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julieb43, February 25, 2011 (view all comments by julieb43)
This novel took a while to get into; Schlink describes the main character's early life and builds up the story until he's a middle-aged adult searching for answers about his long-lost father. Peter's search for answers is interesting and thought-provoking. His mother has told him his father died during wartime, but she has her reasons for doing so.

The characters aren't all that likable, but I admired the novel for the questions and issues it raised.

Peter's personal odyssey (Homer's Odyssey is referenced throughout) raises difficult questions, such as whether the average German could be implicated in Hitler's insanities or whether he/she was just trying to survive; how one could be deceived by someone seemingly brilliant; whether there is guilt attached to liking someone charming but deceptively evil...

It was difficult to read the texts that Peter discovers as they contained chilling rationalizations about WWII atrocities, yet we get an idea of the twisted and manipulative mind of the texts' author.

This is a good follow-up to read after The Reader as it continues the theme of German guilt and rationalization.

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geoffrey wichert, August 8, 2009 (view all comments by geoffrey wichert)
As was the case with The Reader, Schlink wants nothing less than to globally change the way we think about the world around us. I usually assume that the main thrust of what I'm told is true, though the petty details may not be. But what if the details are not petty? What if despite the witness's story, your father didn't die when you were a child? What if he lived a brilliant life and never came back to check on you, never showed any curiosity about you? Would than change everything, or nothing, or some things? Would it change our instinct, our passion, to trust the world beneath our feet?

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Product Details

ISBN:

9780375725579

Author:

Schlink, Bernhard

Publisher:

Vintage Books USA

Translator:

Heim, Michael Henry

Subject:

Literary

Subject:

Soldiers -- Germany.

Subject:

Children of disappeared persons

Subject:

Literature-A to Z

Copyright:

2009

Edition Description:

Trade paper

Series:

Vintage International

Publication Date:

20090131

Binding:

TRADE PAPER

Grade Level:

General/trade

Language:

English

Pages:

272

Dimensions:

8.00x5.46x.59 in. .46 lbs.