Reaction on Part 2

      Interestingly enough, the “creepy” and “disturbing” story that the audience reads in Part 1 changes dramatically in both tone and plot development. Throughout the first eighty pages, the reader is introduced to the two main characters of Michael and Hanna. We quickly learn about their weird relationship and the idea that Hanna is both a motherly and sexual character in Michael’s eyes. One of the most interesting ideas that adds to the “creepiness” of the relationship is that Michael reads to Hanna who is older than him and could easily read herself (at least we think). In Part 2, the novel completely changes directions and rather than focusing on only a sexual relationship, the text becomes both historical and informational. The introduction reveals that the next time Michael ever saw Hanna was in the court room. Later, we get details about the setting and find out that the trial regards an incident in a Nazi concentration camp where Hanna is one of the several women being prosecuted for allowing hundreds of Jewish women die. In addition, we later learn that Hanna is actually illiterate and is keeping it as a secret. Meanwhile, Michael has found his former lover’s weakness and considers exploiting it, but later decides not to after she is convicted for life. Although the novel may have started off a bit creepy or just weird all around, the reality is that the work is very well written and serves more than one purpose. Overall, the novel not only provides an entertaining story to keep the audience captivated, but it also offers an indirect historical background on Nazi Germany through the main characters. In my opinion, I admittedly felt within the first part that the novel really was going no where, but all of a sudden in the second part there is an increase in intensity as we quickly learn about Hanna’s past and the setting of the novel itself.