The Reader was our February Group Read. Vote for March's on the sidebar.
From litlovers.com
1. At what point does the signficance of the book's title become clear to you? Who is "The Reader"? Are there others n the story with an equally compelling claim to this role?
2. When does the difference in social class between Hanna and Michael become most clear and painful? Why does Hanna feel uncomfortable staying overnight in Michael's house? Is Hanna angry about her lack of education?
3. In a novel, so suffused with guilt, how is Michael guilty? Does his narrative serve as a way of putting himself on trial? What verdict does he reach? Is he asking readers to examine the evidence he presents and condemn him or exonerate him? Or has he already condemened himself?
4. Do you agree with Michael's judgment that Hanna was sympathetic with the prisoners she chose to read to her, and that she wanted their final month of life to be bearable? Or do you see Hanna in a darker light; do the testimonies out her cruelty and sadism ring true?
5. How does the novel leave you feeling and thinking? Is it hopeful or ultimately despairing? If you have read other Holocaust literature, how does The Reader compare?
PLEASE tell us what you think. Respond in the comments. I can't wait to hear what everyone has to say. Also, if you have any questions, post them in the comments, so we can respond back!
Showing posts with label the reader. Show all posts
Showing posts with label the reader. Show all posts
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Friday, February 19, 2010
Review: The Reader
I am going to start this by telling you that I typed up the most amazing, probably my best review ever and then it got deleted. So not only am I not thrilled to type this again, it was SO good the first time and I am afraid now it will fall flat. You have been warned.
I really really liked this book. I felt that it brought up very good questions, not only through the text via Michael's thoughts but through your own ponderings as you read. What is personal responsibility? Does someones actions NOT speak for them? Things to ponder.
Michael Berg, 15, falls ill one day on his way home from school. An older woman (he later learns her name is Hanna) helps him clean himself up and gets him home. Three months later he comes to thank her and sees her naked leg as she is putting on stockings. Needless to say this begins an affair between Michael and the 30 something Hanna. It lasts for about 6 months and during it, you can see Hanna acting very oddly throughout it. Michael refers to a class at school as idiotic and she reams him so much about it that he buckles down and does the best work of his life. He also begins reading to her every time they get together. Their relationship continues until the day Hanna leaves town without word.
Fast forward a few years and Michael is studying to be a lawyer and has to spend time in a courtroom listening to a trial involving SS officers during the Holocaust. Hanna is one of them. Michael goes to court EVERY day. While watching the trial and Hanna's bad defense of herself he realizes that she is illiterate. He struggles with what to do with this information. Does he tell the judge what he knows or shall he let Hanna determine her own fate. He even consults his father who is a philosophy professor on the matter. Eventually, the trial ends and Hanna is sentenced to prison.
Michael marries and has a child but his whole life is colored by Hanna. His wife doesn't smell like Hanna and every thing she does he compares to her. They get divorced and Michael begins recording himself reading and sends it to Hanna in prison. In prison, Hanna learns to read sends him letters in return.
Michael's entire life is shaped by his relationship with Hanna. He struggles with his guilt over what he should with the knowledge he has of her illiteracy, he struggles with the guilt over what he should do for her and he compares every single woman in his life to her. For a first love, he most definitely did not get over her. I'm sure some could argue it was because the power she had over him because of her older age, but I think it was more of it being his first relationship with a woman and how many secrets and unknowns there was in that relationship. There really hadn't been closure and without that closure he couldn't lose off that part of his life.
I am a strong believer in personal responsibility. What you do has consequences. However, are we guilty of the sins of our fathers? If we stand silently while horrors occur are we guilty? How do we make amends if we are? I think that Hanna should have taken responsibility for her actions during the Holocaust and she did. In court, she admitted the things that she did and denied others. However, I don't think she deserved the sentence she got compared to the others. But that had a lot to do with her hiding the fact that she couldn't read or write. Also, I think Hanna was most definitely partly responsible for not saving the women in the church, BUT I also think that was a horrible position for her to be in. Yes, she willingly joined. But most would argue she did that to hide her secret. When she was there she had to do what she had to do to survive. Yes, she was kind and helped the weaker ones, but she still sent them off to death. But if she didn't, what would have happened to her? I think that if you are NOT in that exact same position at that exact same time you cannot judge her actions. At that church in the middle of the night when you know you are going to be left alone with more people than you, with little back up, what do you do? If you are told one thing by your superiors, whose orders do you follow? When you are in that thick, you are in a total different mentality.
