Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.65 AVERAGE
3.65 AVERAGE
Totally mesmerizing story. I thought that the build in the first part of the story was great and that it was leading to something much more dramatic. Not that being on trial for war crimes is not dramatic--I guess for me parts of it just fell flat. I thought the different concepts of guilt through the book was very interesting though. I've never even considered what it would have been like grow up in postwar Germany. Definitely a book to make you think and one I would highly recommend to anyone.
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I knew nothing about this book before rearding it and the first 80 pages were nice but a little boring and I couldn’t imagine what the rest would look like and then it sudeenly got much more interesting
I had no idea this novel delt with NS crimes. I liked the way it adresses crime in general, just very very interesting overall
challenging
emotional
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
This is a terrible novel. It pretends to ask important questions. The author seems to think that merely invoking the Holocaust is enough to make a novel important and serious. Not so. Not if your characters are ciphers and their thoughts and dialogue banal.
Somewhere, I saw that someone had compared this novel to the work of Gunter Grass. Whatever one may think of Grass's provocations, Schlink is nowhere near the thinker or writer that Grass is.
I don't know; perhaps in the German, the novel has some means of creating layers that the translator has been unable to render in English.
Somewhere, I saw that someone had compared this novel to the work of Gunter Grass. Whatever one may think of Grass's provocations, Schlink is nowhere near the thinker or writer that Grass is.
I don't know; perhaps in the German, the novel has some means of creating layers that the translator has been unable to render in English.
I finished this book a few days ago and am still struggling with what to say about it. Honestly it deserves more than 3 stars, but I don't want to give it anymore. The book pulls at your morality, with it's "what ifs" and never comes back to answer the questions it asks. To be fair I should research Bernhard Schlink. Maybe he's a philosopher which would explain why I finished the book feeling drained, but that's what some books are supposed to do.