|
|
Suzanne
Rating:
 
Review
Everyone has secrets, and this book really made me think about that. It starts with a secret affair between German high school student Michael, and an “older woman”, Hanna. The affair is a happy one, as told from Michael’s point of view, albeit a bit odd and with a rather large imbalance of power, as affairs between people of different generations can be. Hanna reveals little of herself to her young lover. The affair ends, the story jumps forward in time, and their paths cross again later under much different circumstances. I don’t want to give anything away, so I’ll just say this book generated a ton of debate at my book club about the affair, judging other people, compassion, the concept of morality, and how people sometimes turn off their emotions in order to deal with life. Sometimes what makes a person most ashamed isn’t what you’d think. There’s more than one twist to this story, and it made me wonder how well you can ever really know another person. It’s a good, short read, written in a sparse style.
Best Line:
“There’s no need to talk, because the truth of what one says lies in what one does.”
Kim
Rating:
Review
This is another book I read for a book group, and liked how it was beautifully written in such a matter-of-fact manner. It begins in Germany after the war, and the narrator is 15-year-old Michael Berg. Michael meets Hanna, an older woman, when she comes to his aid after he becomes sick on his way home from school, and he later becomes her lover. A few years pass, and when Michael sees Hanna again, he’s a college law student, and she’s the defendant in a murder trial. I wouldn’t say this is a romantic book, but it is definitely erotic at times. Overall, I thought this was a sad story, with so many things left unsaid and undone or done badly by the main characters. I don’t usually read fiction to get bummed out (I can do that with some non-fiction books) but I liked this story because it introduced me to a different way of looking at love and loss.
Best Line:
“A life made up of advances that were actually frantic retreats and victories that were concealed defeats.”
|
|
