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Ο Γιοργκ, μέλος της αντιεξουσιαστικής ομάδας Μπάαντερ-Μάινχοφ, αποφυλακίζεται μετά από είκοσι χρόνια κράτησης σε σκληρές συνθήκες. Η αδερφή του θέλει να γιορτάσουν το πρώτο του ελεύθερο Σαββατοκύριακο με μια παρέα παλιών φίλων στην εξοχή, μακριά από τα φώτα της δημοσιότητας.
Ένας δημοσιογράφος, μια δασκάλα, ένας επιχειρηματίας και μια επίσκοπος. Εξεγερμένοι νέοι κάποτε, σήμερα "βολεμένοι" αστοί, αγκιστρωμένοι στα προνόμιά τους. Έρχονται από αγάπη, από νοσταλγία, από περιέργεια. Θέλουν να συμπαρασταθούν στον παλιό τους σύντροφο, αλλά κρατούν τις αποστάσεις τους - η σύγκρουση με τη δική τους ζωή και τα όνειρά τους που διαψεύστηκαν είναι αναπόφευκτη. Το παρελθόν ξαναζωντανεύει. Ήρθε η ώρα του απολογισμού...
Ο Βernhard Schlink κέρδισε τους Έλληνες αναγνώστες με το "Διαβάζοντας στη Χάννα" που μεταφράστηκε σε 43 γλώσσες. Με την οξυδερκή γραφή του, σκιαγραφεί εδώ τη γενιά της αμφισβήτησης, αλλά και των μεγάλων συμβιβασμών σ' ένα πολυεπίπεδο μυθιστόρημα που καθηλώνει.
Ένας δημοσιογράφος, μια δασκάλα, ένας επιχειρηματίας και μια επίσκοπος. Εξεγερμένοι νέοι κάποτε, σήμερα "βολεμένοι" αστοί, αγκιστρωμένοι στα προνόμιά τους. Έρχονται από αγάπη, από νοσταλγία, από περιέργεια. Θέλουν να συμπαρασταθούν στον παλιό τους σύντροφο, αλλά κρατούν τις αποστάσεις τους - η σύγκρουση με τη δική τους ζωή και τα όνειρά τους που διαψεύστηκαν είναι αναπόφευκτη. Το παρελθόν ξαναζωντανεύει. Ήρθε η ώρα του απολογισμού...
Ο Βernhard Schlink κέρδισε τους Έλληνες αναγνώστες με το "Διαβάζοντας στη Χάννα" που μεταφράστηκε σε 43 γλώσσες. Με την οξυδερκή γραφή του, σκιαγραφεί εδώ τη γενιά της αμφισβήτησης, αλλά και των μεγάλων συμβιβασμών σ' ένα πολυεπίπεδο μυθιστόρημα που καθηλώνει.
245 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2008
73 people are currently reading
956 people want to read
About the author
Bernhard Schlink
79 books2,267 followersBernhard 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.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 301 reviews
May 15, 2021
Los antecedentes no podrían ser más atractivos: el terrorismo como forma de conseguir unos objetivos políticos, vidas fracasadas, muertos dejados por el camino… Sin embargo, meeeeeeeec… Y no es que no haya sido una lectura interesante, aunque no se llegue a conclusión alguna, tampoco la eché en falta, el problema es que se acaba con una viva impresión de que se podía haber hecho todo mucho mejor.
Quizá si Schlink hubiera optado por escribir una obra de teatro la cosa hubiera funcionado mejor, no me habrían chocado tanto la forma en la que se relacionan los personajes. Desconozco si es algo habitual en la cultura alemana, pero a mí esos modos por los que de buenas a primeras los personajes se lanzan a bocajarro duros reproches me pareció extemporánea. Algo tipo esto:
- ¿Qué tal? ¿Cuánto tiempo?Lo siento, pero no estoy acostumbrado a estas formas, me sacaban del texto, aunque lo que pasara durante esos diez minutos centrales fuera notable. También es posible que sea el estilo del terrorista o que hablar de terrorismo requiere adoptar sus formas, pegar dos o tres puñetazos en la mesa, conseguirlo todo por el camino corto, a machetazos. Y, precisamente, porque esos diálogos encajarían mejor en una obra de teatro, el texto entre los diálogos me ha parecido superfluo. Es más, hay una historia de amor que es del todo prescindible.
- ¿20 años?
- Por lo menos... y... ¿qué tal llevas ahora aquello de que me tirara a tu mujer?
(malas caras, gritos, reproches, algún empujón que otro... y diez minutos después)
- Venga, tomemos una copita de vino, por los viejos tiempos.
- Prefiero que demos un paseo por el parque.
December 11, 2025
"How can you argue with all your common sense and ask yourself if the world, through murder, becomes a better world? "
Tricky question.
For a weekend, Jorg's sister, lawyer, and old friends gather around him, a terrorist from the German Red Army Faction pardoned after more than 20 years in prison.
They debate, wonder, get angry, cry, sneer, scorn, reflect, sympathize, and fall in love.
Full of good intentions, a sense of duty, lies and truths, and embarrassment, they manifest their dismay, as would be ours, I suppose, in front of a friend who had become a terrorist and murderer. Does he continue to profess his convictions? How do you position yourself about him when this friend is helpless and lacks perspective in the face of everything in front of him?
This novel is short, but every sentence counts. Each sentence questions the protagonists and challenges us to confront terrorism and the small terrorist acts of everyday life. The characters are human, weak, and strong.
Nature is omnipresent and offers its refuge; one would think of oneself in an entire period of Romanticism from this point of view: an old mansion, a vast meadow, a dark forest, a stream, and a bench.
In this idyllic setting, people intermingle, collide, collide. Some people discover affinities; others are disappointed. Their past comes to the surface, and it is full of life that they present themselves to Jorg, who has a lifetime to win back and to us, or not.
If you want to spend a weekend in the German countryside, not a stay of abundance and peace, but two days of questioning commitment, responsibility, guilt, and self-awareness, I recommend Bernhard Schlink's novel.
Have a lovely weekend!
Tricky question.
For a weekend, Jorg's sister, lawyer, and old friends gather around him, a terrorist from the German Red Army Faction pardoned after more than 20 years in prison.
They debate, wonder, get angry, cry, sneer, scorn, reflect, sympathize, and fall in love.
Full of good intentions, a sense of duty, lies and truths, and embarrassment, they manifest their dismay, as would be ours, I suppose, in front of a friend who had become a terrorist and murderer. Does he continue to profess his convictions? How do you position yourself about him when this friend is helpless and lacks perspective in the face of everything in front of him?
This novel is short, but every sentence counts. Each sentence questions the protagonists and challenges us to confront terrorism and the small terrorist acts of everyday life. The characters are human, weak, and strong.
Nature is omnipresent and offers its refuge; one would think of oneself in an entire period of Romanticism from this point of view: an old mansion, a vast meadow, a dark forest, a stream, and a bench.
In this idyllic setting, people intermingle, collide, collide. Some people discover affinities; others are disappointed. Their past comes to the surface, and it is full of life that they present themselves to Jorg, who has a lifetime to win back and to us, or not.
If you want to spend a weekend in the German countryside, not a stay of abundance and peace, but two days of questioning commitment, responsibility, guilt, and self-awareness, I recommend Bernhard Schlink's novel.
Have a lovely weekend!
March 19, 2022
[Edited and pictures added 3/18/22]
The author, best known for his book The Reader, takes us back to the era of Germany’s urban violence, the Red Brigades, most notoriously the Baader-Meinhof Communist-anarchist group in the 1970s and early 1980s. This group was responsible for hundreds of violent incidents including assassinations, bombings, arsons and kidnappings.
So here we are, circa 2005, and one of the terrorists, responsible for the murder of four people, is being released from prison. His sister is holding a weekend event at a rural house to reintroduce him to society – his former friends and conspirators. These folks are now boomer-aged former radicals who themselves plotted demonstrations, protests, vandalism and take-overs.
During the weekend each of the dozen or so people bare their souls, deliberately or inadvertently. One couple finds love. Some “still believe” in the cause and others look back with regret at their past activity. They are concerned that the main character seems to feel that “he paid his dues and we’re even” without any remorse for the deaths he caused.
It sounds dull but it’s not; the book kept my interest once I got into it a couple of chapters. That’s because any book that begins around a dinner table with a dozen people talking presents a mental challenge to figure out who’s who, who’s doing the talking, and where they are coming from. But it’s worth the effort.
The author (b. 1944) is a German novelist and lawyer who has published a dozen novels. Most have been translated into English although The Reader is by far his best-known work.
Top photo: The scene shortly after the Baader-Meinhof gang attacked the US Rhine Main airbase in August 1985 from dailymail.uk.co
The author from Facebook
The author, best known for his book The Reader, takes us back to the era of Germany’s urban violence, the Red Brigades, most notoriously the Baader-Meinhof Communist-anarchist group in the 1970s and early 1980s. This group was responsible for hundreds of violent incidents including assassinations, bombings, arsons and kidnappings.
So here we are, circa 2005, and one of the terrorists, responsible for the murder of four people, is being released from prison. His sister is holding a weekend event at a rural house to reintroduce him to society – his former friends and conspirators. These folks are now boomer-aged former radicals who themselves plotted demonstrations, protests, vandalism and take-overs.
During the weekend each of the dozen or so people bare their souls, deliberately or inadvertently. One couple finds love. Some “still believe” in the cause and others look back with regret at their past activity. They are concerned that the main character seems to feel that “he paid his dues and we’re even” without any remorse for the deaths he caused.
It sounds dull but it’s not; the book kept my interest once I got into it a couple of chapters. That’s because any book that begins around a dinner table with a dozen people talking presents a mental challenge to figure out who’s who, who’s doing the talking, and where they are coming from. But it’s worth the effort.
The author (b. 1944) is a German novelist and lawyer who has published a dozen novels. Most have been translated into English although The Reader is by far his best-known work.
