Books2Movies Club discussion

The story of Bernhard Schlink's The Reader is set in post-war Germany, and if you take a look at the back cover blurb of the book, you'll see this definitely won't be an easy read. War fiction is never easy to read, though, we in the club at least know that from our previous experience. However, both the book and the movie won a couple of awards, and we do not shy away from challenges, so let's do it :)
Your comments and impressions are always welcome as usual.

I have read this a few years back, I think about the time when the movie version was released. This for me is one of the very rare things when the movie truly captured the spirit of the novel. This was a very memorable read for me, I used to discuss this one with an online Japanese student. There are many themes in this masterpiece worth discussing about (THE SECRET, the thin line between innocence and guilt, forgiveness & redemption, how love detach a person from the world, how history shapes a person, etc), and the way it was written is in itself beautifully melancholic, which what lingers in you after you read it.

I read this book in a couple of days. I liked the style - melancholic, sparse yet striking all the right notes.

The book makes some valid points worth exploring and meditating about - the levels of guilt, awareness and involvement in the crimes one may not be directly implied with. Not Hanna's case though, but the case of the whole generations out there who were right there doing nothing or deliberately choosing not to see the atrocities being done at that time. The same is applicable in any period of time rife with racism and hate crimes - the ability of so called innocent bystanders pretending nothing wrong happens in their surroundings. I guess this goes together with mob mentality in which people think the actions done when surrounded with the likeminded people are excusable. Not quite the same, because the mob actually does something horrid, while the others in the background do nothing. The result is the same though. The guilt is on all of them, and the justice is difficult to dispense rightly.

In Hanna's case, I think being illiterate doesn't absolve her of her crimes, nor is quite plausible handicap. She would have been exceedingly stupid not to find any way to learn to write and read at any time of her life, and she didn't appear stupid in the novel, only stubborn and emotionless. Besides, illiteracy doesn't mean one is morally corrupt too. Many people in the times before education was widely available were illiterate yet I doubt they had any difficulty with discerning right from wrong. It may limit their capacity to stand for themselves, but their conscience should know what's the right thing to do, or at least try to avoid wrong ones. (I know I am being preachy here, and probably I am too harsh a judge of character).

The book was written beautifully, but I am not sure it goes quite deeply into the subject. We have never actually heard her side of the story. For all I read, to me it appears she willingly participated in all the atrocities. Nothing suggested she wanted to do differently. She willingly entered the SS forces (like she couldn't find any other job, illiterate or not), and she willingly followed all the orders to the point of bizarre perfection. What was there to pity? I was puzzled by her determination to hide her illiteracy. Maybe her IQ was sub par after all.

I watched the movie fairly recently, and I agree with Lerry above, it was great adaptation, capturing perfectly the essence of the book. I am not willing to watch it again, though. Just like the book, it was not an easy watch.

I saw the movie several years ago and really appreciated it. It's hard to say I "liked" it, given the subject matter. But I thought the acting was excellent. I will give the book I try. It's on hold now for me.