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Summary and Reviews of The Reader by Bernhard Schlink

The Reader by Bernhard Schlink

The Reader

by Bernhard Schlink
  • Critics' Consensus (4):
  • Readers' Rating (24):
  • First Published:
  • Mar 1, 1999, 218 pages
  • Paperback:
  • Mar 1999, 218 pages
  • Rate this book

About This Book

Book Summary

This mesmerizing novel is a story of love and secrets, horror and compassion, unfolding against the haunted landscape of postwar Germany.

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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Reviews

Media Reviews

Los Angeles Times
A formally beautiful, disturbing and finally morally devastating novel.

The New York Times
Arresting, philosophically elegant, morally complex. . . . Mr. Schlink tells his story with marvelous directness and simplicity.

The New York Times Book Review
Moving, suggestive and ultimately hopeful. . . . [The Reader] leaps national boundaries and speaks straight to the heart.

Elle - Francine Prose,
Haunting. . . . What Schlink does best, what makes this novel most memorable, are the small moments of highly charged eroticism.

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Read-Alikes

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