15 December 2009

The Reader ~ Bernhard Schlink

An interesting take
But rather boring overall

It was an interesting perspective to look at the effects of WW2 on the next generation of Germans ... "sins of the fathers" stuff.

This thought provoking perspective was a background to a much more provoking aspect ~ an affair between a teenager (15) and an older woman (36). The narrative is a a little cold and remote (translation? Germanic??) and I didn't feel that engaged with the characters. But the echoes of the war and the very questionable affair are not the crux of the story ... that is Hanna's illiteracy. And to me that was too much to be the pivot of the story.