Written by Bernhard Schlink
Read by Campbell Scott
Format: MP3
Bitrate: Variable
Unabridged

THE READER by Bernhard Schlink – 4hrs 16min – Campbell Scott & Carol Janeway

Hailed for its coiled eroticism and the moral claims it makes upon the reader, this mesmerizing novel is a story of love and secrets, horror and compassion, unfolding against the haunted landscape of postwar Germany.

When he falls ill on his way home from school, fifteen-year-old Michael Berg is rescued by Hanna, a woman twice his age. In time she becomes his lover--then she inexplicably disappears. When Michael next sees her, he is a young law student, and she is on trial for a hideous crime. As he watches her refuse to defend her innocence, Michael gradually realizes that Hanna may be guarding a secret she considers more shameful than murder.
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If the best books remain with us long after they have returned to the shelf, then THE READER can take a place among the greats. Campbell Scott, whose perfect pacing and gentle voice animate the simple, engrossing prose, performs this recording beautifully. Michael Berg is a teenager in post-WWII Europe when he meets Hanna, and the two of them begin an affair despite the significant difference in their ages. Years after the relationship ends, they meet again in the most haunting of ways, and the secrets that emerge raise questions about pride, forgiveness, and redemption. Scott's deft reading captures the story's complexity without lapsing into melodrama, and his eloquence with the spoken word complements Schlink's gentle touch with the written one. L.B.F. (c) AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine

uploaded 2/21/2014