Top photo: The scene shortly after the Baader-Meinhof gang attacked the US Rhine Main airbase in August 1985 from dailymail.uk.co
The author from Facebook
February 27, 2022
Fascinating story about the release a former Baader-Meinhoff (Red Army Fraction) terrorist who is pardoned after 24 years in prison. His sister considered it an opportune moment to ease him into freedom by inviting his old comrades to spend the weekend with him on the date of his release in a old big house in the countryside that she is in the process of fixing up. After all those years in prison, it turns out that Jörg proves not to have questioned his violent acts and the killings that he had committed before he got caught. He is still justifying his former actions as revolutionary and just, while his now aged comrades have developed themselves into more or less normal members of society. They have no idea how to behave towards their former comrade who apparently has no awareness or feelings of guilt for his gruesome crimes, while Jörg is mystified by their lack of empathy towards their former mutual cause and his former high status as a true revolutionary.
Like in his novel ‘The Reader’, Bernhard Schlink once again elaborated on the theme of crime and punishment. Highly recommendable if you are interested in the subject.
Like in his novel ‘The Reader’, Bernhard Schlink once again elaborated on the theme of crime and punishment. Highly recommendable if you are interested in the subject.
May 6, 2024
This is a (fiction) book* about a dark period of Germany's History: 1970-1998. Some speak about a "German Autumn". Basically, it refers to the acts of a terrorist organization called Red Army Fraction (RAF=Rote Armee Fraktion), which conducted acts of terrorism against a State deemed to be "fascist". Several of its members went to jail, some got pardoned, many women got involved. I would recall the Ulrike Meinhof case, still mysterious as to the causes of her hanging while in jail. In 1998 the organization was dismantled.
Before reading the book I watched an interview given by Schlink. He pondered on "being German" as problematic, his generation "being raised in the shadow of the 3rd Reich and the war".
About 1968 (protests and idealism) he said: "it didn't really work".
(above photo, May 1968)
Yes, there’s no happy ending. Jörg is, somehow, a weak character. There’s a sense of non-resolution by the end of the weekend. Thence my 3 stars.
*a movie too:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJVmsW...
Before reading the book I watched an interview given by Schlink. He pondered on "being German" as problematic, his generation "being raised in the shadow of the 3rd Reich and the war".
About 1968 (protests and idealism) he said: "it didn't really work".
(above photo, May 1968)
Yes, there’s no happy ending. Jörg is, somehow, a weak character. There’s a sense of non-resolution by the end of the weekend. Thence my 3 stars.
*a movie too:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJVmsW...
December 19, 2024
Karanlık Defterler
Hafta Sonu neyin romanı diye bir cümlede tanımlamaya kalkışınca dünyanın cümlesi "beni yaz", "beni yaz" diye kafama koşmaya başladı. Bir tanesini müsade ederseniz şuraya yazayım:
Hafta Sonu eski defterleri açmanın romanıdır. Fakat bu defterler biraz şey! Aile defterlerinden değil. Eski tüfek defterleri. Bir zamanlar Almanya'da yakıp yıkıp öldürme olaylarına karışmış eylemci solcuların defterleri.
20 yıllık hapisliği sürpriz bir afla biten Avrupa’nın tanınmış teröristi Jörg'ü ablası Chiristiane hapishaneden alır almaz dostların da geleceği konağa götürür. Chiristiane kız arkadaşı Margarete'yle ortaklaşa alıp yaşadıkları Berlin kırsalındaki bu elektriği olmayan konağa Jörg için davet ettiği eski dava arkadaşlarıyla üç gün iki gece birlikte vakit geçirmeye başlarlar.
Eski tüfekler düğün için toplanmadılar tabii. Küçüklüğünden beri Jörg'e kol kanat germeyi bir yaşantı haline getirmiş abla Chiristiane yine iş başı yapıp hapisliği biten kardeşine yardımları dokunur diye eski dostlarını konağa davet ediyor. Ama 'hoşça vakit geçiririz' hesapları tutmaz. Olaylar kontrolünden çıkar. Dostları eskisi gibi değildirler, Jörg desen öyle ve Chiristiane'nın defteri karanlıktır.
Sisteme uyumlanmış dostları yemekte kendi durumlarını, Jörg'ü ve komünist hareketi sorgular, Jörg savunma yapar, tansiyonu yüksek tartışmalar zaman zaman kişiselleşir, serseri kurşunları gibi hesapta olmayan kişileri vurmaya başlar. Romanın planı aşağı yukarı böyle.
Karakterlere bayıldım. Konakta kötü insan yok. Bir zamanlar bir davaya hayatlarını yatırmış ve kaybetmişler, bunun öfkesi var. Hepsi bu.
Muhteşem ruh güzelliğiyle yemekte hayati hamleler yapan Chiristiane'nin ev arkadaşı Margarete, yakınları üzerine gizli gizli hesap yapmadan duramayan Chiristiane, muhalif karakteriyle saçmalıklara sessiz kalamayan avukat Andreas, her durumu makara konusu yapan dişçi Ulrich, ünlü kişilerle yatmaya takıntılı Ulrich'in kızı Dorle, geçmişini hatırlayamayan kocaman kalpli gazeteci Henner, bulduğu bütün boşluklarda bahçedeki banka oturup roman yazan öğretmen İsle, kadın papaz Karin, Jörg'ü yeniden davaya döndürmeye çalışan devrimci Marko ve defteri özel hayatıyla da suçla kabarık-karısının intiharın sebep- olan Jörg.
Kadın papaz Karin yemeğe başlamadan önce komünist arkadaşlarına "dua edelim" diyor. Hep birlikte dua ediyorlar. Muhalif Andreas duanın sözlerini saçma bulup eleştirmeye başlıyor. Karin açıklama yapsa da bir yere varmıyor tartışma derken araya dalgacı Ulrich girip ortamı sakinleştiriyor ve papaz arkadaşına dönüp "fakat dürüst olmak lazım" diyor "hep aynı duaları okumaktan, dini şarkıları söylemekten, vaaz vermekten bıkmıyor musun Karin? Bak ben işimden sıkılıyorum açıkçası." Karin açıklama yapıyor tabii.
İşte böyle tatlı ve acı sahneleriyle Hafta Sonu hayatımdan geçti gitti.
Hafta Sonu neyin romanı diye bir cümlede tanımlamaya kalkışınca dünyanın cümlesi "beni yaz", "beni yaz" diye kafama koşmaya başladı. Bir tanesini müsade ederseniz şuraya yazayım:
Hafta Sonu eski defterleri açmanın romanıdır. Fakat bu defterler biraz şey! Aile defterlerinden değil. Eski tüfek defterleri. Bir zamanlar Almanya'da yakıp yıkıp öldürme olaylarına karışmış eylemci solcuların defterleri.
20 yıllık hapisliği sürpriz bir afla biten Avrupa’nın tanınmış teröristi Jörg'ü ablası Chiristiane hapishaneden alır almaz dostların da geleceği konağa götürür. Chiristiane kız arkadaşı Margarete'yle ortaklaşa alıp yaşadıkları Berlin kırsalındaki bu elektriği olmayan konağa Jörg için davet ettiği eski dava arkadaşlarıyla üç gün iki gece birlikte vakit geçirmeye başlarlar.
Eski tüfekler düğün için toplanmadılar tabii. Küçüklüğünden beri Jörg'e kol kanat germeyi bir yaşantı haline getirmiş abla Chiristiane yine iş başı yapıp hapisliği biten kardeşine yardımları dokunur diye eski dostlarını konağa davet ediyor. Ama 'hoşça vakit geçiririz' hesapları tutmaz. Olaylar kontrolünden çıkar. Dostları eskisi gibi değildirler, Jörg desen öyle ve Chiristiane'nın defteri karanlıktır.
Sisteme uyumlanmış dostları yemekte kendi durumlarını, Jörg'ü ve komünist hareketi sorgular, Jörg savunma yapar, tansiyonu yüksek tartışmalar zaman zaman kişiselleşir, serseri kurşunları gibi hesapta olmayan kişileri vurmaya başlar. Romanın planı aşağı yukarı böyle.
Karakterlere bayıldım. Konakta kötü insan yok. Bir zamanlar bir davaya hayatlarını yatırmış ve kaybetmişler, bunun öfkesi var. Hepsi bu.
Muhteşem ruh güzelliğiyle yemekte hayati hamleler yapan Chiristiane'nin ev arkadaşı Margarete, yakınları üzerine gizli gizli hesap yapmadan duramayan Chiristiane, muhalif karakteriyle saçmalıklara sessiz kalamayan avukat Andreas, her durumu makara konusu yapan dişçi Ulrich, ünlü kişilerle yatmaya takıntılı Ulrich'in kızı Dorle, geçmişini hatırlayamayan kocaman kalpli gazeteci Henner, bulduğu bütün boşluklarda bahçedeki banka oturup roman yazan öğretmen İsle, kadın papaz Karin, Jörg'ü yeniden davaya döndürmeye çalışan devrimci Marko ve defteri özel hayatıyla da suçla kabarık-karısının intiharın sebep- olan Jörg.
Kadın papaz Karin yemeğe başlamadan önce komünist arkadaşlarına "dua edelim" diyor. Hep birlikte dua ediyorlar. Muhalif Andreas duanın sözlerini saçma bulup eleştirmeye başlıyor. Karin açıklama yapsa da bir yere varmıyor tartışma derken araya dalgacı Ulrich girip ortamı sakinleştiriyor ve papaz arkadaşına dönüp "fakat dürüst olmak lazım" diyor "hep aynı duaları okumaktan, dini şarkıları söylemekten, vaaz vermekten bıkmıyor musun Karin? Bak ben işimden sıkılıyorum açıkçası." Karin açıklama yapıyor tabii.
İşte böyle tatlı ve acı sahneleriyle Hafta Sonu hayatımdan geçti gitti.
