As intrigued as I was with Part One
of The Reader is how uninterested as
I was reading Part Two. Discovering that Hanna was a Nazi made my stomach curl.
I find it interesting how my perception of Hanna until finding out this detail
was completely different. Before, I sort of overlooked her pedophilic
relationship with Michael Berg yet after, I cannot stand her (for other
reasons). I recognize that the story’s plot is strong, but I do not enjoy
reading about the sympathy shown for these Nazi women. I noticed that Michael
Berg, himself, struggled with an internal conflict between condemning and
sympathizing with Hanna. I was aggravated by his comment about how sitting in
the courtroom felt like he was a prisoner at a camp in the war. I think Schlink
crosses the line and actually offends me with this comment.
Truthfully, I thought that Part Two
really dragged on. Perhaps I felt this way because I was not happy with the
tone and perspective associated with its subject matter. It was an interesting,
yet slightly obvious, twist to learn that Hanna was illiterate. Accounting that
she made prisoners read to her before sending them to their deaths was insane.
She truly is psychotic and should be locked up for the rest of her life. It was
crazy to see the extent to which Hanna would go so as to not reveal her secret
to the members of the courtroom by admitting to writing an incriminating letter
when she originally claimed to not have, when asked to write and compare
handwritings.
I could not imagine what it would
feel like to find out after the fact that a former lover of mine was a
criminal, guilty of war crimes or even something lesser. I have mixed feelings
about reading on.
P.S. too much work in one week!!
Ryan
Pearson
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