Thursday, October 21, 2010

The Reader by Bernhard Schlink


Hooo boy.

The Reader by Bernhard Schlink was an okay book but the more time that goes by the less I like it. The tag lines talk about it being 'Morally Devastating' and 'Guarding Secrets More Shameful Than Murder' and yes, it is all that, but what is the author calling on me to do? Walk a mile in Mrs. Schmitz's shoes? Ehn, I don't even like her.

The book starts out as one story, a sort of The Graduate-esque coming-of-age love story, and then morphs into a courtroom drama that challenges the most open of minds. There are bad crimes and then there are Really Bad Crimes, and I wasn't prepared to have my judgment called upon, questioned, and manipulated, as the author asked his readers to do. So no. I wasn't invested but I did finish it which I guess says something.





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