El lector, Bernhard Schlink- reseña

While I was reading "El infinito en un junco" by Irene Vallejo, the author mentioned that her first contact with literature was through reading aloud. I quote a phrase I liked: "When someone reads to you, they desire your pleasure; it's an act of love and a ceasefire amid the combatants of life." Later, the author makes a reference to Bernhard Schlink's book, where a teenager reads stories to his lover, including works by Homer, Schiller, Goethe, Tolstoy, and Dickens, to name a few. I remembered that a few years ago, I saw a snippet of the movie "The Reader," based on this book, so I decided to pause my reading of "El infinito en un junco" and start reading "The Reader." The latter was published in 1995 and consists of 216 pages; it's a very easy book to read, so much so that it captivates you immediately.

Summary

"The Reader" is set between the end of World War I and World War II in Germany. It tells the story of Michael Berg, a high school student who suddenly falls ill on his way home from school. A woman, Hanna, comes to his aid, cleans him up, and directs him home. That same day, he is diagnosed with hepatitis and takes several weeks to recover and return to school.

Michael is an average student, and due to his many absences, he is likely to fail the year. Nevertheless, he is grateful to Hanna, so he decides to visit her and bring her flowers. During this visit, he discovers that the woman who helped him is named Hanna and works on the tram. Michael becomes captivated by Hanna, and he starts visiting her daily.

Their relationship becomes romantic, and they spend time together. During their meetings after school, Hanna asks Michael to read the books he is studying for school to her. He starts reading timidly but eventually becomes a skilled narrator, thanks to her. He develops a love for reading and manages to save his school year.

One day, Hanna decides to leave without notice, and Michael doesn't see her again until years later in court, where she is being accused of Holocaust crimes. Since then, Michael can't see a book without remembering Hanna and the moments they shared.

Comments

The book is divided into three parts. In the first part, it narrates the love story shared by Michael Berg and Hanna before she disappeared without a trace. In the second part, Michael is a law student attending a trial as an observer where five female SS guards who cared for inmates in a small concentration camp are accused. It is alleged that, near the end of World War II, they escaped with the inmates and locked them in a village church. A bomb struck the church, causing it to catch fire. However, the caregivers decided not to open the doors, letting all the women and girls inside perish.

Exploiting Hanna's doubts and her reaction before the jury, the fellow guards claim that Hanna was the leader of the group and the one who came up with the idea of not opening the doors. Faced with all the facts, Michael can't comprehend how the woman he knew years ago ended up as an SS guard in a concentration camp. So, he decides to uncover what happened to Hanna after they parted ways and to understand what motivated her to get involved in that situation.

In the third part, after Hanna is sentenced to years in prison, Michael is a graduate and a father of a daughter. Over all those years, he has not been able to forget Hanna. Therefore, he starts recording audiocassettes of book readings and sends them to her in prison, continuing to read to Hanna through audio for at least 18 years.

Despite the wartime events in the story, this novel was touching for me, especially because of Michael's actions towards Hanna, both in his treatment of her as a young man and as the adult who accompanied her in prison through his readings.