The Reader by Bernhard Schlink

'I saw Hannu again in the courtroom.

This was not the first trial related to concentration camps, nor was it the largest."

The Reader is a novel by Bernhard Schlink.

Its author is Bernhard Schlink.

In this short novel, Schlink masterfully formulates fundamental questions concerning society and the individual, such as understanding the past, education, collective and personal guilt and responsibility, and values and human dignity.

What should you do when you discover that someone you thought you knew — and loved — is a criminal?

What do you do with a past that you thought you had understood and put behind you?

What do you do when your mind condemns, but your heart forgives the unforgivable?

What should you do with the truth when you are human?

The author gently but insistently presents us with problems on which the life and development of society and the individual depend.

'It is a philosophical problem, although philosophy does not deal with children. It has ceded them to pedagogy, which has not been beneficial. Philosophy has forgotten about children. Forgotten them forever, not just for a while...' he smiled at me.

This is a wedge driven into the foundation of the modern education system.

Knowledge or values? Complex, questioning thinking or simple, unambiguous knowledge? Rights and freedom, or imposed benefits?

'Even if it later turns out that it was done for their own good.'

We are not talking about what is good for them, but about their dignity and personal freedom. ..."

Through a love story, the author reveals the tragedy of an entire people and the irresolvable conflict between generations and the brutal clash of values.

‘The executioner does not carry out orders. He does his job without any hatred for those he executes and without any sense of revenge. He kills them not because they stand in his way or threaten him. He is completely indifferent to them. So indifferent that he doesn't care whether he kills them or not.”

In a direct and ruthless manner, the author formulates questions that are more relevant today than ever before.

Where does silent indifference and reasoned conformity begin?

Where is the line that we allow ourselves to cross, but cannot?

Questions, questions, questions...