I also believe that Hanna's obsession with cleanliness had a lot to do with her time in the SS. I think she may have been taken advantage of by men guards. Or that may be part of her early history since NOTHING is said of her family. I think Hanna had issues but I also don't think she was a monster. I think circumstances forced her. However, at any time you do have free will, and she decided keeping her secret was the most important thing.
I really really liked this book. I felt that it brought up very good questions, not only through the text via Michael's thoughts but through your own ponderings as you read. What is personal responsibility? Does someones actions NOT speak for them? Things to ponder.
Michael Berg, 15, falls ill one day on his way home from school. An older woman (he later learns her name is Hanna) helps him clean himself up and gets him home. Three months later he comes to thank her and sees her naked leg as she is putting on stockings. Needless to say this begins an affair between Michael and the 30 something Hanna. It lasts for about 6 months and during it, you can see Hanna acting very oddly throughout it. Michael refers to a class at school as idiotic and she reams him so much about it that he buckles down and does the best work of his life. He also begins reading to her every time they get together. Their relationship continues until the day Hanna leaves town without word.
Fast forward a few years and Michael is studying to be a lawyer and has to spend time in a courtroom listening to a trial involving SS officers during the Holocaust. Hanna is one of them. Michael goes to court EVERY day. While watching the trial and Hanna's bad defense of herself he realizes that she is illiterate. He struggles with what to do with this information. Does he tell the judge what he knows or shall he let Hanna determine her own fate. He even consults his father who is a philosophy professor on the matter. Eventually, the trial ends and Hanna is sentenced to prison.
"Her sense of self was worth more than the years in prison to her.
But has it was it really worth all that?" pg. 138
Michael marries and has a child but his whole life is colored by Hanna. His wife doesn't smell like Hanna and every thing she does he compares to her. They get divorced and Michael begins recording himself reading and sends it to Hanna in prison. In prison, Hanna learns to read sends him letters in return.
"My own diagnosis is that the numbness had to overwhelm my body before it
would let go of me, before I could let go of it." pg. 168
Michael's entire life is shaped by his relationship with Hanna. He struggles with his guilt over what he should with the knowledge he has of her illiteracy, he struggles with the guilt over what he should do for her and he compares every single woman in his life to her. For a first love, he most definitely did not get over her. I'm sure some could argue it was because the power she had over him because of her older age, but I think it was more of it being his first relationship with a woman and how many secrets and unknowns there was in that relationship. There really hadn't been closure and without that closure he couldn't lose off that part of his life.
I am a strong believer in personal responsibility. What you do has consequences. However, are we guilty of the sins of our fathers? If we stand silently while horrors occur are we guilty? How do we make amends if we are? I think that Hanna should have taken responsibility for her actions during the Holocaust and she did. In court, she admitted the things that she did and denied others. However, I don't think she deserved the sentence she got compared to the others. But that had a lot to do with her hiding the fact that she couldn't read or write. Also, I think Hanna was most definitely partly responsible for not saving the women in the church, BUT I also think that was a horrible position for her to be in. Yes, she willingly joined. But most would argue she did that to hide her secret. When she was there she had to do what she had to do to survive. Yes, she was kind and helped the weaker ones, but she still sent them off to death. But if she didn't, what would have happened to her? I think that if you are NOT in that exact same position at that exact same time you cannot judge her actions. At that church in the middle of the night when you know you are going to be left alone with more people than you, with little back up, what do you do? If you are told one thing by your superiors, whose orders do you follow? When you are in that thick, you are in a total different mentality.
I also believe that Hanna's obsession with cleanliness had a lot to do with her time in the SS. I think she may have been taken advantage of by men guards. Or that may be part of her early history since NOTHING is said of her family. I think Hanna had issues but I also don't think she was a monster. I think circumstances forced her. However, at any time you do have free will, and she decided keeping her secret was the most important thing.
"There's no need to talk, because the truth of what one says lies in what
one does." pg. 174
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
The Reader... some thoughts and ponderings..
Sunday, I sat down with the intention of starting The Reader so I could discuss it with those of you who have already finished and to write some questions. I finished it Sunday. Needless to say, after Part One was over, it picked up considerably and I really connected with Michael and a lot of what he was thinking / questioning. The older woman / younger boy relationship did not phase me. Probably, because it wasn't made into a big deal. Probably because he DID tell her he was 17. Which, still isn't great, but it's not like she actually knew he was 15. And he was a willing participant.