June 4, 2025
3/5⭐️
Besonders gut gefiel mir die Aufteilung des Romans in drei Abschnitte, die jeweils einen Tag des Wochenendes abbilden. Diese Struktur sorgte für eine gute Orientierung und einen angenehmen Lesefluss.
Die Vielzahl an Charakteren machte es mitunter schwierig, den Überblick zu behalten und ihre Beziehungen zur Hauptfigur genau einzuordnen. Dennoch fand ich es gelungen, wie die unterschiedlichen Perspektiven der Figuren dargestellt wurden – das verlieh der Handlung Dynamik und Tempo.
Allerdings blieb durch die große Anzahl an Figuren die Tiefe einzelner Charaktere auf der Strecke. Weder ihre Persönlichkeiten noch ihre Hintergründe wurden intensiv beleuchtet, was die Geschichte insgesamt etwas oberflächlich erscheinen lässt.
Insgesamt ein unterhaltsamer Roman mit einer spannenden Erzählstruktur, dem es jedoch an emotionaler und inhaltlicher Tiefe mangelte – hier hätte ich mir mehr gewünscht.
Besonders gut gefiel mir die Aufteilung des Romans in drei Abschnitte, die jeweils einen Tag des Wochenendes abbilden. Diese Struktur sorgte für eine gute Orientierung und einen angenehmen Lesefluss.
Die Vielzahl an Charakteren machte es mitunter schwierig, den Überblick zu behalten und ihre Beziehungen zur Hauptfigur genau einzuordnen. Dennoch fand ich es gelungen, wie die unterschiedlichen Perspektiven der Figuren dargestellt wurden – das verlieh der Handlung Dynamik und Tempo.
Allerdings blieb durch die große Anzahl an Figuren die Tiefe einzelner Charaktere auf der Strecke. Weder ihre Persönlichkeiten noch ihre Hintergründe wurden intensiv beleuchtet, was die Geschichte insgesamt etwas oberflächlich erscheinen lässt.
Insgesamt ein unterhaltsamer Roman mit einer spannenden Erzählstruktur, dem es jedoch an emotionaler und inhaltlicher Tiefe mangelte – hier hätte ich mir mehr gewünscht.
October 22, 2020
La nota real sería 2.5 pero al no haber medias estrellas le puse tres, es el primer libro que leemos en el club de mi biblioteca, y no he empezado de todo bien es una lectura rápida, de un tema controvertido y es como la representación de una obra teatral donde el lugar principal es la casa y allí entran y salen variedad de personajes, eso si están todos muy caracterizados, no llegue a empatizar con ninguno, y en ocasiones hay situaciones poco creíbles, solo he leído este libro del autor, aunque su fama le precede que tiene buenos libros a lo mejor este no está desde mi humilde punto de vista entre lo mejores.
April 5, 2011
A group of, for the most part, long time friends meet at a secluded, dilapidated country villa in the countryside around Berlin. They have come together to welcome back into society one of their own. Jörg, was just released that day from prison on a special pardon, having spent twenty four years in detention for several murders, committed as a member of the infamous Baader-Meinhof Gang (RAF - Red Army Faction), notorious in the nineteen seventies. The novel follows the visitors over the course of a three day weekend, from arrival in ones and twos, through their individual recollections and group discussions, to their departure. Bernhard Schlink, best known internationally for his novel, The Reader, and highly respected for eliciting difficult societal questions emanating from Germany's history (most recently in Guilt About the Past), explores with this contemplative novel political and moral topics that still, thirty years on, linger uncomfortably in the consciousness of many Germans and are pertinent for today's global political climate. Through his insightful portrayal of a group of personable friends (all in their late fifties) and the various shades of their relationships, Schlink very skilfully also embeds his own probing questions and concerns into the minds of his characters, exposing their diverse perspectives on the past and present. He adds into the mix three representatives of the next generation who have formed their own judgement on the "parent generation".
The villa and the surrounding park act as the frame and arena for the weekend guests and their discussions. Wandering in the park allows for reflection or the rekindling of old romantic ties or even for drawing new energy for the future. Each character is depicted with just enough personal detail and background to place them within the group and link them to their common past, without making them or the joint history the main drivers of the novel. The friends of course unite in their curiosity about Jörg, of course, as well as in recommendations for him. However, he appears like a shadow of his former self and hesitant to answer any questions about his past or his reflections during the long years in detention.
There are also some unexpected twists in the group dynamic: long-held secrets may have to be revealed that could derail the purpose of the get together, as perceived by Jörg's older sister, Christiane. However, more than anything it is the participation of two young men with opposing views and motivations for their presence, that breaks the apparent psychological comfort zone of the group. Marko, representing the new radical movement, foresees for Jörg a renewed leadership role in the "global struggle for justice" and acts before he thinks. Ferdinand, on the other hand, focuses on Jörg directly, assailing the latter's contention that, sometimes, sacrifices have to be accepted to advance radical policies: "How can the sacrifice of innocent people ever be justified?" Then or now, whatever the motivation or the cause...
Readers who are expecting a narrative of action, some major character developments or definite answers to the moral and societal questions touched on, may be disappointed with this relatively short novel. For somebody, like myself, who grew up during those heady days of the sixties and seventies in Germany, Schlink's story touches on many truths and suggests realities that I am familiar with. Nonetheless, the issues he addresses have broad relevance far beyond the German situations that he explores. The strength of the novel for me lies in the deceptively gently-paced, sometimes touching yet also astute exploration of mind and soul of a group of friends and their potential for reflection and change. I read the novel in its German original and felt even more engaged with the story on second reading.
The villa and the surrounding park act as the frame and arena for the weekend guests and their discussions. Wandering in the park allows for reflection or the rekindling of old romantic ties or even for drawing new energy for the future. Each character is depicted with just enough personal detail and background to place them within the group and link them to their common past, without making them or the joint history the main drivers of the novel. The friends of course unite in their curiosity about Jörg, of course, as well as in recommendations for him. However, he appears like a shadow of his former self and hesitant to answer any questions about his past or his reflections during the long years in detention.
There are also some unexpected twists in the group dynamic: long-held secrets may have to be revealed that could derail the purpose of the get together, as perceived by Jörg's older sister, Christiane. However, more than anything it is the participation of two young men with opposing views and motivations for their presence, that breaks the apparent psychological comfort zone of the group. Marko, representing the new radical movement, foresees for Jörg a renewed leadership role in the "global struggle for justice" and acts before he thinks. Ferdinand, on the other hand, focuses on Jörg directly, assailing the latter's contention that, sometimes, sacrifices have to be accepted to advance radical policies: "How can the sacrifice of innocent people ever be justified?" Then or now, whatever the motivation or the cause...
Readers who are expecting a narrative of action, some major character developments or definite answers to the moral and societal questions touched on, may be disappointed with this relatively short novel. For somebody, like myself, who grew up during those heady days of the sixties and seventies in Germany, Schlink's story touches on many truths and suggests realities that I am familiar with. Nonetheless, the issues he addresses have broad relevance far beyond the German situations that he explores. The strength of the novel for me lies in the deceptively gently-paced, sometimes touching yet also astute exploration of mind and soul of a group of friends and their potential for reflection and change. I read the novel in its German original and felt even more engaged with the story on second reading.
December 30, 2020
A former Red Army Faction terrorist is released from prison in a post 9/11 world, following a pardon from the President of (a unified) Germany. His sister, fearing the turmoil that the new world would cause him, arranges a private holiday during a weekend with former friends so that her brother could slowly become familiar with the workings of the XXI century.
Naturally, things don’t go as well as expected. But neither they go badly. That is what is curious about this book: the tension builds up and up and up and it comes, eventually, to nothing at all. Perhaps, that was the point. Perhaps the end comes not with a bang, but with a very slow and banal whistle. Not with bombs and declarations of revolutionary fury, but in a very boring Summer day, years into German social/Christian democracy.
Naturally, things don’t go as well as expected. But neither they go badly. That is what is curious about this book: the tension builds up and up and up and it comes, eventually, to nothing at all. Perhaps, that was the point. Perhaps the end comes not with a bang, but with a very slow and banal whistle. Not with bombs and declarations of revolutionary fury, but in a very boring Summer day, years into German social/Christian democracy.
January 18, 2025
3,5 ⭐️
Eski RAF militanı Jörg yirmi yılı geçen mahkumiyetinin ardından özel bir afla serbest bırakılır. Küçük yaşlardan itibaren ona bakan ablası Christiane Jörg’ün hapisten çıkmasını kutlamak için eski arkadaşlarını hafta sonu tatili için şehir dışındaki evine davet eder. En son Jörg hapse girmeden bir araya gelmiş bu topluluk üniversite sonrası farklı yollarda ilerlemeye başlamış. Hiçbiri cinayet, soygun gibi suçlarla yargılanmış Jörg’ü sevgiyle kucaklamıyor; hepsinin merak ettiği konular ve cevaplanmasını istedikleri sorular var. Tedirginliklerle başlayan hafta sonu, geçmişin masaya yatırılması ile başlayıp gelecekle ilgili hayallerle sona ererken şaşırtıcı konular ve karakterler hikayedeki tempoyu arttırıyor.
Hikaye ve karakterler çok iyi olmasına rağmen Schlink’in edebi denemeleri ve çeviri okumamı zorlaştırdı. Akıcı olmayan, sıkıntılı bir roman.
Eski RAF militanı Jörg yirmi yılı geçen mahkumiyetinin ardından özel bir afla serbest bırakılır. Küçük yaşlardan itibaren ona bakan ablası Christiane Jörg’ün hapisten çıkmasını kutlamak için eski arkadaşlarını hafta sonu tatili için şehir dışındaki evine davet eder. En son Jörg hapse girmeden bir araya gelmiş bu topluluk üniversite sonrası farklı yollarda ilerlemeye başlamış. Hiçbiri cinayet, soygun gibi suçlarla yargılanmış Jörg’ü sevgiyle kucaklamıyor; hepsinin merak ettiği konular ve cevaplanmasını istedikleri sorular var. Tedirginliklerle başlayan hafta sonu, geçmişin masaya yatırılması ile başlayıp gelecekle ilgili hayallerle sona ererken şaşırtıcı konular ve karakterler hikayedeki tempoyu arttırıyor.
