A review by ashley_elizabeth
The Reader by Bernhard Schlink

challenging dark emotional reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

I actually saw the film years ago and hadn't really been that motivated to read the book until my book club set a topic of "literary fiction", and here we are! I actually enjoyed the book about the same as the film (from what I remember of it). It reminded me, in some ways, of Ian McEwan's "Atonement" in that it ends with a bit of a "twist" or little surprise to the story that gives it a different taste that it would have otherwise. I also have never really read anything set in Germany just after WWII and found the secondary storyline of young people coming to grips with how their parents/community/country behaved during the Third Reich particularly interesting.
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