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3.65 AVERAGE
3.65 AVERAGE
The grand ideas and themes were thought provoking but the writing wasn't for me. Maybe it was the translation? It felt jumbled and rushed with too little transitionary context.
I just read this book for the first time after a few years of owning it. Once i started, i couldnt put it down. i thought the "shameful secret" Hana had was pretty obvious, so in terms of shock, twists, suspenseful turns, it was disappointing. But the story telling was beautiful. I loved how Michael Berg described reading--the way it transports you, the way it both occupies your mind and envelopes your senses. The way he describes his love for Hana is beautiful--the "snapshots" he tries to capture is wonderful. The prose itself (even in translation) is eloquent in its simplicity. The plot itself may have been obvious, but the relationship complex & sweet.
To me, this was a stunning and thought-provoking mediation on morality and the conscious of a nation. Schlink achieves with fascinating effectiveness to make the reader complicit in a moral dilemma, the likes of which we do not seem to like to ponder much nowadays.
I did not expect for this novel to engage me quite like it did and for that experience, I am grateful.
I did not expect for this novel to engage me quite like it did and for that experience, I am grateful.
Este es uno de esos libros en los que me es un poco complejo decidir la calificación. A mi parecer es una historia estupenda. Llena de significado y con mucha información para analizar. No quiero explayarme para no hacer spoiler. Hay muchas "cosas" que no están bien, al menos no para los ojos de nuestro tiempo, ¿serán acaso reflejo de lo que pasa en la segunda mitad del libro? ¿O es la forma de mostrar el día a día "humanizar" a un personaje que, a vista de muchos, podría resultar reprobable y monstruoso? Abierta al debate y a compartir ideas.
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Oof. Okay, so... yes, this was a book alright. Somehow, there is so much to unpack here despite the very short and speedy format of this book. Where to begin?
First, this was a great story, held my interest, and had so many unique components to it that you dont typically see in books involving this historical atrocity. I hated the main characters, but somehow, I absolutely had to keep reading.
There was truly no character development at all, which is okay in theory because not everybody changes. However, I definitely wanted to see some development and was left unsatisfied in that regard.
My summary (spoilers ahead):
This is a story about a teenage boy and a much older pedophile woman who begins sleeping with him all while controlling and manipulating him at every turn, but at least she cared about his education? She always calls him kid, even after coitus. Gross.
Plot twist! She turns out to be a nazi and he finds out by seeing her on trial (it's all very on brand for her character). Her job was a prison guard, and she owned up to being responsible for selecting Jews to die. Despite this, the boy grows into an adult and continues his obsession with her and sends her tapes in prison.
He works diligently and arranges a job and housing for when she gets released. After everything he did for her, she repays him by committing suicide just hours before her release from prison and puts the burden of dealing with her surviving daughter on him, too.
The way that the daughter recognizes and highlights the unhealthy nature of their relationship to him made that whole aspect of the story redeemable. While I obviously hate nazis, hitler, and everything to do with the holocaust, it was unique and refreshing to see a story that's based around one of the soldiers and the negative impact they had on the world. It's definitely a perspective from which most would avoid writing.
I'd recommend this book. It was a very quick read!
First, this was a great story, held my interest, and had so many unique components to it that you dont typically see in books involving this historical atrocity. I hated the main characters, but somehow, I absolutely had to keep reading.
There was truly no character development at all, which is okay in theory because not everybody changes. However, I definitely wanted to see some development and was left unsatisfied in that regard.
My summary (spoilers ahead):
This is a story about a teenage boy and a much older pedophile woman who begins sleeping with him all while controlling and manipulating him at every turn, but at least she cared about his education? She always calls him kid, even after coitus. Gross.
Plot twist! She turns out to be a nazi and he finds out by seeing her on trial (it's all very on brand for her character). Her job was a prison guard, and she owned up to being responsible for selecting Jews to die. Despite this, the boy grows into an adult and continues his obsession with her and sends her tapes in prison.
He works diligently and arranges a job and housing for when she gets released. After everything he did for her, she repays him by committing suicide just hours before her release from prison and puts the burden of dealing with her surviving daughter on him, too.
The way that the daughter recognizes and highlights the unhealthy nature of their relationship to him made that whole aspect of the story redeemable. While I obviously hate nazis, hitler, and everything to do with the holocaust, it was unique and refreshing to see a story that's based around one of the soldiers and the negative impact they had on the world. It's definitely a perspective from which most would avoid writing.
I'd recommend this book. It was a very quick read!
Excellent book.
I had of course seen the movie, but that didnt do much for me. When I started the audiobook version, I did it mostly because I read that it was a bit.... "sensual".
It wasen´t really, but that was not bad at all, because the promise of "sensuality" brought me a very good story.
Is it about illiteracy? About lies and deception? about nazism?
It´s all up to the reader (and forgive the pun here) For me it was a story about lives, intervening lives... and well told.
And on the subject of well told by Campell Scott. Campell Scott does not "perform" the stories like A C Bray does. He does not tell a story like John Slattery (. He does not "Roleplay perform" it like Ray Porter, (and I love all of them)
But Scott has this slightly subdued direct way of talking to you, not AT you, but TO you. If he was telling me the story face to face he would look me straight in the eyes while telling the story. Not since the old movie performances of Anthony Andrews, have I felt a man´s presence talk to me on a level that could talk my pants off anytime..., sigh! :)
Listen to "For whom the bell knolls" or "Cell" or "The Shining" and see (or hear) for yourself. Scott is riveting. Bravo.
I had of course seen the movie, but that didnt do much for me. When I started the audiobook version, I did it mostly because I read that it was a bit.... "sensual".
It wasen´t really, but that was not bad at all, because the promise of "sensuality" brought me a very good story.
Is it about illiteracy? About lies and deception? about nazism?
It´s all up to the reader (and forgive the pun here) For me it was a story about lives, intervening lives... and well told.
And on the subject of well told by Campell Scott. Campell Scott does not "perform" the stories like A C Bray does. He does not tell a story like John Slattery (. He does not "Roleplay perform" it like Ray Porter, (and I love all of them)
But Scott has this slightly subdued direct way of talking to you, not AT you, but TO you. If he was telling me the story face to face he would look me straight in the eyes while telling the story. Not since the old movie performances of Anthony Andrews, have I felt a man´s presence talk to me on a level that could talk my pants off anytime..., sigh! :)
Listen to "For whom the bell knolls" or "Cell" or "The Shining" and see (or hear) for yourself. Scott is riveting. Bravo.
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes