'The Reader' gradually grew on me, still I think involving the Holocaust was a mistake the author made, trying to render the book more readable. Sex sales but heartbreaking stories about the Second World War sell too, so I was left with the impression that Schlink picked these two over-exploited topics in order to reach out to a greater audience. Yet the most interesting aspect of the book to me was the reading - one person reading to another as the ultimate act of intimacy, as well as the bizzare and powerful paths of human bonds. Sadly, the latter got lost somewhere in between the poorly painted sexual encounters and the tedious process descriptions.
