Schlink creates an interesting character and story, and at the same time interweaves the themes of working through the meaning of the Nazi past in a bourgeois democratic Germany. His characterization -- especially of his detecttive, a former Nazi prosecutor -- is rich, and the German not too difficult for one such as I, who learned German from Pimsleur CDs relatively late in life.

This story, told by Bernhard himself from a very personal viewpoint, gives you some perspective on the survival chances of rural africa in general, and Serengeti in particular.

After having visited Tanzania, I recognize the problems of neglect and human stupidity that Dr Grzimek is talking about. It is therefore all the more confronting, since he wrote it in 1959.

It reads like a novel/diary but nevertheless gives you some comprehension of the larger issues at stake. Tourism versus ecology is the main issue and Bernhard and his son Michael, who died in the proces of preserving this beautiful place, have surely tipped the scale in favor of the latter.

This is a well written story, that goes to the heart of the matter, namely, the burden placed upon a juror in a well known trial. This book places you in the juror seat thoughout the trial process. You experience both the defense and prosecutions side of the evidence, as presented to the jurors, through the use of text from the actual trial transcripts etc. I would recomend this book to anyone, who likes an easy read, and a story, that keeps your interest up. The author, did a fine job, of conveying the mood of the trial and of all the participants involved.

This novelization of the second film in the omen series is a professional job, it just isn't that scary (a problem the film it's based on had as well). It was also written by Joseph Howard, not David Seltzer as listed above. Fans of the series will want to search for it anyway, for there are minor differences in the story that will no doubt be of interest.

Just in case you do not know already, Damien: Omen II is an adaptation of the movie of the same name. Damien: Omen II is a sequel to "The Omen'. The original Omen movie started out as a novel, while Damien: Omen II started out as a screenplay which the novel is closely based on.

The story takes place seven years later in which Damien the Antichrist is now thirteen years old, and totally in the dark about his diabolic heritage and destiny. He now lives with his uncle, who runs Thorn Industries, his second wife Ann, and his cousin Mark. As usual, anybody who steps in Damien's way to his destiny or knows his true nature is promptly knocked off in ingenious and gruesome ways. WHile a huge black mastiff lingers around Damien in the first movie/novel, now a monstrous raven hovers ominously nearby.

The biggest change in the novel from the movie is the Joan Hart character. In the film, she was merely just a reason for the producers to stick in another gruesome death scene. In the novel, her role was expanded. Her association switched from the David Warner character in the first movie to the archeologist Michael Morgan in the second film's prolouge.

Another change is Ann Thorn. In the film it is suggested that she was in league with the DEvil and was dispatched when her usefulness was over. In the book, it is not clear what her true motivation was in the story's finale.

Earlier editions contains photographs from the movie, which you may be able to find in used book stores.

Overall, the book is a good read, even though it lacked the religious details and atmosphere of the first movie, the book still ended with an evil note like the first one, in which evil triumphs.

A good follow up to the original and a good story. But it borrows too heavily from the good versus evil earlier theme of Damien's guardians striking down anybody who learns of his dark secret. This story is interesting because young Damien finally comes to realize who he is and gradually accepts it, then relishes it. Now as a young adult with his destiny set before him the stage is set for the next sequel.

This is a good read, although it is very bleak. Be prepared to have your dictionary in tow, as Schlink uses some esoteric words. I read the English translation and it is rather free. If you can, stick to the better: auf Deutsch.

This book is worth the read; if not for the story itself, then for the situation it puts the reader in: "What would I do if...?" The author has written the book in mainly the first person, like a memoir, so there is very little actual dialogue between the characters. I find this aspect rather apealling. The author takes the reader on a journey with the 15 year old Michael Berg & his 36 year old lover, Hanna. One day Hanna disappears and Michael has to wrestle with the question of "why?". He goes on to become a law student & unexpectedly discovers that Hanna is now on trial for a Nazi war crime. What happens after that is a series of unanswerable questions that Michael has to deal with and he doesn't seem to get any satisfaction one way or the other. The ending is both bittersweet and sad. The German version of this book is not extremely difficult to understand, but German students will probably want a dictionary just in case.

