I suppose it was inevitable they attempt to translate this masterpiece into a movie. But this book is so deeply philosophical and meaningful on paper, I'm weary of the visual.
When I was in London over a decade ago, I was staying with a friend who has a lovely library full of first editions behind rows of glass. On a side table next to a chair I found this book and started reading it straight away. It moved me from the first page. It was so compelling, so haunting, so unique, I vividly recall having to put it down every ten pages or so, just to ponder what I thought I'd read, only to have it morph into another meaning before I could continue reading 'The Reader'. I've revisited that book and the same sensations occurred over a decade later.
It's simple, yet profound, a book about the Jewish Holocaust, yet mostly metaphorical. It's written by a German judge named Bernhard Schlink. An attempt to explore a piece of dark history through language, a way to explain away a time and people that proves practically impossible to articulate, especially those people and that history. Then and now.
He cleverly uses chiasmus, a literary style to accentuate meaning. This book is so beautifully written, I'm anxious to see the movie, but wondering how one can possibly translate such meaning and language onto the screen.
