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sp00kyx's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
*Read in German.
I watched the movie a few months ago and really liked it, but felt dissatisfied by the message. I felt as though the director didn’t really know himself what he wanted to convey, and what they wanted the message to be. It left me confused and frustrated. But the book answered all of those questions and I loved the way Bernard Schlink showed the thoughts and personalities of the two main characters. Hanna was actually a person, with a story and a real personality (positive and negative) and not just this evil person that needs to be condemned like in the movie. The message was also so much clearer in the book and it really made me think about the way we (as a country) handled and handle this topic. The writing was great, straight to the point but still immersive and the ending deeply upset me.
I watched the movie a few months ago and really liked it, but felt dissatisfied by the message. I felt as though the director didn’t really know himself what he wanted to convey, and what they wanted the message to be. It left me confused and frustrated. But the book answered all of those questions and I loved the way Bernard Schlink showed the thoughts and personalities of the two main characters. Hanna was actually a person, with a story and a real personality (positive and negative) and not just this evil person that needs to be condemned like in the movie. The message was also so much clearer in the book and it really made me think about the way we (as a country) handled and handle this topic. The writing was great, straight to the point but still immersive and the ending deeply upset me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Violence, War, Toxic relationship, Antisemitism, and Suicide
Moderate: Sexual content
Minor: Vomit and Physical abuse
sal_the_cat's review against another edition
1.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Pedophilia, Grief, Suicide, Gaslighting, Child abuse, and Antisemitism
norcana's review against another edition
dark
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Sexual content, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, and Genocide
Moderate: Vomit, Suicide, and Suicide attempt
audreybrt7's review against another edition
reflective
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship
taleofabibliophile's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Adult/minor relationship, War, Genocide, Suicide, Pedophilia, Death, Vomit, and Sexual content
Moderate: Violence and Fire/Fire injury
radfordmanor's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
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
3.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Murder, Genocide, Suicide, and Toxic relationship
14silja's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Deportation, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Domestic abuse, Grief, Emotional abuse, and Adult/minor relationship
samanthaleereads's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Suicide, Genocide, and Antisemitism
Moderate: War
sympetal's review against another edition
dark
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
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.
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
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship
Minor: Suicide
The main topic of this book is the relationship between a fifteen year old boy and a thirty-something year old woman. It is handled without romanticism, and it is very clear how negatively it affects the life of the main character, but it is written in detail nonetheless, which might disturb some readers.willowbiblio's review against another edition
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."
------------------
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.
------------------
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship and Murder
Moderate: War and Antisemitism