Anyway, I have SO much to say about this but I am going to try to space it out in a few posts instead of one huge long one.
Questions Michael posed..
What do you think?
(For those who don't know this is the part where he is looking back at his youth and wondering why it makes him sad.) In part I do agree with him, how things end do tend to color how we think of the situation as a whole. But sometimes that does our past and our actions a disservice. If you knew you would fail, would you still try? If you know that love can make you miserable and people die, do you not still love?? It is interesting, because I know that I have discolored memories of events / people because of the outcomes. What are your experiences?
I found this to be an interesting question. Because really, what is law? Is it what's already in place, or what was in place in the past? Is what is written as law, followed to the T? Or is there interpretations made case by case? To simply answer, I say that law is fluid and ever changing. That is the simple and uncomplicated version at least. What do you think?
I really enjoyed The Reader and the many, many questions it brought to light. Whether Michael is posing them or they naturally pop out as you are reading. What questions that Michael posed stood out to you?
Anyway, I have SO much to say about this but I am going to try to space it out in a few posts instead of one huge long one.
Questions Michael posed..
"Why does what was beautiful suddenly shatter in hindsight because it concealed
dark truths? Why does the memory of years of happy marriage turn to gall when
our partner is revealed to have had a lover all those years? Because, such a
situation makes it impossible to be happy? But we were happy!" pg. 37
What do you think?
(For those who don't know this is the part where he is looking back at his youth and wondering why it makes him sad.) In part I do agree with him, how things end do tend to color how we think of the situation as a whole. But sometimes that does our past and our actions a disservice. If you knew you would fail, would you still try? If you know that love can make you miserable and people die, do you not still love?? It is interesting, because I know that I have discolored memories of events / people because of the outcomes. What are your experiences?
"What is law? Is it what is on the books, or what is actually enacted and obeyed
in society? Or is law what must be enacted and obeyed whether or not it is on
the books, if things are to go right?" pg. 91
I found this to be an interesting question. Because really, what is law? Is it what's already in place, or what was in place in the past? Is what is written as law, followed to the T? Or is there interpretations made case by case? To simply answer, I say that law is fluid and ever changing. That is the simple and uncomplicated version at least. What do you think?
I really enjoyed The Reader and the many, many questions it brought to light. Whether Michael is posing them or they naturally pop out as you are reading. What questions that Michael posed stood out to you?
Saturday, January 30, 2010
February's Group Read is....
The Reader by Bernhard Schlink. It is a New York Times Notable Book, Los Angeles Times Book of the Year and a #1 National Bestseller.
Fun Fact: This book was originally written in German and then translated, somewhat like our book last month was also translated. Interesting way to start out 2010.. :)
The Back Cover: When young Michael Berg falls ll on his way home from school, he is rescued by Hanna, a woman twice his age. In time she becomes his lover, enthralling hi with her passion, but puzzling him with her odd silences. Then she disappears.
Michael next sees Hanna when she is on trail for a hideous crime, refusing to defend herself. As he watches, he begins to realize that Hanna may be guarding a secret she considers more shameful than murder.
Why I am excited to read this: Not only is it in my TBR pile, it also counts towards all of my reading challenges. And I really want to see the movie so I can finally do so after I finish this book. Plus, it has intrigued me for awhile.
Checkout theses reviews by other bloggers... here and here and the movie page here..
Who is planning on joining us??? Anyone who wants to is more than welcome. If you would like to guest blog about something regarding The Reader in the month of February contact me at pinkflipflops44 at gmail dot com ! HAPPY READING!
Fun Fact: This book was originally written in German and then translated, somewhat like our book last month was also translated. Interesting way to start out 2010.. :)
The Back Cover: When young Michael Berg falls ll on his way home from school, he is rescued by Hanna, a woman twice his age. In time she becomes his lover, enthralling hi with her passion, but puzzling him with her odd silences. Then she disappears.
Michael next sees Hanna when she is on trail for a hideous crime, refusing to defend herself. As he watches, he begins to realize that Hanna may be guarding a secret she considers more shameful than murder.
Why I am excited to read this: Not only is it in my TBR pile, it also counts towards all of my reading challenges. And I really want to see the movie so I can finally do so after I finish this book. Plus, it has intrigued me for awhile.
Checkout theses reviews by other bloggers... here and here and the movie page here..
Who is planning on joining us??? Anyone who wants to is more than welcome. If you would like to guest blog about something regarding The Reader in the month of February contact me at pinkflipflops44 at gmail dot com ! HAPPY READING!
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