The Reader
by Bernhard Schlink
Translated by Carol Brown Janeway
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publication Dates: Original German Copyright 1995
English Translation Copyright 1997
Number of Pages: 218
Geographical Setting: Post-WWII Germany (West Germany)
Time Period: 1958 and 1964 (the ending in 1983)
Appeal Terms: Reflective, Sobering, Thought-provoking
Synopsis: *This synopsis contains spoilers. Michael, a 15-year-old young man growing up in post-WWII West Germany, becomes ill on his way home one day and is helped by Hanna Schmitz, a 36-year old tram conductor. After missing school for three months due to his illness, he decides to visit Hanna and thank her for her help. What starts as an innocent gesture of gratitude, quickly develops into an impassioned, illicit sexual affair that lasts for the rest of the summer. That summer he finds himself enthralled with Hanna, who is both overwhelmingly intimate and puzzlingly secretive. The summer ends as quickly as it began with her sudden and inexplicable disappearance from his life. The next time he sees her, six years later, he is a law student and she is involved with the trial he happens to be studying: a trial involving war crimes of Nazis during WWII. As Michael wrestles with his own personal turmoil and tries to comprehend how someone he knows so personally could commit such atrocities, we, the readers, are lead through an emotional parable of Vergangenheitsbewältigung, the German word meaning "the struggle to come to terms with the past."
Setting: As with all stories in the historical fiction genre, the setting is the most important aspect of the story: without the historical framework, the story wouldn't exist. This book is no exception--it takes place in post-WWII Germany as the country is struggling with its own identity and how to move forward from the Nazi regime. Especially challenging is coming to grips with the horrific actions that people just like them, often family members, neighbors, and friends, were willing to commit. More specifically, this story is tied to the Nazi trials that happened in real life, and the emotions and complexity involved with these trials.
Tone: The tone of this story is incredibly serious, reflective, and contemplative. The rollercoaster of emotions that Michael experiences are palpably felt by the reader; the lens in which he views the world is continuously shattered and rebuilt as he wrestles with the atrocities committed by people who are not much different than himself.
Storyline: The storyline of this book is intricately intertwined with the development of Michael's character as the readers follow his experiences, and more importantly, how he reacts to those experiences. Because of this, anyone who reads this book comes away with not only a new intellectual perspective of this historical time period, but an emotional connection to the complexity and struggles that every day humans were going through in post-WWII Germany.
Characterization: The reader follows the perspective of Michael as he grows and develops into an adult, and is able to clearly see the effect that his teenage entanglement with Hanna had on him. The character of Michael and the story that is told feels so real to the reader and so fitting in the timeline of history, that many people often inquire whether this is an autobiographical memoir instead of fiction. Bernhard Schlink did grow up during this time period, was about the same age as Michael was in the story, and also studied law, but the story is most certainly a work of fiction, although his personal insights clearly add extra layers to the story.
*Personal side note: I was initially concerned that this book would not technically be considered historical fiction due to the fact that the author was alive during the time period about which he wrote, since Sarricks defines the genre as such. However, I have come to the conclusion that it still fits because 1) Schlink didn't write this book until 1995, almost 30 years after that time in history and 2) the integral role that the real world history has on the story: it could not be told in any other historical context.
Pacing: Unlike most historical fiction, this book is relatively short at only 218 pages. The pacing does not feel hurried or rushed because of this, however, and the reader is able to become fully-immersed in the story quite easily due to the depth and vividness of the text.
Language: The language that Schlink uses is incredibly descriptive and rich, yet succinct and not overbearing. It is pertinent at this point to commend the translating abilities of Carol Brown Janeway, who originally translated this story from German in 1997. It seems hard to imagine much got lost in translation.
Read-Alikes: (Summaries from Novelist)
American Romantic by Ward Just - While on duty as a young foreign service officer in Indochina in the 1960s, Harry Sanders briefly meets a young German woman who changes the course of his life.
The Little Red Chairs by Edna O'Brien - Disgraced when her village's mysterious healer, who she loved and begged to help her have a child, is arrested as a war criminal, Fidelma flees to England to take migrant work, only to confront her nemesis at a tribunal in The Hague.
An American Marriage by Tayari Jones - When her new husband is arrested and imprisoned for a crime she knows he did not commit, a rising artist takes comfort in a longtime friendship, only to encounter unexpected challenges in resuming her life when her husband's sentence is suddenly overturned.
Beatrice and Virgil by Yann Martel - In a tale exploring the limitations of language in understanding and describing the Holocaust, a novelist and a taxidermist collaborate on a play about a donkey and a howler monkey who have survived a genocide.
