part 3

            Shockingly, the relationship between Hanna and Michael had much more of an impact on Michael’s life than I had expected. At first, I though Michael and Hanna were just having fun, but he truly was impacted by her affection. I guess maybe his young age did affect the way he perceived love, so I guess that makes Hanna even more of a predator than I had imagined. Even much later in his life, Michael is still so emotionally damaged by Hanna that he can’t seem to find an emotional connection even with his wife, Gertrud. Maybe Hanna taught Michael to concentrate only on the sexual aspect of relationships. He seems to only want sex from Gertrud and his partners after her. Initially, I did not believe Michael was genuinely in love with Hanna, but I guess if he is this affected, it must have been real.

            Michael seems to be an intelligent man, so I don’t know why he can’t see through Hanna’s malicious intentions. Not only was she careless towards his feelings, but she was also violent in the Holocaust with prisoners.

            One of the most unpredictable parts of the entire novel is when Hanna hangs herself on the day she is released from prison. Michael had done her many favors such as, getting her an apartment and job, so that when she is released she can transition nicely into society. But as usual, Hanna did a selfish deed, and killed herself.  

            Overall, I thought the book was mediocre. The writing itself was easy to comprehend; however, I really didn’t find that much depth in the material.   

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I thought this novel was quite strange. It was easy to read, and somewhat entertaining at time, but I did not really understand it. I thought there were many parts of the novel that were quite sad. The story of the mother and daughter is something I can still not get over. I thought the most sad part of the novel was when Hanna would admit to something she did not do (because it was not physically possible for her to do) instead of admitting that she did not know how to read and write. Being illiterate was far worse to her than prison for eighteen years. I do not understand why Michael felt numb throughout the entire trial, yet sends her recordings off different books while she is in prison. She was then able to earn to read, and read about the concentration camps. I do not understand this because she knew how they were, being that she was a guard. It really took me by surprise that she committed suicide. Poor Michael wanted to cry, but did not want to show that he was so sad. I believe that Hanna knew that nothing would be the same. Nothing would be the same in their relationship, or in the outside world for that matter. She knew this; I mean she had to have known to kill herself. Or it could have been for the shame, although she did not do anything. She admitted to something there was no way that she could have achieved it.  I cannot believe that the novel ended this way, although I really had no expectations for anything else. Overall, it was quite interesting and although it was weird, and uncomfortable at the beginning, I am glad that we were given the chance to read the novel.

Post Three (Gioia Kelleher)

A lot of The Read is an observation and an analysis on how we deal with our past and how we let it affect and change us in the present. This idea more than anything is seen in Michael, whose entire life after Hanna is ruled by his expectance with her. He says that he goes “numb” after his relationship with Hanna. He distances himself from the people he knew so he could avoid being reminded of his experience and he distances from those later in his life because of his fear of again experiencing what he experienced with Hanna. Through out the novel Michael compares the trauma he experienced with Hanna to what those in the concentration camps during Hitler’s reign and World War Two experienced (which I found absolutely ridiculous). The Reader is also about how our perception our past or really our memories change over time. It is hard for most of us to not let our memories become clouded by what Michael describes as our “imaginations” and what I interpreted as our perception. This observation reminded me of many of the arguments made in The Sense of an Ending, but Bernhard Schlink I think builds upon this idea more than Julian Barnes. Schlink writes that our collective memories of a part of time in history, such as the Holocaust, “flash on the mind again and again, until they freeze into clichés” (144). I have always felt that the word “cliché” has a negative connotation because they never actually represent reality and that they instead represent the way we want to perceive reality. I believe that Schlink during Hanna’s trial observes how the lack of information and understanding of what really was occurring in concentration camps and the activities surrounding them got in the way of a just and accurate trail. I feel that this happens a lot when debating the past.

Post 3; The End

          I honestly didn’t really enjoy this novel. I thought it was really strange. I know, it was a different time, and that is not what the book was mainly about but I could not get over the age difference between Hanna and Micheal when they began their relationship. I think this was because of how deeply the relationship affected him. When the relationship was over he went numb because he was too young to have the adult relationship that he had with Hannah. He mistook lust for love and when it was over his heart was scared and he was cold. Once she comes back into his life, he is still unsure of how to act and though he acts cold he still sends her recordings of him reading. Some people felt bad for her but honestly I don’t. she was a guard, so on some level she knew what she was doing in the holocaust. She also knew what she was doing with the young boy who was recovering from an illness and whom she treated as a child while also sleeping with him. She also took the coward’s way out of life and committed suicide because of the guilt she felt for actions she committed instead of facing her crimes and fulfilling her sentence.

