --Francine Prose, Elle
About the Author
Bernhard Schlink was born in Germany. He is the author of the internationally bestselling novel "The Reader," as well as four prize-winning crime novels-"The Gordian Knot," "Self's Fraud," "Self's Punishment," and "Self Slaughter"--that are currently being translated into English. He lives in Bonn and Berlin.
"From the Trade Paperback edition."
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