Hikaye ve karakterler çok iyi olmasına rağmen Schlink’in edebi denemeleri ve çeviri okumamı zorlaştırdı. Akıcı olmayan, sıkıntılı bir roman.
June 19, 2022
Zu Beginn dachte ich schon fast, das ist absolut das falsche Buch für mich und wollte schon abbrechen. Und dann hat es mich wirklich begeistert.
Schuld und Lebenslügen das große Thema.
Schuld und Lebenslügen das große Thema.
April 14, 2019
Hoe ga je om met het linksterroristische verleden van Duitsland en hoe gedraag je je tegenover een vriend die een van die terroristen was en na 24 jaar weer uit de gevangenis komt? Deze vraag stelt Bernard Schlink in deze in omvang bescheiden roman.
Jörg komt na 24 jaar weer vrij en zijn zus Christiane heeft dat eerste weekend in een oud landhuis op het platteland een reünie met oude vrienden georganiseerd. Daarbij is ook de jonge dochter van een vriend, een jonge "kunststudent" die het huis even wilde zien en is blijven plakken (en later iemand anders blijkt te zijn) en een nieuwe "vriend", een jongeman die Jörg wil bewegen de strijd voort te zetten.
Deze samenkomst zou aanleiding kunnen zijn tot felle discussies en diep geestelijk graven naar de idealen van welleer, wat de strijd heeft opgeleverd en of het de offers en slachtoffers waard is geweest en of een nieuwe strijd wel gerechtvaardigd is. Dat gebeurt echter maar ten dele. Schlink schrijft mooi, zijn observaties zijn raak en interessant en het boek ademt sfeer. Af en toe sijpelt er wat persoonlijk drama door. Toch vind ik dat er meer in had gezeten. Het had van mij een veel dikker boek mogen zijn waarin het na-oorlogse activisme meer werd uitgeplozen, de levens van de oude vrienden na de gevangenname van Jörg meer werden belicht. De aanwezigheid van iemand van de nieuwe strijdbare linkse lichting is een interessant gegeven waar, naar mijn mening, te weinig mee is gedaan. Er zijn nog twee jongere gasten zodat de kijk op het moderne Duitsland en hoe ze tegen de strijd in de jaren 60 en 70 aankijken heel goed belicht had kunnen worden vanuit het perspectief van de jongere generatie. De rest van de gasten zijn allemaal van middelbare leeftijd en wanneer een van hen wat vuur laat zien, wordt dat meteen de kop ingedrukt. Natuurlijk laat Schlink hiermee zien dat het vuur van de strijd vooral bij de jeugd zit en dat de vrienden van middelbare leeftijd een leven hebben opgebouwd, ervaringen hebben opgedaan en begrepen hebben dat het een kwestie is van geven en nemen: van compromissen sluiten en je aanpassen. Zij voelen zich ongemakkelijk met het militante linksextremisme van welleer. Ze hebben het vergoeilijkend over een leven in ballingschap. Men heeft niet de ideale samenleving kunnen scheppen maar in het alternatief valt toch goed te leven. Aan het eind van het boek helpt iedereen om na een fikse regenbui de kelder van het oude huis leeg te hozen om daarna vriendschappelijk uit elkaar te gaan.
Ik heb best van dit boek genoten maar het haalt het niet bij "De Voorlezer", wat ik tot nu toe nog steeds zijn beste boek vind. Drie-en-een-halve ster, afgerond naar boven.
Jörg komt na 24 jaar weer vrij en zijn zus Christiane heeft dat eerste weekend in een oud landhuis op het platteland een reünie met oude vrienden georganiseerd. Daarbij is ook de jonge dochter van een vriend, een jonge "kunststudent" die het huis even wilde zien en is blijven plakken (en later iemand anders blijkt te zijn) en een nieuwe "vriend", een jongeman die Jörg wil bewegen de strijd voort te zetten.
Deze samenkomst zou aanleiding kunnen zijn tot felle discussies en diep geestelijk graven naar de idealen van welleer, wat de strijd heeft opgeleverd en of het de offers en slachtoffers waard is geweest en of een nieuwe strijd wel gerechtvaardigd is. Dat gebeurt echter maar ten dele. Schlink schrijft mooi, zijn observaties zijn raak en interessant en het boek ademt sfeer. Af en toe sijpelt er wat persoonlijk drama door. Toch vind ik dat er meer in had gezeten. Het had van mij een veel dikker boek mogen zijn waarin het na-oorlogse activisme meer werd uitgeplozen, de levens van de oude vrienden na de gevangenname van Jörg meer werden belicht. De aanwezigheid van iemand van de nieuwe strijdbare linkse lichting is een interessant gegeven waar, naar mijn mening, te weinig mee is gedaan. Er zijn nog twee jongere gasten zodat de kijk op het moderne Duitsland en hoe ze tegen de strijd in de jaren 60 en 70 aankijken heel goed belicht had kunnen worden vanuit het perspectief van de jongere generatie. De rest van de gasten zijn allemaal van middelbare leeftijd en wanneer een van hen wat vuur laat zien, wordt dat meteen de kop ingedrukt. Natuurlijk laat Schlink hiermee zien dat het vuur van de strijd vooral bij de jeugd zit en dat de vrienden van middelbare leeftijd een leven hebben opgebouwd, ervaringen hebben opgedaan en begrepen hebben dat het een kwestie is van geven en nemen: van compromissen sluiten en je aanpassen. Zij voelen zich ongemakkelijk met het militante linksextremisme van welleer. Ze hebben het vergoeilijkend over een leven in ballingschap. Men heeft niet de ideale samenleving kunnen scheppen maar in het alternatief valt toch goed te leven. Aan het eind van het boek helpt iedereen om na een fikse regenbui de kelder van het oude huis leeg te hozen om daarna vriendschappelijk uit elkaar te gaan.
Ik heb best van dit boek genoten maar het haalt het niet bij "De Voorlezer", wat ik tot nu toe nog steeds zijn beste boek vind. Drie-en-een-halve ster, afgerond naar boven.
December 26, 2010
Bernhard Schlink is an author of substance, style, and ideas; it is unfortunate that this work seems only to be a pastiche of his earlier fiction. Neither characters nor plot enhance his distinctive themes of guilt, responsibility, memory, and reconciliation. Vaguely reminiscent (initially) of the film THE BIG CHILL, in this depiction, the group of middle-aged friends are not rendezvousing to mourn an old friend, but have gathered in a rural farmhouse in Germany to welcome home Jorg, a just-released prisoner. Jorg has served a long sentence for murder and other crimes connected with his revolutionary activities. (Although not explicitly detailed, readers can assume Jorg and his friends were associated with Rudi Dutschke and the German student movement of the late 1960's and perhaps subsequently with the violent Red Army Faction or Baader-Meinhof Group.) Questions about Jorg's atttitudes to his former actions and his current views, the varying responses of his companions (especially, his sister Christiane, his possible betrayer Henner, his accuser Ulrich, and the committed Marxist Marko) provide the stage for Schlink's philosophical ruminations. Through a dialectical process the characters reveal the youthful idealism of their memories, which are now overshadowed by the crushing reality of the present. Here the author is at his best in dialogue and detail. However, for reasons unknown, he meanders far afield to create new and revive old romantic attachments for the group (including a bizarre young seductress for Jorg) and to introduce an interloping and "mysterious" stranger (whose true identity is an almost banal literary device). These additional stage props do not help to propel a rather theatrical narrative structure in which we begin to feel that Eugene O'Neill is updating THE ICEMAN COMETH and that Hickey/Jorg and colleagues are about to make sudden revelations about their failed lives. In fact, one Schlink character speaks of "the lies we need to keep on living," which "do not only reveal pain, [but] also create it." This sounds much like O'Neil's Hickey analyzing "pipe dreams" for his besotted friends in Harry Hope's saloon.
As always, Schlink is an author worth perusing because he has something of importance to say to all of us. In the present novel, he is less successful in this effort from an aesthetic perspective. For a more satisfying consideration of Schlink's notable themes, I would recommend turning to his current volume of essays, GUILT ABOUT THE PAST, and leave this fictional treatment aside.
As always, Schlink is an author worth perusing because he has something of importance to say to all of us. In the present novel, he is less successful in this effort from an aesthetic perspective. For a more satisfying consideration of Schlink's notable themes, I would recommend turning to his current volume of essays, GUILT ABOUT THE PAST, and leave this fictional treatment aside.
September 24, 2015
D.N.F
It started OK, but then I got bored quite quickly, maybe the tone of the book was lost in it's translation? Not sure, but I was skimming over it by page 30. Then around page 44-47, something happened which just irritated the crap out of me as a parent (not really a spoiler, but Mum and Dad hear their daughter scream and just dither about, saying "oh dear, I think that is our child screaming in fright, what is that about I wonder?" and then dither about some more. Then, they find her standing naked on the stairs, whilst a friend of theirs, an older man who has just been released from prison, hits their child! What do the girl's parents do? Dither about. Then the Dad calls his kid a spoiled brat and says, "oh well, she just wanted to try to sleep with this guy as he just got out of prison and she wants to 'collect' this as some kind of memory/score from him". Er WTF???
I tell you, if I heard my teenage daughter screaming, I would be there in a shot, not dither about like a muppet for ages and then not even give a fuck when I saw her naked by some 'friend' of mine who just clobbered her! Oh my God, I don't even have the words!
So, tossed it across the bed and have since put it in the box for the books that I no longer want and will go to the charity shop.
