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Bernhard Schlink
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Book
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Publisher | Phoenix | ||
ISBN | 978-075382329 | ||
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Reviewer
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Linda
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Synopsis
For 15-year-old Michael Berg, a chance meeting with an older woman leads to far more than he ever imagined. The woman in question is Hanna, and before long they embark on a passionate, clandestine love affair which leaves Michael both euphoric and confused. For Hanna is not all she seems. Years later, as a law student observing a trial in Germany, Michael is shocked to realize that the person in the dock is Hanna. The woman he had loved is a criminal. Much about her behaviour during the trial does not make sense. But then suddenly, and terribly, it does - Hanna is not only obliged to answer for a horrible crime, she is also desperately concealing an even deeper secret.
Review
Fifteen year old schoolboy Michael Berg is recovering from illness and while convalescing goes for a walk which changes his life. He meets Hanna, much older than himself and starts a clandestine affair. He is infatuated with her and his life revolves around her. However, she suddenly disappears and they meet again some years later, he as a law student and she as one of a group of defendants in a war crimes trial. He follows the trial and it transpires that as a camp guard she and her colleagues could have saved the lives of prisoners in a burning church but did not act. We ask ourselves why the prisoners were not saved - were the guards living in fear themselves? There are many questions to be answered. Michael is still drawn towards her and keeps in contact with Hanna but their relationship has now changed. In addition, she has lived her life with a secret that she is ashamed to divulge.
This is an interesting book, well written and translated and is very much to the point. I would like to read more from this author.
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