La Circoncision

by Bernhard Schlink

96 pages, Pocket Book

Published May 15, 2003

About the author

Bernhard Schlink is a German lawyer, academic, and novelist. He is best known for his novel The Reader, which was first published in 1995 and became an international bestseller. He won the 2014 Park Kyong-ni Prize.

Reviews

[Mélie Nasr · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had really loved The Reader. So when I saw this one at the bookshop, I picked it up without thinking.

The pitch is interesting: how can a young American Jewish woman and a young German man live out their love story 50 years after the Holocaust?

But it seems like Schlink is more interested in staging debates than actually creating characters. Of course, what they say is interesting, but in that case, a smart essay would have been more appropriate. I was hoping for fiction. This is not good fiction.

Also, I wonder if the translation isn't a problem. The sentences don't flow. It's hard to read, even though it's very small.

[Kat Laurier · Rating 5 out of 5]

Je suis tellement d'accord avec la phrase suivante: ''Est-ce que finalement l’on ne supporte que ses semblables ? Naturellement, on se fait aux différences, et sans doute ne pourrait-on vivre sans elles. Mais ne doivent-elles pas rester dans certaines limites''.

Ou celle la: ''À quel moment est-on obliger de s'avouer qu'une dispute n'est pas une simple dispute? Qu'elle n'est pas un orage après lequel le soleil brille à nouveau, ni une saison pluvieuse à laquelle succédera le beau temps''.

[Hélène Lambert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Étonnant!