I have read only the English translation of this book ("The Reader") but I can recommend it as an excellent novel. The story takes some interesting twists and time jumps but isn't difficult to follow - it's very well-written. If you can, try to avoid finding out anything about it before you read it. The language wasn't particularly difficult, but I'd imagine you'd have to have pretty good German (or a good dictionary and a lot of patience) to read it in its original language; it's no kids book. A really interesting insight into post-WWII societal guilt in Germany.

This has to be one of the most inane books I've ever read

I think I was 15 when I picked this up from a used book store somewhere. Since then, it's had many a note scribbled here and there as it's been passed on to family and friends. This was my first exposure to Bernhard and it was well worth it. The excerpts(?) are at times funny or downright hilarious. Other times they take on a melancholic air, but there's always a profound meaning somewhere in there. Though her note to girls trying to get into the Hollywood scene is a bit outdated now (as posted in Cosmo in the 80's), it's still great fun to read. Not a book to be read once and abandoned on a shelf; while I had it, it was a great distraction from my own life once in a while. If you like random thoughts and ideas, or just seeing into another person's life/mind, you've got to grab this book. (Out-of-print or not!)

Sandra is a wonderful writer--obviously strongly influenced by the anecdotal style and devastating epigrams of The Philsophy of Andy Warhol. Jet black comedy about crash-and-burn romances, which acts as a perverse pick-me-up that will keep you cackling for hours!

For those who have grown weary of the typical post-war, anti-Nazi novels, movies, and histories of World War II Germany (I'm thinking of Ursula Hegi's tedious Stones from the River,among others), but wonder how the legacy of Nazism has affected successive generations, this book is a must-read. Written by a German man who grew up in post-war Germany, this book sheds light on how people of his generation have grappled with the Third Reich and its aftermath. At the same time, the book touchingly tells a young man's coming-of-age story in a most compelling manner. The love affair with Hanna, the friendships with his school and university classmates, and the strained relationship with his family are utterly credible--so much so that one cannot help wondering how much of it was based on the author's personal experiences. This also lent credibility to the other part of the story--Hanna herself and her experiences during the war and afterwards. While illiteracy is no excuse for atrocities, this book does convey the profound effect that illiteracy can have, not only on the illiterate but on those around her. If Schlink's story is an accurate portrayal of what Germany's baby boomers are experiencing, he has done us all a great service by describing it. I found it ironic that I was listening to this book on tape, which are so much easier to make today that in the 1950s. I am giving the tape to my sister, a high school English teacher, because I think she would enjoy it and might recommend it to some of her more sophisticated students. And I am planning to read it myself, the old-fashioned way. Listening to books on tape is a delightful convenience in our busy lives, but there is no substitute for curling up with a good book in one's hands--a pleasure that Hanna sadly came to enjoy much too late in life.

I am a bit surprised to read so many negative reviews of this book. I question if the fact that a fifteen year-old boy had a sexual affair with a woman more than twice his age is the reason for the negativity. If Michael had been twenty and Hanna forty +, would that have changed the perspective of many readers? The importance of this book is that it deals with the complex issues of guilt, revulsion, denial, rationalization, etc. of German people in dealing with the horrors and truths of the mass murders of WWII. Similar to Stones From The River, this book takes you inside the German psyche and poses, but doesn't answer, many complex moral questions. One example of this complexity occurs during the court trial. Hanna's demeanor and thoughtful responses and questions posed to the judge cause one to reflect: What would I have done? A second example was very well written in the dialogue between Michael and the third driver who picked him up as he was hitch-hiking to the camp of Struthof. Do his comments and rationale really suspend belief? I believe that Hanna's final decision in killing herself expresses her torment over the choices she made. It certainly makes one think of what one's own actions would have been given the situation she was placed in.

This is a masterful work of art, and possibly one of my favorite books. Set amid the tumultuous times of post-war Germany, 15-year-old Michael Berg meets an older woman, Hanna. They begin a relationship that consumes the young boy, and profoundly influences his life. This relationship is interrupted when Hanna disappears. Michael only finds her again while he is a law student, and she is on trial for complicity in several of the Nazi crimes as a secret Nazi SS agent.

