Reviews with content warning for Adult/minor relationship - Der Vorleser

I liked how clearly the emotional consequences within the main character, created by the events of his teenage years, rippled through his entire life until it was made abundantly clear just how fucked up that one short chapter in his life made him.

He became the reader, it defined him to the point where there was no space for anyone or anything else in his life. Clearly the author knows how to tell, and not show, since not much was explicitly said, but I still got that sense of emptiness and barrenness within the soul of someone who had been taken advantage of, yet couldn't recognise it as such because they were robbed of the tools needed for that recognition in the first place.

We only get the sense that something is wrong through the reactions of others, though we know it must be. And though there's no character development, everything is in stasis, it's crystallized into a state of absolutely no movement, we still get a clear picture of the character and who he is, all that he lacks, and his desire to hold onto the only thing that gave him meaning. Without accepting that he can define himself by something else.

There is a question asked by another character at the end of the book. They ask him whether he knows if what was done to him was done with awareness, and he cannot answer. He doesn't know if the one thing he devoted his entire emotional life to was just a side-story in another person's life. And we don't know either.

I liked that complexity, and the resigned way it ends. There's no other way for it to be - our main character doesn't know how to feel anything else.

Content Warnings

willowbiblio's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

"I also remember that the smallest gesture of affection would bring a lump to my throat, whether it was directed at me or at someone else. Sometimes all it took was a scene in a movie. This juxtaposition of callousness and extreme sensitivity seemed suspicious even to me."
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This was such a complex novel, not because of the plot but because of the weight of the ethical questions it explored. There was first the exploitation and grooming of a minor, then the physical and emotional abuse at Hanna's hands, then the abandonment and emotional disregulation after she left, the guilt and shame Michael grappled with during her trial and in life after, and the odd relationship that continued while she was in prison.

I didn't, and couldn't, feel sympathy for Hanna despite the clear literary push to do so. She chose to be both a sexual predator and mass murdered, and this was all explained away because she was afraid of her illiteracy. This was a struggle for me because I had to accept that Michael the character deserved his own journey, but Schlink the author sort of exploited the reader and Michael.

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philippmk's review against another edition

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dark informative mysterious sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

max_power's review against another edition

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dark reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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