I Like It More Than Crime And Punishment (Rachael Marks)

         Since we were given the group lecture points for the story I assumed from the beginning that Hanna was a Nazi (and that she would be having some kinky sex). The book did not exactly meet my expectations when I was presented with this knowledge. I did not expect for it to be so down to Earth and so heart wrenching, but then it is a book with a Holacaust theme and those always have to be like that.
         As I have said before, this book has had a bad effect on me (thus making it very challenging to read). It really just never strayed from giving me those bad feelings. Not only the fact that it made me uncomfortable, there was the element of suicide and the harsh features of the Holacaust. It is hard to call this book a "pleasant read." But I still hold to the argument that this is not a bad book. It is just a difficult one. It remained to be beautifully written and I can definitely find it would be invigerating for someone with more strength than me.
         I am glad that I got to read it, even though it was a big challenge. Even though it exposed me to thoughts and emotions I did not want, I find it inspiring to be reading a book that can do that to me. If a book physically pains you, is it right to call it a bad book? I do not think so. In my opinion it takes skill to make your readers feel. So even though this took a load of effort to get through I will still say the book selection this year was supurb (except for Crime and Punishment, I just hate that bullshit).

part 3

            This part of the book actually made me feel really sad. I felt bad for both Hanna and Michael. It made me happy that Hanna was trying to teach herself how to read in the prison and it really surprised me that she was able to teach her self to read so well that she could actually read real novels. It was really nice of Michael to continue to send her audiotapes, but it upset me that he would not respond to Hanna’s letters. This is the reason I felt bad for Hanna. She taught herself how to read and write and Michael did not even acknowledge this to her. I understand that Michael had already moved on with his life and he had a daughter and was divorced, but I wish that he had answered her.

            I honestly could not believe that she committed suicide on the day that she was released! This was supposed to be the day that Hanna and Michael reunited and she just killed herself?? I felt so bad for Michael! The woman that he had been in love with his whole life killed herself before they even got to have their reunion. But, I understand why she did it. She could not live with the guilt. It was nice of Hanna to leave all her money to the survivor, but I completely understood why the woman did not want to take the money.

            I thought it was really nice how Michael donated the money to the charity for illiterate Jews. That was probably the nicest thing that Michael could have done in this situation. I do wish that Michael and Hanna had ended up together in the end, but I see what the authors intentions were and it really worked. I really really really enjoyed this novel. 

Part 3 (Alexia Barrios)

Once I got past the oddness of the sexual relationship between Hanna and Michael, I find the book to be very interesting and I enjoyed it. Though we did not have as much time as I maybe would have liked to read it, I still found myself able to enjoy it. I enjoyed the author’s language as it allowed for an easy read but at the same time the content was intriguing as Schlink was able to portray the complexity of the emotional attachments between Hanna and Michael.

            As odd as the relationship between Hanna and Michael was, do to the large age difference, I believe it was one that was somewhat necessary for Michael. In a sense, this relationship, though maybe a bit too premature, allowed him to blossom in a man as before he was struggling with his pride due to his illness. At the moment this growth and self-esteem boost was necessary. The only negative aspect of the relationship is the emotional damage that it left him when the relationship came to an end. He was left numb and emotionally detached, solely due to his fear of being hurt once again and that he lost his first love, which explains his behavior when he gets her out of prison. An aspect of the story that I found to be very interesting was the role reversal that took place. It seemed to me that Michael had now taken a more authoritative figure in the novel and was the emotionally devoid one, while near the end Hanna was more vulnerable and was disappointed when she learned that he did not have an emotional connection with her anymore. It was an interesting turn of events.

            Like others, I was sad to learn of Hanna’s death since she was such a huge part of Michael’s life. One can even say that he would not be the person he is not if she hadn't come along so she was an essential figure in his life and her death must have had a huge impact on him. Overall, as I said, I enjoyed the book as it was different and entertaining.