Sunday, March 22, 2009

Just finished reading #13

Bernhard Schlink - Homecoming

Mmmm, not sure what I think of this book. I read 'The Reader' a few years ago and loved it but this was less lovable. However, I was intrigued by the context. It is based around the genre of 'homecoming' novels produced in Germany at the end of WWII whereby the soldiers of the German army who were just abandoned wherever they were at the fall of the war made their way home to find a range of scenarios faced them. This in itself is really interesting. We don't get a lot of stories about what the Germans faced at the end of the war.
The theme of homecoming pops up all over the place and the lead character Peter, has one or two of his own to deal with. He is basically in search of his long lost father who was a Nazi and basically abandoned him and his mother at some point shortly after the war. Peter heads to New York to find him and get to know him hoping to discover some truth and perhaps put some of his own demons to rest. This is not a spoiler, the blurb does all that. Anyway, I didn't love this book but I did find it interesting. Schlink is a good writer so that is a bonus for sure.

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