It started OK, but then I got bored quite quickly, maybe the tone of the book was lost in it's translation? Not sure, but I was skimming over it by page 30. Then around page 44-47, something happened which just irritated the crap out of me as a parent (not really a spoiler, but Mum and Dad hear their daughter scream and just dither about, saying "oh dear, I think that is our child screaming in fright, what is that about I wonder?" and then dither about some more. Then, they find her standing naked on the stairs, whilst a friend of theirs, an older man who has just been released from prison, hits their child! What do the girl's parents do? Dither about. Then the Dad calls his kid a spoiled brat and says, "oh well, she just wanted to try to sleep with this guy as he just got out of prison and she wants to 'collect' this as some kind of memory/score from him". Er WTF???
I tell you, if I heard my teenage daughter screaming, I would be there in a shot, not dither about like a muppet for ages and then not even give a fuck when I saw her naked by some 'friend' of mine who just clobbered her! Oh my God, I don't even have the words!
So, tossed it across the bed and have since put it in the box for the books that I no longer want and will go to the charity shop.
September 3, 2024
El libro comienza con un interesante escenario: un grupo de viejos amigos se reúne para reencontrarse con Jorg, que acaba de ser indultado, luego de 30 años, por su actividad en Baader-Meinhof, agrupación política violenta, de filiación marxista.
A lo largo de la obra, que sin ser buena se deja leer, el juez-autor pretende una discusión ética sobre la violencia en Alemania de los ’70, y construye embriones de personaje para que representen cada una de las voces y opiniones.
En el ínterin hay historias personales, con algunos rasgos y definiciones promisorios, pero se acomodan a la trama, y no hay mayores sorpresas; el trasfondo, para un latinoamericano, es de un dramatismo insignificante; para la literatura, una obra prescindible, por ser amable.
A lo largo de la obra, que sin ser buena se deja leer, el juez-autor pretende una discusión ética sobre la violencia en Alemania de los ’70, y construye embriones de personaje para que representen cada una de las voces y opiniones.
En el ínterin hay historias personales, con algunos rasgos y definiciones promisorios, pero se acomodan a la trama, y no hay mayores sorpresas; el trasfondo, para un latinoamericano, es de un dramatismo insignificante; para la literatura, una obra prescindible, por ser amable.
August 25, 2021
In a state of revolutionary struggle, the operating norms of society are thrown aside, and everyone can be a victim. Innocent bystanders are seen as necessary sacrifices in the pursuit of a greater good - and only if they win will history exonerate the terrorists as freedom fighters. One such revolutionary force was the Baader-Meinhof group, also known as the Red Army Faction. They were a militant communist organisation, active in Germany from the 70s to the 90s, who carried out a series of bombings, kidnappings, robberies, and murders. It is their legacy which Bernhard Schlink examines in The Weekend.
The premise is simple: Jörg is a terrorist who, after decades in prison, has been let out, and invited to spend a weekend away in a mansion in the countryside with friends from his past life. Everyone knows everyone else through a complex tangle of friendships, romances, and rivalries. For the most part, they’ve all moved on from their revolutionary days; they’ve made peace with the establishment and live out their mundane lives. Yet the old tensions still lurk under the surface, and within the mansion there is a battle for Jörg’s soul: will he rejoin the Germany he raged against for so long, or completely exhaust his life in armed struggle?
It is Jörg’s sister, Margarte, who has organised the weekend getaway. She wants to save her brother by integrating him back into the folds of society, getting him a new job, and helping him to reconnect with old friends. But it was her who tipped off the police to Jörg’s activities and got him arrested in the first place, and that guilt keeps her from playing her hand.
Caught up in this is her former lover, Henner. Jörg does not like Henner, believing it was he who tipped off the police. More than that, he resents their relationship, which threatened to take away Margarete’s sisterly love - one of the precious few sources of psychic and domestic stability in his life. Henner doesn’t want to take the fall for Margarete, though there is the ghost of a romance still lingering between them which causes him to reconsider.
Also lurking in the picture is Marko. A dangerous militant of a newer generation, he wants to cash in on Jörg’s celebrity and have him be the nominal author of a new manifesto which declares war against the capitalist state. Marko’s is the mind of a true believer, insistent on refiguring the world into a new utopia:
Ilse has also come out for the weekend. Of all those caught up in radical politics, her heart is perhaps the furthest away from revolution. A former classmate of Jörg’s, she was drawn in not by revolution, but simply by her attraction to Jörg’s intelligence and determination. Her feelings have gone though, and now she is withdrawn and shy, a personality that Schlink cleverly reveals through his capacity for little observations: as Ilse silently listens to the others prattle on, what they talk about seems to her “as random as the pieces with which players do battle on a board.” (52).
Interwoven with the main plot is a story-within-a-story that Ilse is writing about a former friend of theirs called Jan. Jan was found dead, but it’s heavily implied that his death was faked, and that he left behind his family to assume a new persona and dedicate himself fully to armed struggle. As she writes the story, Ilse tries to grasp that mindset: how can you believe the world could become a better place through murder?
It’s a Schlink trope that his characters seem only to exist for the contrived circumstances into which they are thrown, wherein they suddenly explode at each other with repressed passion. Schlink is a mushy, sentimental writer, and this can make the characters seem like didactic mouthpieces for an otherwise invisible narrator. The premise of The Weekend is believable enough though not to undermine what they say, and it plays to Schlink’s writing: there is no time wasted, he sets up the scene and within twenty pages is throwing characters at each other.
This is broken up with the occasional romp through the countryside. Here is Schlink ruminating on the loneliness of walking around by yourself in small-town Germany:
This is not just a literary distraction; often it is the quiet moments alone, away from the crowd, in which our feelings take their true shape.
No one character’s voice overpowers the others. Their polyphony reflects Schlink’s gentle, big-tent desire to live within a pluralistic society that has room for everyone. Yet what ties such a group together? Despite their contradictions, they all pitch in to bail water out of a flooded basement, but as soon as the work is done, they all scatter and go home, without so much as a goodbye.
Society is precious and fragile. In an age of liberal values, there is little to knot us together in permanent bonds. That we have families, friends, lovers - all of this is something approaching a miracle which cannot be taken for granted.
But neither can we simply impose a moral framework upon one another. The vicar Karin says it, that we must understand who we are and thereby seek the truth for ourselves: “If not, we are trapped in it. For that reason, however, we musn’t impose the truth on others. Where truths are too painful and we are not a match for them, we all have our ‘life lies’, the lies we need to keep on living… (194).” Society is about giving and taking, condemning - as Germany has done with its past - that which is uniquely evil, but also offering the chance of reconciliation and moving beyond. Otherwise we cannot see each other as human beings, and the conditions for violence come to the fore.
In Ilse’s story-within-a-story, Jan is not capable of seeing his hostage as a human being. When the hostage talks lovingly about his wife and child, Jan sees this as a kind of playacting, a deception aimed at softening Jan’s guard just long enough so the man escape: “The man is fighting with the means that he has.” (131). When the normal rules of society are suspended - when we are living in the state of exception, to borrow the phrase from Carl Schmitt - every misgiving may be elevated to the level of an existential struggle.
So Jan carries on down his path. He plants a bomb, but has a misgiving when he sees a view of people going about their lives:
Civilization is far easier to destroy than to build. And to revolutionaries like Jörg and Marko, whose minds are locked permanently within the suspension of law and society, no human cost is too high - the exception has become the norm.
Yet for a moment, Jan glimpses a vision of the ordinary life, and is moved by it. This brief moment of humanity is also his undoing: the bomb explodes, and Jan is caught in the burning building alongside his intended victims. With fire beneath them, their only hope is to jump out of the window. Jan jumps out the window with one of his victims, either to life - or to death.
And so does Jörg choose life. He has been pre-empted by Marko though: the declaration of war has already been published with Jörg’s name on it, as they find out when they listen to the German President’s speech to the nation. The President announces Jörg’s release and admits that his first act of freedom has been to declare war upon society. Yet he dismisses this: Jörg has cancer, and on the verge of death, is torn between acting defiant and pleading for mercy. Such a person is no longer a threat, simply bitter and confused.
The news takes everyone by surprise. Jörg has cancer? Having given up on armed struggle, Jörg concedes to his mortality and admits simpler, humbler motives: simply to live out his life and enjoy what little of it he can while it’s left: “Smelling the forest and the wet dust when it rains in the city after a run of hot days, driving on little French country roads with the sunroof and the windows open, going to the cinema, eating pasta and drinking red wine with friends.” (209).
Jörg does not seem remorseful for his crimes. He is a rather blank and emotionless person, having perhaps been broken by prison and dehumanised by a life of armed struggle. It’s impossible to know whether guilt has sculpted out its rightful anguish in him. Yet he is at a crossroads, caught between life and death. Having served his sentence, what matters now is the path he takes, which depends not just on whether he makes an active choice to pursue good, but also whether others make an active choice to forgive him. Only then can he once more rejoin society - as a brother, a friend, a lover, a father.
Read this review on Substack.
The premise is simple: Jörg is a terrorist who, after decades in prison, has been let out, and invited to spend a weekend away in a mansion in the countryside with friends from his past life. Everyone knows everyone else through a complex tangle of friendships, romances, and rivalries. For the most part, they’ve all moved on from their revolutionary days; they’ve made peace with the establishment and live out their mundane lives. Yet the old tensions still lurk under the surface, and within the mansion there is a battle for Jörg’s soul: will he rejoin the Germany he raged against for so long, or completely exhaust his life in armed struggle?
It is Jörg’s sister, Margarte, who has organised the weekend getaway. She wants to save her brother by integrating him back into the folds of society, getting him a new job, and helping him to reconnect with old friends. But it was her who tipped off the police to Jörg’s activities and got him arrested in the first place, and that guilt keeps her from playing her hand.
Caught up in this is her former lover, Henner. Jörg does not like Henner, believing it was he who tipped off the police. More than that, he resents their relationship, which threatened to take away Margarete’s sisterly love - one of the precious few sources of psychic and domestic stability in his life. Henner doesn’t want to take the fall for Margarete, though there is the ghost of a romance still lingering between them which causes him to reconsider.
