This account of a doomed love affair between an emotionally disengaged young boy and an older, uneducated woman as recalled by the boy's older self, attracted extraordinary reviews across Europe. I still haven't figured out why. The narrative is extremely stilted. Not all the blame can be placed on the translation; some of the fault must lie with the flat, formal writing. The narrator is cold and remote, though he seems to condemn his philosopher father's lack of interest in ordinary life. The love affair is brief, and soon the boy is spending more time with his peers. Years pass; now a law student, the narrator sits in on a trial of former concentration camp guards. Among the accused is Hanna, his former lover the victim of her prematurely disclosed "sec ret". Schlink's predictable melodrama fails on many levels, and is another example of a book lent significance only by its subject matter.
