The Reader

As you can see, I'm not referring to myself, but rather to a book. Although lately, it would be pretty easy to dub me as "the reader"--this is just the tip of the iceberg on books I need to blog about. I'll try to space them out so as not to bore the non-readers.

I had one overwhelming reaction after reading this book--I want to see the movie. This may surprise those of you who know me; after being incredibly disappointed in the movie for The Time Traveler's Wife, I vowed never again to watch a movie after first falling in love with the book. And that reason is precisely why I want to see the movie for this book--I didn't fall in love with it. I really enjoyed it (as is usually the case with war-based literature), but there was just something that I didn't love. Additionally, a large part of the book is narrative (at times it seemed like chapters went past without any action happening, just inward reflection on the part of the narrator), and I'm really curious to see how they are able to convey the same emotion and depth of thought and "self-revleations" in a cinematic setting.

The book itself is about a young boy in Germany who has a chance encounter with a lady in his neighborhood, and this encounter develops into something a little deeper than a friendship. Things end somewhat unexpectedly, and many years later, as a law student, the grown-up boy is sitting in on a trial for war criminals and sees a familiar face among the defendants. Hurt and bewildered, he becomes obsessed with the trial, and it continues to follow him even after the verdict is read.

This is probably not a good book for someone (like my dear husband) who tends to fall into the cracks on books with lots of narration and description. Darrell very much prefers action-heavy books (I currently have him reading one of my favorite Vietnam war novels, Chickenhawk), and I know that he would probably not make it through this book. Truthfully, there were times even for me that things started to get a little dry, but the alternative was helping my sister with a rummage sale, so I powered through the book. And really, I'm glad I did, because it was really just the middle where things got a little overly narrative and descriptive; the beginning and end were pretty engaging. And who knows--maybe I'll end up enjoying the movie more than the book for once!