This is going to be one of the most difficult reviews I've had to write in quite a while. I had a lot of mixed feelings about The Reader. A summary, as spoiler-free as possible:
In postwar Germany, a sick teenage boy is rescued by an older stranger named Hanna. As he gets to know Hanna better, Michael becomes Hanna's lover. After some time, Hanna disappears without a trace...until Michael sees her again, several years later, in a courtroom being accused of committing horrifying crimes as a Nazi guard.
The first half of the book, about Michael and Hanna's love affair, was not my cup of tea. Frankly, I don't really find it interesting to read about a messed-up thirty-something woman indulging a horny fifteen-year-old boy's sexual impulses. I think part of the purpose of this part of the book was to make me care about the characters, particularly Hanna--or, at the very least, to be curious about them--but it only repulsed me. I didn't want to learn more about the characters. The only reason I pushed on was that my mom gave me this book, so I knew there had to be more to it than first met the eye.
