The Reader

This novel first appeared on my radar when my friend Allen sent me an email saying he couldn't put it down. Relegated to the bottom of my behemoth inbox, I found it again after the holidays only to discover that this was indeed the same book that was recently produced for a motion picture audience, and staring Kate Winslet (Insert obsessive comment).

Typically I loathe the book to movie translation which tends to lose the detail that accompanies a richly drawn linguistic image. A few exceptions are the Harry Potter books (which perhaps actually might be better than the books minus the whole act of reading part) and Bridget Jones' Diary. But I found myself wanting to both see and read the interpretations of The Reader.

Schlink's plot is decidedly simple; the telling of the story is from the point of view of a German lawyer, who does not absolve the Germans of their holocaust but rather acknowledges it pointedly as if he too tries to understand the purpose of the actions. The language, which often determines the quality of a book, at least for me, hovers above the page touching down lightly with profundity now and then. It is a short book and although I raced through it during my evening metro rides, I couldn't help but feel it moved at a solid pace.

If I have issues with the book they are in the narration--both past and present at once. The loss of the years when Hannah is, we'll say "unavailable, are also a loss for the reader as her uncertainty, her quick anger are fascinating to unravel. If its goal is to have one of those "you'll wish you could read about this but I'm only going to let you infer" moments, it didn't work. I wanted to understand more about Hannah or the narrator. I wanted to have some part of their interaction embrace continuity beyond the initial rush. But the reasons for the narrator and Hannah's first encounter aren't ones which can be explained, it just happened. The war...just happened. Aging...just happened.

It will not be a stretch to bring Kate Winslet to this role...she IS Hannah. The narrator, however, will prove a more difficult feat for Ralph Finnes--the narrator is almost empty in his recollection and offers for explanation--he serves nearly as a bucket and less as a substantial well.

The ending has a slight twist, but it's quiet and necessary.

2009 was declared the year of the book and I decided to adjust my own involvement accordingly by joining a book club (BC). My membership in book club was rather pointedly insisted upon by me to my friend, Maggie, a longtime membership holder. The other two members of our club are Leah and Amy and we are all relationship-ed. Meaning our talks can meander to (mice and) men, school (JMU Alums represent), good food and naturally literature. In our Inaugural meeting we determined our list of books for the year, leaving December with an interesting project: choose a book of your own liking and share it with the BC.

So that you're in the loop, I've included our list of books below. Some were re-introduced to the 2009 list because they had not completed the full reading list in 2008, while others were suggested by various members of the club.

There is a solidarity to be found in communal reading, along with a distinct hesitation. When you find that others profess the same reaction to a characterization or a lingering image, there is comfort that the world you have created while reading the book remains intact and even validated. However, sharing your emotional response to book out loud or finding a dissimilar experience among your peers can be...well, disconcerting.

This promises to be a year of good novels that will undoubtedly reawaken my passion for the art of reading.

1. The Reader - Bernhard Schlink
2. The Second Virago Book of Fairy Tales - Angela Carter
3. The Unbearable Lightness of Being - Milan Kundera
4. To the Lighthouse - Virginia Woolfe
5. The Satanic Verses - Salman Rushdie
6. Free Choice
7. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close - Jonathan Safran Foer
8. Love in the Time of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
9. I Love You Beth Cooper - Larry Doyle
10. A Moveable Feast - Ernest Hemingway
11. Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
12. Free Choice