Journal Entry 1 by wibba from Foxton, Cambridgeshire United Kingdom on Monday, February 15, 2010

For 15-year-old Michael Berg, a chance meeting with an older woman leads to far more than he ever imagined. The woman in question is Hanna, and before long they embark on a passionate, clandestine love affair which leaves Michael both euphoric and confused. For Hanna is not all she seems.

Years later, as a law student observing a trial in Germany, Michael is shocked to realize that the person in the dock is Hanna. The woman he had loved is a criminal. Much about her behaviour during the trial does not make sense. But then suddenly, and terribly, it does - Hanna is not only obliged to answer for a horrible crime, she is also desperately concealing an even deeper secret.

different cover-now a film 

Journal Entry 2 by wibba from Foxton, Cambridgeshire United Kingdom on Monday, March 01, 2010

Posted 1/3/10 

Journal Entry 3 by bestfriends from - Ergens in de provincie, Gelderland Netherlands on Friday, March 05, 2010

In my mailbox today. I heard very good things about both the book and the movie. Looking forward to reading this.
Thanks wibba for fulfilling a wish. If I can't pay it back, I will pay it forward :-) 

Journal Entry 4 by bestfriends from - Ergens in de provincie, Gelderland Netherlands on Sunday, March 28, 2010

A short, but very moving story that will stay with me for a long time.
I would love to see the movie too one day.

Journal Entry 5 by bestfriends at Jalhay, Liège / Luik Belgium on Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Released 3 yrs ago (6/16/2010 UTC) at Jalhay, Liège / Luik Belgium

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Journal Entry 6 by bookguide at Wijchen, Gelderland Netherlands on Saturday, June 19, 2010

Thank you for sending this book. I've been wanting to read it for ages. I will put it in the expat club book boxes (ForeignExchange) when I have read it. 

Journal Entry 7 by bookguide at Wijchen, Gelderland Netherlands on Thursday, February 17, 2011

I read this book in no time at all, and whereas the love affair in the first part of the book did not require me to think very deeply, the philosophical questions raised during the trial and subsequently certainly did. In the briefest of ways, Bernhard Schlink raises questions about human behaviour, personal integrity, dignity, guilt and betrayal. Using the story of Hanna and Michael and his changing attitude to her, he examines the issues faced by the German people after the atrocities of the Holocaust, especially the generation which was born during or after the war, whose parents were in some way complicit. Hanna asks the question in court, "What would you have done?"

"Sometimes I think that dealing with the Nazi past was not the reason for the generational conflict that drove the student movement, but merely the form it took. Parental expectations, from which every generation must free itself, were nullified by the fact that these parents had failed to measure up during the Third Reich, or after it had ended..... Whatever validity the concept of collective guilt may or may not have, morally or legally - for my generation of students it was a lived reality..... Pointing at the guilty parties did not free us from shame, but at least it overcame the suffering we went through on account of it. It converted the passive suffering of shame into energy, activity, aggression. And coming to grips with our parents 'guilt took a great deal of energy."

The only thing that slightly spoilt the book for me was the fact that I already knew what Hanna's secret was. If I hadn't known, she would have been more enigmatic and her behaviour during the trial more mysterious, until Michael realises the truth. 

Journal Entry 8 by bookguide at Wijchen, Gelderland Netherlands on Thursday, February 17, 2011

Released 2 yrs ago (2/17/2011 UTC) at Wijchen, Gelderland Netherlands

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Added to the ICON expat club book boxes (ForeignExchange).

This book has been released as part of the following BookCrossing challenges:
- The Ultimate Challenge - read and release books, with extra points for a monthly theme
- Reduce Mount TBR (To Be Read) - read and release books on the TBR list since before June 2010. My reading goal is 75 books.
- Pages Read Challenge - read a self-set target number of pages in 2011. My goal is 25,000.
- 2011 Movie Books Challenge
- Set It Yourself Challenge
- 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die Challenge 

Journal Entry 9 by ForeignExchange at Wijchen, Gelderland Netherlands on Thursday, February 17, 2011

Added to the ICON expat club book boxes. 

Journal Entry 10 by bookguide at OBCZ-Westerpark in Amsterdam, Noord-Holland Netherlands on Friday, May 13, 2011

Released 2 yrs ago (5/14/2011 UTC) at OBCZ-Westerpark in Amsterdam, Noord-Holland Netherlands

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

Dit boek is losgelaten voor de volgende BookCrossing challenges:
- The Ultimate Challenge - boeken lezen en loslaten, met bonuspunten voor een maandelijkse thema.
- Reduce Mount TBR (To Be Read) - lezen en loslaten van TBR boeken die al voor juni 2010 op de plank stonden. Mijn leesdoel is 75 boeken.
- Pages Read Challenge - een zelfgekozen aantal bladzijden lezen in 2011. Mijn doel is 25.000 blz.
- 2011 Movie Books Challenge - boeken die ook verfilmd zijn, of het boek van de film.
- Set It Yourself Challenge
- 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die Challenge

Journal Entry 11 by bookguide at Wijchen, Gelderland Netherlands on Monday, May 16, 2011

Envisaging DiscoveryLover taking this book on a world tour, or at the very least, one of the Dutch Bookcrossers taking it under their wing, I released it at the meeting yesterday. Seeing as nobody took the bait, I took it back home with me, hoping to get one of my friends to take pity on it. 

Journal Entry 12 by bookguide at Unknown in Brugge, West-Vlaanderen / Flandre Occidentale Belgium on Friday, July 15, 2011

Released 1 yr ago (7/16/2011 UTC) at Unknown in Brugge, West-Vlaanderen / Flandre Occidentale Belgium

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

Journal Entry 13 by ApoloniaX at Brugge, West-Vlaanderen / Flandre Occidentale Belgium on Saturday, July 16, 2011

This book should have been released at our release walk in Brugge today - but it seems it didn't want to leave me... just found it in my bag. I already know it, so I'm going to release it in Gent tomorrow. 

Journal Entry 14 by ApoloniaX at Centrum in Gent, Oost-Vlaanderen / Flandre Orientale Belgium on Saturday, July 16, 2011

Released 1 yr ago (7/17/2011 UTC) at Centrum in Gent, Oost-Vlaanderen / Flandre Orientale Belgium

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

Journal Entry 15 by quinoq at Gent, Oost-Vlaanderen / Flandre Orientale Belgium on Monday, April 02, 2012

Hi, that's my first day in here. First of all I want to say sorry for my English and for the delay because I found this book last summer in Gent. I've just finished the reading of it. Now I'm in my country, Spain, so if anyone from Spain is interested in it please tell me. If nobody request I'm planning to leave it in a place near Alicante.