Also lurking in the picture is Marko. A dangerous militant of a newer generation, he wants to cash in on Jörg’s celebrity and have him be the nominal author of a new manifesto which declares war against the capitalist state. Marko’s is the mind of a true believer, insistent on refiguring the world into a new utopia:
“You looked at me all evening as if you were wondering whether I really believed what I said… No, without September Eleventh none of the good things that have happened over the past few years would have happened. The new attentiveness to the Palestinians, still the key to peace in the Middle East, and to the Muslims, still a quarter of the world’s population, the new sensitivity to the threats in the world, from the economic to the ecological, the realization that exploitation has a price that is always rising - sometimes the world needs a shock to come to its senses. Like people - after having his first heart attack, my father is at last living as sensibly as he should always have lived. With some people it always takes two or three.” (56).
Ilse has also come out for the weekend. Of all those caught up in radical politics, her heart is perhaps the furthest away from revolution. A former classmate of Jörg’s, she was drawn in not by revolution, but simply by her attraction to Jörg’s intelligence and determination. Her feelings have gone though, and now she is withdrawn and shy, a personality that Schlink cleverly reveals through his capacity for little observations: as Ilse silently listens to the others prattle on, what they talk about seems to her “as random as the pieces with which players do battle on a board.” (52).
Interwoven with the main plot is a story-within-a-story that Ilse is writing about a former friend of theirs called Jan. Jan was found dead, but it’s heavily implied that his death was faked, and that he left behind his family to assume a new persona and dedicate himself fully to armed struggle. As she writes the story, Ilse tries to grasp that mindset: how can you believe the world could become a better place through murder?
It’s a Schlink trope that his characters seem only to exist for the contrived circumstances into which they are thrown, wherein they suddenly explode at each other with repressed passion. Schlink is a mushy, sentimental writer, and this can make the characters seem like didactic mouthpieces for an otherwise invisible narrator. The premise of The Weekend is believable enough though not to undermine what they say, and it plays to Schlink’s writing: there is no time wasted, he sets up the scene and within twenty pages is throwing characters at each other.
This is broken up with the occasional romp through the countryside. Here is Schlink ruminating on the loneliness of walking around by yourself in small-town Germany:
The eye finds no purchase among the trees, the church tower, the electricity supply with its masts and cables. It finds no mountains in the distance and no city nearby, nothing to set boundaries and create a space. The eye loses itself. (88)
This is not just a literary distraction; often it is the quiet moments alone, away from the crowd, in which our feelings take their true shape.
No one character’s voice overpowers the others. Their polyphony reflects Schlink’s gentle, big-tent desire to live within a pluralistic society that has room for everyone. Yet what ties such a group together? Despite their contradictions, they all pitch in to bail water out of a flooded basement, but as soon as the work is done, they all scatter and go home, without so much as a goodbye.
Society is precious and fragile. In an age of liberal values, there is little to knot us together in permanent bonds. That we have families, friends, lovers - all of this is something approaching a miracle which cannot be taken for granted.
But neither can we simply impose a moral framework upon one another. The vicar Karin says it, that we must understand who we are and thereby seek the truth for ourselves: “If not, we are trapped in it. For that reason, however, we musn’t impose the truth on others. Where truths are too painful and we are not a match for them, we all have our ‘life lies’, the lies we need to keep on living… (194).” Society is about giving and taking, condemning - as Germany has done with its past - that which is uniquely evil, but also offering the chance of reconciliation and moving beyond. Otherwise we cannot see each other as human beings, and the conditions for violence come to the fore.
In Ilse’s story-within-a-story, Jan is not capable of seeing his hostage as a human being. When the hostage talks lovingly about his wife and child, Jan sees this as a kind of playacting, a deception aimed at softening Jan’s guard just long enough so the man escape: “The man is fighting with the means that he has.” (131). When the normal rules of society are suspended - when we are living in the state of exception, to borrow the phrase from Carl Schmitt - every misgiving may be elevated to the level of an existential struggle.
So Jan carries on down his path. He plants a bomb, but has a misgiving when he sees a view of people going about their lives:
The view from the window gripped him. All those houses, all those people, all those lives. The energy with which people drove back and forth and worked and built. With which they owned and shaped and inhabited the earth. And they wanted it to be beautiful. Sometimes they built the tip of a skyscraper like a temple and a bridge like a harp and buried the dead in a green garden y the river. Jan was astonished. Everything looked right. But he was so far from it that he didn’t feel it was right. He remembered the fairy tale about the giant’s toy. In the picture in the storybook the giant’s daughter picked up a plow, from which the horse dangled in its harness, and the farmer from the reins. (185).
Civilization is far easier to destroy than to build. And to revolutionaries like Jörg and Marko, whose minds are locked permanently within the suspension of law and society, no human cost is too high - the exception has become the norm.
Yet for a moment, Jan glimpses a vision of the ordinary life, and is moved by it. This brief moment of humanity is also his undoing: the bomb explodes, and Jan is caught in the burning building alongside his intended victims. With fire beneath them, their only hope is to jump out of the window. Jan jumps out the window with one of his victims, either to life - or to death.
And so does Jörg choose life. He has been pre-empted by Marko though: the declaration of war has already been published with Jörg’s name on it, as they find out when they listen to the German President’s speech to the nation. The President announces Jörg’s release and admits that his first act of freedom has been to declare war upon society. Yet he dismisses this: Jörg has cancer, and on the verge of death, is torn between acting defiant and pleading for mercy. Such a person is no longer a threat, simply bitter and confused.
The news takes everyone by surprise. Jörg has cancer? Having given up on armed struggle, Jörg concedes to his mortality and admits simpler, humbler motives: simply to live out his life and enjoy what little of it he can while it’s left: “Smelling the forest and the wet dust when it rains in the city after a run of hot days, driving on little French country roads with the sunroof and the windows open, going to the cinema, eating pasta and drinking red wine with friends.” (209).
Jörg does not seem remorseful for his crimes. He is a rather blank and emotionless person, having perhaps been broken by prison and dehumanised by a life of armed struggle. It’s impossible to know whether guilt has sculpted out its rightful anguish in him. Yet he is at a crossroads, caught between life and death. Having served his sentence, what matters now is the path he takes, which depends not just on whether he makes an active choice to pursue good, but also whether others make an active choice to forgive him. Only then can he once more rejoin society - as a brother, a friend, a lover, a father.
Read this review on Substack.
February 19, 2016
A história que Bernhard Schlink nos traz passa-se como o próprio título indica num fim-de-semana: Sexta-feira, Sábado e Domingo, quando um grupo de amigos outrora revolucionários e cheios de ideais se decidem reencontrar para festejar a libertação de um deles (após vinte e três anos de prisão), em tempos membro da "Rote Armee Fraktion" (RAF), uma organização terrorista alemã de extrema-esquerda operante entre 1970 e 1998 na Alemanha ocidental.
Agora, todos eles estão perfeitamente integrados na sociedade contra a qual lutaram, desempenhando papeis perfeitamente normais. Temos um advogado, um jornalista, um empresário, uma pastora, uma professora e uma médica, entre outras personagens que vão surgindo na história para esmiuçar o sentido da verdade e o alcance dos sonhos da juventude.
O autor explora aqui a culpa e o peso da memória que se quer esquecer, algo que lhe é caracteristico de outras obras, que muito se encontra relacionado com os complexos da sociedade alemã saída da Segunda Guerra Mundial, e que é particularmente evidente na geração de que o autor (nascido em 1944) faz parte.
Schlink não escreve uma história ao nível de "O Leitor", obra também existente em filme e de sucesso inigualável, mas leva-nos uma vez mais a pensar na psicologia do que é ser alemão e do que é confrontar o passado histórico da Alemanha (questão do Nazismo e da sua relação com o Holocausto) com a realidade do Terrorismo. E esse Terrorismo aqui é não só próprio de uma circunstância própria do país (com o aparecimento da RAF nos anos 70), como também se relaciona com o 11 de Setembro e as mudanças daí decorrentes.
Gostei de "O Fim de Semana" e recomendo a sua leitura, considerando, no entanto, que a sinopse do livro deveria ser reescrita, de forma a tornar o livro mais apelativo para qualquer leitor (e não apenas para os mais curiosos e conhecedores da História da Alemanha). Por outro lado, entendo que algumas personagens mereciam que o autor lhes tivesse dado maior profundidade e solidez, o que teria facilitado a passagem da mensagem que Schlink quer fazer e a que já me referi.
*
"Perdemos o que éramos e o que queríamos ser e talvez até aquilo que estávamos destinados a ser. Em troca, encontrámos outras coisas. (...)" [Bernhard Schlink, 2010, p.132]
Agora, todos eles estão perfeitamente integrados na sociedade contra a qual lutaram, desempenhando papeis perfeitamente normais. Temos um advogado, um jornalista, um empresário, uma pastora, uma professora e uma médica, entre outras personagens que vão surgindo na história para esmiuçar o sentido da verdade e o alcance dos sonhos da juventude.
O autor explora aqui a culpa e o peso da memória que se quer esquecer, algo que lhe é caracteristico de outras obras, que muito se encontra relacionado com os complexos da sociedade alemã saída da Segunda Guerra Mundial, e que é particularmente evidente na geração de que o autor (nascido em 1944) faz parte.
Schlink não escreve uma história ao nível de "O Leitor", obra também existente em filme e de sucesso inigualável, mas leva-nos uma vez mais a pensar na psicologia do que é ser alemão e do que é confrontar o passado histórico da Alemanha (questão do Nazismo e da sua relação com o Holocausto) com a realidade do Terrorismo. E esse Terrorismo aqui é não só próprio de uma circunstância própria do país (com o aparecimento da RAF nos anos 70), como também se relaciona com o 11 de Setembro e as mudanças daí decorrentes.
