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Liked It “At first I thought this was strictly about a teenagers intimate relationship with an older woman--like "The Graduate", but there is so much more to it than that. I also enjoy courtroom drama and the unexpected ending. I look forward to seeing the movie!” see full review » see other reviews » |
Didn’t Like It “This book was horribly disjointed. It felt like it was written in a hurry with out much thought as to streamlining the plot. Probably one of the worst books I have ever read. Life is too short to read bad books.” see full review » see other reviews » |
Newest Reviews
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“Not sure about this one. The plot was very complex... translated from German... and the reader had an accent that, to my prejudiced ear sounded pretentious. Part of the plot was the main character's search for the ending of a homecoming story he read during the war, but didn't read the ending. In this search, he was driven to collect homecoming stories. Another theme was good vs. evil. Since it takes place in part during Nazi Germany, there was much fodder for this.
Deb P wrote this review Monday, June 29 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
If any of you read this, let me know.”“This book was horribly disjointed. It felt like it was written in a hurry with out much thought as to streamlining the plot. Probably one of the worst books I have ever read. Life is too short to read bad books.”
Alison F wrote this review Monday, April 20 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“At first I thought this was strictly about a teenagers intimate relationship with an older woman--like "The Graduate", but there is so much more to it than that. I also enjoy courtroom drama and the unexpected ending. I look forward to seeing the movie!”
Vicki K wrote this review Wednesday, April 15 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“The first two-thirds of this book were pretty good. We start with young Peter describing his childhood visits to his grandparents in Switzerland. His grandparents edit a series of light novels, one of which is the story of Carl, a German soldier, and his struggle to return home from the Russian front after WWII. Unfortunately, Peter has only the manuscript of the book, and the ending is missing. What happens when Carl returns home and finds his wife with another man and two small daughters? Does he stay and fight for his wife, or does he turn and leave? Peter is unable to find the book on his grandparent's shelves and forgets about it until he finds the manuscript again as an adult. Then he begins the quest to find the book so as to learn its ending.
mmz wrote this review Wednesday, November 26 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
The story of Peter's search for the book and it's author is quite interesting. Unfortunately, about two-thirds of the way through, Peter makes a startling discovery about his father, who he had thought died in WWII. The rest of the book is about Peter's search for the truth about his father, not just what happened to him but why he disappeared. This story is much less compelling, and even bizarre in places. Schlink tenuously connects this search to Peter's interest in the Carl story, but neither the connection nor the individual stories are resolved.”
“Reading this book for my book club. I'll write more after I read it.”
prattman wrote this review Saturday, May 24 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“I liked the beginning of the book a lot more than the middle and the end. I wish someone would read this and talk to me about it. I'm not sure how I felt about it in the end.”
Suzanne F wrote this review Monday, May 19 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Very philosphical and thought provoking. Probably why I got lost a couple of times during the reading. But still..justice, life, why do we act and how should we act? The mystery of the father and the son's search made it very interesting.”
Tamela R wrote this review Friday, May 9 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“I had enjoyed Schlink's "The Reader" several years ago and found this on the shelf at my library. Unfortunately, the book just doesn't work. I couldn't buy into all the coincidences surrounding the protagonist's search for his father and the ending of the novel he was obsessed with. Then, the concluding section was totally unlike the rest of the book, turning into a thriller all of a sudden. Nice bits did include the references to "The Odyssey."”
DrRenee wrote this review Tuesday, April 22 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“I kept reading this, hoping that eventually I would like it as much as I liked "The Reader", his previous book, but had to give up after I reached the middle of the book and still could not capture the thread of the story.”
Natalie a wrote this review Saturday, March 22 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
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