About the Author

BERNHARD SCHLINK was born in Germany in 1944. A professor of law at the University of Berlin and a practicing judge, he is also the author of several prize-winning crime novels. He lives in Bonn and Berlin.

Reviews

AN OPRAH'S BOOK CLUB SELECTION

"A formally beautiful, disturbing and finally morally devastating novel." —Los Angeles Times

"Moving, suggestive and ultimately hopeful.... [The Reader] leaps national boundaries and speaks straight to the heart."—The New York Times Book Review

"Arresting, philosophically elegant, morally complex.... Mr. Schlink tells his story with marvelous directness and simplicity."—The New York Times

"Haunting.... What Schlink does best, what makes this novel most memorable, are the small moments of highly charged eroticism." —Francine Prose, Elle

When Michael Berg began attending the Nazi war trials as part of a college class, he never expected to find Hanna-an older woman who had seduced him when he was a teenager-as one of the accused. Berg is himself paralyzed by a moral dilemma that may free her, but also destroy her. Schlink uses this intriguing and complex relationship to engage issues of identity, ego and freedom of choice that are emphasized within the backdrop of the Holocaust. Campbell Scott proves an excellent narrator, with an eloquent and precise tone that gives a reflective distance to this first-person account, emphasizing the Berg's evolution as he grows from youth into adult. Scott's deliberate delivery also emphasizes Berg's emerging maturity; initially, his deliberateness hints at insecurity while later on, Scott's steady reading indicates experience. A Vintage paperback. (Dec.) Copyright 2009 Reed Business Information.

YA‘Michael Berg, 15, is on his way home from high school in post-World War II Germany when he becomes ill and is befriended by a woman who takes him home. When he recovers from hepatitis many weeks later, he dutifully takes the 40-year-old Hanna flowers in appreciation, and the two become lovers. The relationship, at first purely physical, deepens when Hanna takes an interest in the young man's education, insisting that he study hard and attend classes. Soon, meetings take on a more meaningful routine in which after lovemaking Michael reads aloud from the German classics. There are hints of Hanna's darker side: one inexplicable moment of violence over a minor misunderstanding, and the fact that the boy knows nothing of her life other than that she collects tickets on the streetcar. Content with their arrangement, Michael is only too willing to overlook Hanna's secrets. She leaves the city abruptly and mysteriously, and he does not see her again until, as a law student, he sits in on her case when she is being tried as a Nazi criminal. Only then does it become clear that Hanna is illiterate and her inability to read and her false pride have contributed to her crime and will affect her sentencing. The theme of good versus evil and the question of moral responsibility are eloquently presented in this spare coming-of-age story that's sure to inspire questions and passionate discussion.‘Jackie Gropman, Kings Park Library, Burke, VA

AN OPRAH'S BOOK CLUB SELECTION

"A formally beautiful, disturbing and finally morally devastating novel." -Los Angeles Times

"Moving, suggestive and ultimately hopeful.... [The Reader] leaps national boundaries and speaks straight to the heart."-The New York Times Book Review

"Arresting, philosophically elegant, morally complex.... Mr. Schlink tells his story with marvelous directness and simplicity."-The New York Times

"Haunting.... What Schlink does best, what makes this novel most memorable, are the small moments of highly charged eroticism." -Francine Prose, Elle