Gostei de "O Fim de Semana" e recomendo a sua leitura, considerando, no entanto, que a sinopse do livro deveria ser reescrita, de forma a tornar o livro mais apelativo para qualquer leitor (e não apenas para os mais curiosos e conhecedores da História da Alemanha). Por outro lado, entendo que algumas personagens mereciam que o autor lhes tivesse dado maior profundidade e solidez, o que teria facilitado a passagem da mensagem que Schlink quer fazer e a que já me referi.
*
"Perdemos o que éramos e o que queríamos ser e talvez até aquilo que estávamos destinados a ser. Em troca, encontrámos outras coisas. (...)" [Bernhard Schlink, 2010, p.132]
November 9, 2022
Bernhard Schlink ist für mich einer der Autoren, der super interessante Konzepte für seine Romane zaubert. Und deswegen habe ich mich sehr darauf gefreut "das Wochenende" von ihm zu lesen.
Ich muss zugeben, mir fiel der Einstieg ins Buch unfassbar schwer und ich war mir eigentlich sicher, ich würde das Buch nicht mehr beenden. Erst nach ungefähr 1/3 bin ich etwas tiefer in die Geschichte eingetaucht.
Was mir den Einstieg erschwert hat, waren die vielen verschiedenen Charaktere in diesem Roman. Wir lernen mindestens 10 verschiedene Personen kennen und lesen auch aus einer Vielzahl von Perspektiven. Bis man sich eingefunden hat, welche Rolle ein jeder in der Handlung spielt, vergeht einiges an Zeit.
Wenn man sich aber einmal eingefunden hat, entwickelt die Geschichte eine interessante Dynamik, gerade zwischen den einzelnen Charakteren.
Auch in diesem Roman von Bernhard Schlink werden einige Intrigen und Geheimnisse aufgedeckt, welche sich über die Jahre zwischen den Freund:innen angestaut haben, was natürlich immer wieder etwas Spannung in die Geschichte bringt.
Ich muss schlussendlich jedoch sagen, das der Roman für mich nur durchschnittlich war.
Das Konzept hat viel Spielraum und Potenzial angeboten, was meiner Meinung nach jedoch nicht zu 100% ausgeschöpft werden konnte.
Man hat zwar die einzelnen Handlungsstränge am Ende wieder zusammenführen können, jedoch hätte ich mir gerade beim übergeordneten Thema des Romanes etwas mehr Konfrontation gewünscht.
Was ich jedoch auch mochte, war das man das Thema noch ein wenig weiter gespannt hat und sich viel mit Erwartungen an das eigene Leben beschäftigt hat und inwiefern die einzelnen Personen damit in ihrem Leben umgegangen sind.
Ich kann mir trotzdem vorstellen mehr von diesem Autor zu lesen. Die Geschichte liegt ja auch mit der Bewertung im absoluten Mittelfeld und hat für mich persönlich Schwächen und Stärken gehabt, war aber keine absolute Enttäuschung.
Ich muss zugeben, mir fiel der Einstieg ins Buch unfassbar schwer und ich war mir eigentlich sicher, ich würde das Buch nicht mehr beenden. Erst nach ungefähr 1/3 bin ich etwas tiefer in die Geschichte eingetaucht.
Was mir den Einstieg erschwert hat, waren die vielen verschiedenen Charaktere in diesem Roman. Wir lernen mindestens 10 verschiedene Personen kennen und lesen auch aus einer Vielzahl von Perspektiven. Bis man sich eingefunden hat, welche Rolle ein jeder in der Handlung spielt, vergeht einiges an Zeit.
Wenn man sich aber einmal eingefunden hat, entwickelt die Geschichte eine interessante Dynamik, gerade zwischen den einzelnen Charakteren.
Auch in diesem Roman von Bernhard Schlink werden einige Intrigen und Geheimnisse aufgedeckt, welche sich über die Jahre zwischen den Freund:innen angestaut haben, was natürlich immer wieder etwas Spannung in die Geschichte bringt.
Ich muss schlussendlich jedoch sagen, das der Roman für mich nur durchschnittlich war.
Das Konzept hat viel Spielraum und Potenzial angeboten, was meiner Meinung nach jedoch nicht zu 100% ausgeschöpft werden konnte.
Man hat zwar die einzelnen Handlungsstränge am Ende wieder zusammenführen können, jedoch hätte ich mir gerade beim übergeordneten Thema des Romanes etwas mehr Konfrontation gewünscht.
Was ich jedoch auch mochte, war das man das Thema noch ein wenig weiter gespannt hat und sich viel mit Erwartungen an das eigene Leben beschäftigt hat und inwiefern die einzelnen Personen damit in ihrem Leben umgegangen sind.
Ich kann mir trotzdem vorstellen mehr von diesem Autor zu lesen. Die Geschichte liegt ja auch mit der Bewertung im absoluten Mittelfeld und hat für mich persönlich Schwächen und Stärken gehabt, war aber keine absolute Enttäuschung.
April 5, 2021
A terrorist, freed from prison after almost thirty years. His sister, who has been a mother to him gathering a group of his friends from thirty years ago. A weekend in the country. In the hope that at least one of them can help him, guide him back to life.
They were an angst filled generation. Fired with anger against establishment, fascism, inequalities, injustice. Today, they are a motley group. A journalist, a vicar, a lawyer, a businessman, a teacher, having lived, loved, lost, gained. And Jorg, the terrorist.
As the weekend unfolds, questions are asked, more to themselves than others. Some secrets unveiled, some still hidden. The futility of ‘what others think,’ for some of them realize that others might not have been thinking anything at all. That all they were afraid of all this time was maybe fear itself. Only that.
Some existential questions, and some beautiful answers from unexpected sources. A son, trying to find answers from a father that had given just given him up, forgotten him? All through this, how relationships make and break, how one’s truth could be another’s lie. Of betrayals and guilt.
Why terrorism, who is a terrorist and why, how should they be treated and what becomes of them if they are not killed in youth, would they have dreams like others, what of their family.
Also, how the realism of life overwhelms the idealism of youth, how the cycle repeats itself. How much is in our control, how much from our genes and circumstances, and whether we have any right to all to judge the other for the paths they chose, even question them.
Finally, the freedom. The peace that comes from knowing that all you can and should do is let it be.
It took me less than half a weekend. Pick it up if life, people , their thoughts, questions, relationships, expectations and conversations excite you.
They were an angst filled generation. Fired with anger against establishment, fascism, inequalities, injustice. Today, they are a motley group. A journalist, a vicar, a lawyer, a businessman, a teacher, having lived, loved, lost, gained. And Jorg, the terrorist.
As the weekend unfolds, questions are asked, more to themselves than others. Some secrets unveiled, some still hidden. The futility of ‘what others think,’ for some of them realize that others might not have been thinking anything at all. That all they were afraid of all this time was maybe fear itself. Only that.
Some existential questions, and some beautiful answers from unexpected sources. A son, trying to find answers from a father that had given just given him up, forgotten him? All through this, how relationships make and break, how one’s truth could be another’s lie. Of betrayals and guilt.
Why terrorism, who is a terrorist and why, how should they be treated and what becomes of them if they are not killed in youth, would they have dreams like others, what of their family.
Also, how the realism of life overwhelms the idealism of youth, how the cycle repeats itself. How much is in our control, how much from our genes and circumstances, and whether we have any right to all to judge the other for the paths they chose, even question them.
Finally, the freedom. The peace that comes from knowing that all you can and should do is let it be.
It took me less than half a weekend. Pick it up if life, people , their thoughts, questions, relationships, expectations and conversations excite you.
July 19, 2011
It's fine. It presents several characters with different opinions about terrorism and the armed resistance without being bias towards one or the other. Also, some of the characters are quite... unique. I mean, sometimes it looks like nothing has a cause and effect (for example, the relationship between some characters), everything is quite "random". I'm sure it means something, but it puts me on my nerves.
October 9, 2015
"Margarete, con su ligereza, su serenidad y su alegría, le irritaba. Se trataba de la alegría de los simples y de la serenidad de los afortunados que se encuentran a gusto en el mundo sin tener que esforzarse… y a Henner no le gustaba ninguna de las dos cosas"
https://lahierbaroja.wordpress.com/20...
https://lahierbaroja.wordpress.com/20...
October 21, 2021
Ich habe das Buch als Hörbuch gehört, das von Hans Korte gelesen wurde. Mir hat das Buch gut gefallen. Die Handlung beschränkt sich auf ein Wochenende, das erste Wochenende nach der Entlassung aus der Haft von einem ehemalige RAF Terrorist.
Es geht viel, um Erwartung, was man vom Leben erwartet und was daraus schlussendlich wird und wie man damit umgeht.
Es geht viel, um Erwartung, was man vom Leben erwartet und was daraus schlussendlich wird und wie man damit umgeht.
August 31, 2017
Interesante para entender el terrorismo en Alemania.
October 20, 2020
Ameno, descriptivo, paisaje bucólico pero justo la red psicológica q se teje entre los personajes me ha resultado irreal y poco interesante
February 13, 2018
Peccato...
Peccato...una storia forte, interessante: il ritorno di un terrorista nella cerchia di famiglia e amici, dopo la prigione; costruita con un buon crescendo di rivelazioni attorno al passato di lui, di chi ha dato il suo nome alla polizia, delle vittime che ha fatto, ma raccontata male. Buttata via la storia, per mancanza di ritmo, per la piattezza della narrazione; non vi è la bella opacità che si leggeva in "Ad alta Voce" dove affioravano, silenziosi, stati, sentimenti, ricordi, giudizi, che non avevano bisogno di essere esplicitati. Qui, è il contrario: personaggi disegnati con la accetta, vecchie caricature di se stessi, dialoghi scontati. Rimane solo una bella inquietudine etica attorno al terrosrista ritornato.
