|
India Press Store - The Reader
|
List Price: $23.35
Our Price: $15.00
Your Save: $ 8.35 ( 36% )
Availability:
Manufacturer: Tandem
|
Average Customer Rating:   
|
|
Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 833.914
EAN: 9780613174671
ISBN: 0613174674
Label: Tandem
Manufacturer: Tandem
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 218
Publication Date: 1999-10
Publisher: Tandem
Reading Level: Young Adult
Studio: Tandem
|
|
|
|
|
|
Spotlight customer reviews:
|
Customer Rating:
Summary: Relationships and responsibility
Comment: When young Michael Berg meets Hanna, she is more than twice his age, but in spite of this they soon become involved in what many would call an inappropriate love affair. Their's is an unusual relationship, with Berg reading to Hanna each day before making love. While Hanna is clearly keeping secrets, Berg willing overlooks them. Eventually, Berg develops other friendships and feels the need to move on in his life, and one day Hanna simply vanishes.
When Berg next sees Hanna, she is on trial for war crimes she allegedly committed as a Nazi during the Second World War. Berg watches her trial unfold and puzzles over Hanna's behavior. Eventually, he solves the riddle of Hanna's secrets, but can't save her from a life sentence in prison.
The ending is a bit of a surprise, and raises powerful questions of moral responsibility. Berg loved Hanna, in his way, but distanced himself from her. In the end, he's left wondering how his actions impacted Hanna and her life. This was a quick read, especially for a translation, with prose that was rich with vivid imagery. A wonderful book that will leave the reader with much to ponder.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Read in '98, Saw the Movie yesterday & Read the book again
Comment: Read the book in '98 and liked it enough to keep it on the shelf to read again.
Yesterday I saw the movie and felt there were too many unanswered questions and some important portrayals completely left out. It seems that the movie deals more with child abuse and the inability to feel.
The boy was from an emotionless family and he was attracted to an emotionless older woman.
Don't the psychology books tell us that we are attracted to the people who are most like our mothers and/or fathers who have impressed upon us for the majority our youth.
My feeling about the book is we as a society in the present or in the past choose to overlook the morality of government whether it be Germany or the US. The government is there for control, to make people rich, to control our beliefs and keep us dependent on the government. They want to be mother and father and for us believe in them to make the right decisions. Then we don't have to take responsibility or think or make the decisions which requires time and energy.
When people disagree with government decisions, they can easily be outcasts or called "un-American" as we saw happen 7 years ago. People who didn't believe that the Iraqi war was morally right were labeled anti American. Have we forgotten that???? Many Right-winged Republican have forgotten and the only excuses they seem to come up with are" Bush was advised poorly and Hillary voted for the war"....not that Bush lied along with his leadership to have the war they had prepared for and yes, Hillary did vote for the war in fear that she would be labeled anti-American.
So back to the book.... many soldiers who are sent to war probably to do not have good reading skills nor reading comprehension skills, does this excuse them from killing? Do we honor our soldiers who kill? Do our churches ask us to honor the soldiers who kill and send letters that they are doing a good job and we support them? So are we not as quilty of supporting killing?
Was Hanna part of the wheel of the government that asks no questions but just does the job??
Do our own young men and women end up with tortured lives from the wheel of government which sends them to war to kill?
I thought the book to be thought provoking!
I thought the movie missed the mark!
This is a book to be read more than once to produce thought and questions.
The first time I read the book, it did not produce the questions it does now.
Isn't this good literature when it provokes thought, reaction, emotions and discussion???
What is Right?
Is it what our government leaders tell us or what we feel inside? Are we able to feel inside if we only accept what the government tells us?
If this book were not about the Holocaust, how would it be evaluated?
Would it be evaluated the same for the sexual abuse of a 15 year old boy in Iraq or Afghanistan?
THE READER is a wonderful book to read and think about!
Customer Rating:
Summary: The Reader
Comment: Who are the people you meet on the journey through life and how much do you know about them? Here we see a snapshot, a true and lovely snapshot from The Reader's point of view. Then in a shock, the Reader looks into that he never saw. The writing is heavy in the first section and quick and shocking as the Reader takes off the rose colored glasses. We are all human and some of us more human than others.
Customer Rating:
Summary: I wanted to like this book.
Comment: I wanted to like this novel, but it was just ok. It was very superficial and dialogue driven. The perceptions were lots of words strung together to similate emotion, but it was false emotion. I didn't care for either character, Hanna or Michael, which is a mistake for this kind of novel. The main character is a statuatory rapist, for goodness sake. The later recollections are wordy and tortuous attempts at feeling that don't work, the twist, was not a twist at all (I figured it out earlier than the author wanted me to) and the ending was merciful.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Have insomnia? Then this is the story for youl.
Comment: I was hoping this would be a great story (being that the movie is causing all sorts of hype and it won a number of awards). I had a lot of trouble finishing this book. The characters never fully develop. The writing is sparse and poor. The main character asks questions throughout that are meant to be thought-provoking but detract from the story and make you feel like you're sitting through a seminar with a boring professor. There are plenty of good books about the Holocaust--and this isn't one of them. Don't waste your money OR your time.
|
|
|
Editorial Reviews:
|
Hailed for its coiled eroticism and the moral claims it makes upon the reader, this mesmerizing novel is a story of love and secrets, horror and compassion, unfolding against the haunted landscape of postwar Germany.
When he falls ill on his way home from school, fifteen-year-old Michael Berg is rescued by Hanna, a woman twice his age. In time she becomes his lover—then she inexplicably disappears. When Michael next sees her, he is a young law student, and she is on trial for a hideous crime. As he watches her refuse to defend her innocence, Michael gradually realizes that Hanna may be guarding a secret she considers more shameful than murder.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
