The Reader
The Reader By Bernhard Schlink 218 pages, Novel Translated from German to English by Carol Brown Janeway Fluid storytelling should be the foremost trait of a novel and this is what the author delivers in The Reader. I have seen the movie a long time ago and I must say that one should also read the book. While the development of the story is as entertaining as the movie offers, the latter lacks the subcontextual meaning of the story that the book tries to present to us readers. Watching entertains but reading entertains and makes readers ponder. How do we come to terms with our shame? This book explores many shades of shame from the personal level, the shame of having a sexual relationship with a grown-up and keeping it from everyone, and only giving that relationship a "niche" rather than a "place" in his life on the part of Michael (Michael and Hanna had a sexual relationship when the former was only 15 years old while the latter was 36 years old), and t...