“The Reader” slightly reminds me of “The Sense of an Ending” –both narrators are telling their stories through flashbacks in ways that allude to the change in their characters since adolescence, discussing how their perceptions of the events have altered. In Michael’s case, he now views his entire relationship with Hanna as bittersweet. While I did think the age gap between the two was quite large, the part that truly bothered me was their actual relationship. It was not built on equality or trust at all. In fact, not once did Hanna ever call Michael by his actual name –‘kid’ was literally all he was to her. She constantly treated him like an inferior and Michael, thinking he was being the stronger one by apologizing, accepted it. There were never any compromises, with Michael doing all the giving and Hanna all the taking. This is the reason why the relationship did not end well; it seemed that Michael was getting to the point of learning how to be confident and hold his own in the relationship, effectively loosening the control Hanna had over him.
The book was quite realistic as well; instances where the two booked a hotel as a son and mother rather than lovers added to the idea that both were conscious of how society would judge them. Something else I did find interesting was also how intensely Hanna wanted to listen to Michael read, and how importantly she valued education; added in with her quick suspicions and desire to keep private, this seems to represent something mysterious about her childhood or past.
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