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A review by cam_smith7
The Reader by Bernhard Schlink
5.0
I read this in 2 sittings, and I think the crux of the novel comes down to: “There’s no need to talk, because the truth of what one says lies in what one does.” This wasn’t embedded in one of the more philosophical or legal contemplative sections, but just dropped at the end of a chapter. It seems to be the narrator’s verdict, even if the rest of the book explored complex moral questions without always giving exact answers. (Hanna’s final verdict is also demonstrated in her actions, withheld here due to spoilers.)
“The tectonic layers of our lives rest so tightly one on top of the other that we always come up against earlier events in later ones, not as a matter that has been duly formed and pushed aside, but absolutely present and alive. I understand this. Nevertheless, I sometimes find it hard to bear. Maybe I did write our story to be free of it, even if I never can be.”
Really interesting look at collective guilt, the shame carried by societies (and how this is passed on to future generations), and the ways in which relationships contain and spread complicity. I saw that some thought this book slid into relativism, but I think that the first line quoted above is what ties the story together, ultimately cementing guilt amidst complex circumstances. I disagree that illiteracy was used to excuse any crimes related to the Holocaust; I think it was used as a mechanism to demonstrate the ways in which people with initial morally neutral reasons end up in situations where they then commit heinous crimes. Despite wishing to backtrack to remove themselves from the convoluted destinations, they are then stuck with what they have sown. I think understanding this process is not the same as condoning, and it is an important process to understand. All in all, a good discussion book and one that I will remember for a long time.
“The tectonic layers of our lives rest so tightly one on top of the other that we always come up against earlier events in later ones, not as a matter that has been duly formed and pushed aside, but absolutely present and alive. I understand this. Nevertheless, I sometimes find it hard to bear. Maybe I did write our story to be free of it, even if I never can be.”
Really interesting look at collective guilt, the shame carried by societies (and how this is passed on to future generations), and the ways in which relationships contain and spread complicity. I saw that some thought this book slid into relativism, but I think that the first line quoted above is what ties the story together, ultimately cementing guilt amidst complex circumstances. I disagree that illiteracy was used to excuse any crimes related to the Holocaust; I think it was used as a mechanism to demonstrate the ways in which people with initial morally neutral reasons end up in situations where they then commit heinous crimes. Despite wishing to backtrack to remove themselves from the convoluted destinations, they are then stuck with what they have sown. I think understanding this process is not the same as condoning, and it is an important process to understand. All in all, a good discussion book and one that I will remember for a long time.