March 18, 2010

The Los Angeles Times review on the front cover of the book calls this "A formally beautiful, disturbing and finally morally devastating novel. From the first page, [The Reader] ensnares both heart and mind." All except for it being "beautiful" the reviewer is right.

I read most of the book this morning. It definitely ensnares the heart and mind. But it's captivating because the heart and mind are so deeply troubled.

Nowhere in Schlink's book is there a hero or hope. The tragedy of lost innocence permeates the entire novel and remains unrealized by the victim, Michael Berg. His life has become irrevocably damaged as a result. A marriage to another woman fails and Michael becomes alienated from his daughter. He becomes emotionless and unfeeling, unable to maintain relationships with women, unable to love or care for others.

By the end of the novel, I have no hope for Michael because he never faces what was done to him or the affect it has on his life. He accepts it like he seems to accept everything. Blankly.

"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 matter that has been fully 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."

I recommend this book, with hesitation, because it will depress you. But the understanding Schlink brings to the human heart and what pain can do to our lives is incredible. A captivating read, but a sobering one too.