This book shows an astounding amount of poise and insight, depicting the tremendous guilt and shame associated with the holocaust. The relationships between the perpetrators and the victims are discussed, along with Michael's personal guilt for loving a woman who was capable of committing such terrible crimes. This book is a quick read, and filled with incredible wisdom, and individual sentences that can stand alone as profound declarations that ring absolutely true. This is a great book, which acknowledges that the holocaust can never be truly rationalized, or comprehended, but only discussed as "truth". A fantastic piece of literature!

As someone else said in a review, you can tell this is Bernhardt's first book. I agree it was good enough to try another one but not great. Cannot believe Ben was so bad in court. After all he had been in DA's office, what did he do there. Sounds like he can solve a mystery better than try one. Hope his character and that of Christina McCall get better as time goes on. Glad he left the big deal law firm. Reminds me of a lot of Attorneys and business people in general----the dollar is the only thing that matters. A fair mystery, a fair attorney. Glad I started with this one.

and so I did, with "Primary Justice". And it was OK. And maybe "pretty OK" for a first novel. There's enough of interest in here to make me want to continue with at least one more book, but, I tend to agree with "a reader from San Antonio" (see review following mine), that there is a lot to be desired in plot and writing style. Rough around the edges; let's see if he can develop the characters better in the next go round!

I can believe this was a first novel. Although I stuck it out to the end, I felt the writing was less than compelling--this book did not make me want to read more about Ben Kincaid or his faux-French sidekick, Christina. Kincaid is billed as wanting to do the right thing, but seems clearly a fish out of water when it comes to practicing law. He is bullied and intimidated by stereotypical "shark" lawyers, wrings his hands over a sex-starved woman who is a partner's wife. Christina calls him a wimp at one point; she is right. Surrounded by unrealistic characters including other new lawyers and his sister, he is in poor shape to combat evil. It's no wonder he is constantly in the bathroom, retching his guts out. For someone who had worked in the D.A's office, why didn't he have any sense of courtroom protocol? Where was the editor on this one? If I get desperate, I might check out a novel further into the series to see if things get better.

This book discusses many theories for the origin of torah stories. However, I found that the books' hypotheses differ widely from the most accepted scholarly accounts. I am not sure that I believed all of the proposals that the author puts forth. If you are interested in far reaching alternatives to tradiational scholarship, then this book is for you. If you wish to review a more classical account of biblical origins try Cyrus Gorden's "The Ancient Near East."

I found "Slaying the Dragon" to be enlightening, and very informative. Batto's style of writing clearly presents the ancient near-eastern myths in a easy to understand fashion. His book is a must for any student of Hebrew scripture, and a key to understanding the origins of the Old Testament.

I found this book to be more of a chronicle of this soldiers life off the battlefield than what it meant to be a soldier in the field. The last chapter is devoted to his stint as a prisoner of war and how relatively easy it was to work the system. There were a few short accounts of his action on the front but not alot of detail. Wish it had more with only one descriptive engagement I can recall about action against soviet tanks and the tactics the gunners used to defeat greater numbers. Not for the serious historian.

I enjoyed the book. There are not many battle stories. A lot of non-battle stories. Simply written. Easy to read. Some interesting photo's. For $10 I really enjoyed it. For $20 or more I would feel cheated. But if you're a WW2 junkie then go for it.

3 stars - The book is brief in content and lacks the detail that Forgotten Soldiers or Soldat present in their accounts of German life in the front lines of WWII. Nevertheless, it does present some interesting vignettes of battle and some description of tactical actions that the anti-tank teams used to defeat the formidable Soviet T-34 and KV tanks.

These descriptions were the best part of the book. The rest is more of a personal retrospective that adds little to our understanding of the German soldiers' perspective or predicament. The personal experiences off the battlefield seem almost to be filler material.

I recommend the book in that it is short and easy to read, and the tactical descriptions of anti-tank warfare are helpful (if you are into that sort of thing). However, don't expect too much - if you have read and enjoyed Forgotten Soldiers, then this will disappoint you in its lack of detail. Borrow the book if possible (if it was a movie, I'd reccomend waiting to see it on video or even TBS vs. paying full admission at the theater).