The Reader

When I'm reading a book, I often find myself thinking about it as a movie, even going as far as casting the characters in my head.  And since so many books (especially best selling books) are made into movies, I'm left wondering what it is about a certain book that leads it to becoming a movie over another book that I think lends itself much better to depiction on the big screen.  I mention this because I was aware of the movie The Reader (starring Kate Winslet) before I knew of the book The Reader by Bernhard Schlink.  And while it’s not a bad book, I don’t think it would have been my first choice to become a movie, let alone a best picture nominee (which it was).

The novel begins in post-WWII Germany, where high school student Michael falls ill on his way home from school and is helped home by a local woman, Hanna.  Once better Michael goes to thank the woman, and despite Hanna being twice his age they soon begin a romance.  Their affair lasts throughout the school year and then suddenly one day Hanna disappears.  Years later, when Michael is a law student, he observes a trial where former female Nazi concentration camp guards are on trial for war crimes.  Among the women on trial is Hanna, who is guarding a secret and who forces Michael to face his past.

Any book involving Nazi characters is going to have a difficult time making those characters sympathetic.  Hanna served in a concentration camp, sending prisoners to their deaths, but also seduced a boy half her age, so she’s quite the troubling character.  By the end her character left me frustrated.  But still, the ideas that Schlink explored about the consequences of one’s actions and about forgiveness were interesting.  I thought I would like the book more than maybe I did, but the ending did keep me thinking about the story for a few days afterward, which is obviously . . . something.  It was a short novel, and even if it didn’t have a lot of stuff happen (the main reason I’m not sure what the movie was about), it was a good enough read (ok, maybe not a glowing recommendation), although clearly it’s not a warm and fuzzy story.

Next up:  I Wear The Black Hat by Chuck Klosterman