Peccato...una storia forte, interessante: il ritorno di un terrorista nella cerchia di famiglia e amici, dopo la prigione; costruita con un buon crescendo di rivelazioni attorno al passato di lui, di chi ha dato il suo nome alla polizia, delle vittime che ha fatto, ma raccontata male. Buttata via la storia, per mancanza di ritmo, per la piattezza della narrazione; non vi è la bella opacità che si leggeva in "Ad alta Voce" dove affioravano, silenziosi, stati, sentimenti, ricordi, giudizi, che non avevano bisogno di essere esplicitati. Qui, è il contrario: personaggi disegnati con la accetta, vecchie caricature di se stessi, dialoghi scontati. Rimane solo una bella inquietudine etica attorno al terrosrista ritornato.
September 3, 2022
"—Pedir perdón… es algo tan pequeño, sólo un par de palabras, y lo ocurrido es tan grave… que no consigo conciliar ambas cosas. Por eso no me atrevo."
March 14, 2014
Nach 23 Jahren Haft wird der Terrorist Jörg aus dem Gefängnis entlassen, seine offizielle Begnadigung durch den Bundespräsidenten soll erst noch verkündet werden. Jörgs ältere Schwester Christiane holt ihn zu einem Treffen mit Freunden und Unterstützern von früher ab in ihr abgeschieden liegendes Haus in Brandenburg. Die zu dem Treffen erwarteten ehemals aufmüpfigen Kinder süddeutscher Akademikerfamilien haben sich inzwischen im Beruf etabliert. Älter und schwergewichtiger sind die Ex-Revolutionäre geworden, sonst scheinen sie sich kaum verändert zu haben. Christiane nimmt Jörg gegenüber wie gewohnt die Rolle der überfürsorglichen Schwester ein. In weiteren Rollen der Journalist Henner, der erfolgreiche Zahntechniker Ulrich, der Frau und Tochter Dorle mit nach Brandenburg bringt, und die protestantische Bischöfin Karin, die in ihrem Beruf die Spitze der Karriereleiter erreicht hat. In unauffälligen Nebenrollen Ilse als stille Beobachterin und Berichterstatterin und Margarete, Christianes Lebensgefährtin. Abwesend sind Jan, von dem unklar ist, ob er noch lebt, Ulla, Jörgs verstorbene Lebensgefährtin und ihr gemeinsamer Sohn Ferdinand, der keinen Kontakt zum Vater hat. Als Besucher erscheint Marko, Mitglied einer der RAF nahestehenden Organisation, der Jörg forsch und rücksichtslos als Aushängeschild für seine Gruppe einfordert. Das Aufeinandertreffen gegensätzlicher Ansichten zu Jörgs möglicher Zukunft und die Konfrontation mit anreisenden Außenstehenden kann wie auf einer Theaterbühne verfolgt werden. Selbst die Perspektive des damals von den Terroristen entführten Opfers wird in einem Text eingebracht, den Ilse gerade verfasst. Ilse ist keine Augenzeugin, vor ihr liegt noch die Recherche oder die Entscheidung für eine fiktive Darstellung. Streitpunkt sind - unter der älteren Generationen - das Verraten von Jörg an die Polizei und - zwischen Alt und Jung - die Auseinandersetzung um Schuld und Reue.
"Das Wochenende" liefert mit der Inselsituation eines zeitlich begrenzten Gruppentreffens und durch die individuellen Blickwinkel vieler beteiligter Personen eine Fülle von Diskussionsanregungen. Thema und Handlungsaufbau bieten sich geradezu für den Deutschunterricht an. Als Leser jenseits der Schulzeit dagegen hatte ich mir von einem Roman über einen gealterten, aber nicht geläuterten (RAF-)Terroristen und sein persönliches Umfeld einen erweiterten Blick auf die zeitgeschichtlichen Ereignisse erhofft. Die Rollen, die Schlink seinen Mitwirkenden zuweist, wirken auf mich stereotyp und lassen kaum Einblick in die Innenwelt der Figuren zu. Ein Roman sollte im Idealfall nicht nur durch seinen kunstvoll konstruierten Plot glänzen, sondern meinen Blick für Eigenschaften der Figuren jenseits von Klischees öffnen. Schlinks stereotype Figuren ließen mich durchweg an Referatthemen denken: Der kindlich fordernde Jungrevolutionär, der in eine ihm fremde Epoche entlassene Strafgefangene, die dominierende ältere Schwester, die kinderlose Frau, der verlassene Sohn und schließlich in der Fortschreibung der Flugblätter-tippenden Protest-Groupies der 68er die sexuelle Dienstleisterin für den alternden Terroristen.
"Das Wochenende" liefert mit der Inselsituation eines zeitlich begrenzten Gruppentreffens und durch die individuellen Blickwinkel vieler beteiligter Personen eine Fülle von Diskussionsanregungen. Thema und Handlungsaufbau bieten sich geradezu für den Deutschunterricht an. Als Leser jenseits der Schulzeit dagegen hatte ich mir von einem Roman über einen gealterten, aber nicht geläuterten (RAF-)Terroristen und sein persönliches Umfeld einen erweiterten Blick auf die zeitgeschichtlichen Ereignisse erhofft. Die Rollen, die Schlink seinen Mitwirkenden zuweist, wirken auf mich stereotyp und lassen kaum Einblick in die Innenwelt der Figuren zu. Ein Roman sollte im Idealfall nicht nur durch seinen kunstvoll konstruierten Plot glänzen, sondern meinen Blick für Eigenschaften der Figuren jenseits von Klischees öffnen. Schlinks stereotype Figuren ließen mich durchweg an Referatthemen denken: Der kindlich fordernde Jungrevolutionär, der in eine ihm fremde Epoche entlassene Strafgefangene, die dominierende ältere Schwester, die kinderlose Frau, der verlassene Sohn und schließlich in der Fortschreibung der Flugblätter-tippenden Protest-Groupies der 68er die sexuelle Dienstleisterin für den alternden Terroristen.
October 8, 2012
Der RAF Terrorist Jörg wird nach vielen Jahren Haft begnadigt. Seine Schwester Christiane, die seit seiner Kindheit für ihn gesorgt hat, holt ihn ab. Um ihm den Einstieg in die Gesellschaft zu erleichtern – oder das Auftreffen auf die wirkliche Gesellschaft noch ein paar Tage zu verzögern – organisiert sie ein Wochenende in einem abgelegenen Landhaus. Eingeladen sind die alten Freunde, die sich damals zwar wohl als Revolutionäre gesehen haben, sich vor dem bewaffneten Kampf aber gescheut haben.
Unabhängig von der vordergründigen Handlung um das Treffen zwischen heutzutage gesellschaftskonformen Mitmenschen mit den Überzeugungen ihrer Vergangenheit und deren Konsequenzen, findet man auch viele zwischenmenschliche Entwicklungen. Ilse, die durch diese Konfrontation ihrem Leben eine neue Richtung geben kann; Henner, dem durch die Begegnung mit Margarete vieles über sein Leben klar wird; Christiane, die zwischen Schuldgefühlen, innerer Leere und Freiheitsdrang ihren Weg zu finden hat – mich haben diese Charaktere am meisten beschäftigt.
Von der ersten bis zur letzten Seite eine dichte Geschichte, die Fragen unserer Gesellschaft (und auch ganz persönlicher Art) aufwerfen. Wie geht das Leben weiter, wenn es 20 Jahre gestoppt worden ist? Wenn der Lebensinhalt von damals zwar als Fehler begriffen wird, aber die Ansichten doch nicht angepasster werden? Wie gehen Freunde und Familie mit einem Menschen um, der gemordet hat und wenig Reue dafür zeigt und doch heutzutage fast nur noch ein bemitleidenswertes Bild abgibt?
Bernhard Schlink verurteilt nicht, beleuchtet distanziert aber authentisch die verschiedenen Perspektiven, ist feinfühlig in der Darstellung der Personen. Er setzt sowohl den Neureichen Ulrich, seine frühreife Tochter Dorle als auch die Bischöfin Karin in einen Rahmen, in dem alle Charaktere zur Geltung kommen und sich mit ihrer Art und Meinung zu dem Gesamtbild unserer Gesellschaft zusammenfügen.
Für mich grosse und wichtige deutsche Literatur.
Unabhängig von der vordergründigen Handlung um das Treffen zwischen heutzutage gesellschaftskonformen Mitmenschen mit den Überzeugungen ihrer Vergangenheit und deren Konsequenzen, findet man auch viele zwischenmenschliche Entwicklungen. Ilse, die durch diese Konfrontation ihrem Leben eine neue Richtung geben kann; Henner, dem durch die Begegnung mit Margarete vieles über sein Leben klar wird; Christiane, die zwischen Schuldgefühlen, innerer Leere und Freiheitsdrang ihren Weg zu finden hat – mich haben diese Charaktere am meisten beschäftigt.
Von der ersten bis zur letzten Seite eine dichte Geschichte, die Fragen unserer Gesellschaft (und auch ganz persönlicher Art) aufwerfen. Wie geht das Leben weiter, wenn es 20 Jahre gestoppt worden ist? Wenn der Lebensinhalt von damals zwar als Fehler begriffen wird, aber die Ansichten doch nicht angepasster werden? Wie gehen Freunde und Familie mit einem Menschen um, der gemordet hat und wenig Reue dafür zeigt und doch heutzutage fast nur noch ein bemitleidenswertes Bild abgibt?
Bernhard Schlink verurteilt nicht, beleuchtet distanziert aber authentisch die verschiedenen Perspektiven, ist feinfühlig in der Darstellung der Personen. Er setzt sowohl den Neureichen Ulrich, seine frühreife Tochter Dorle als auch die Bischöfin Karin in einen Rahmen, in dem alle Charaktere zur Geltung kommen und sich mit ihrer Art und Meinung zu dem Gesamtbild unserer Gesellschaft zusammenfügen.
Für mich grosse und wichtige deutsche Literatur.
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