Luis Santos Reaction #1

I really enjoyed part 1 of the reader. The story so far has been a very quick read and it is written in a rather colloquial language, making it easy to understand. Even though the story itself is a bit strange, a boy who falls in love with a woman who could be his mother, it has something about it that is very interesting. Maybe it’s the way the author wrote it, or how the narrator describes everything in great detail. Its almost as if I was actually there with him.  The sexual content of the story didn’t bother me at all, in fact I liked it. It made everything more believable. He couldn’t have explained everything in great detail and then just because it was a sex scene, he omits all the details. The only thing that I did not like very much about the book is that so far, there hasn’t really been a climax. Everything seems to go in a straight line with no rising action. Actually, I take that back, Hanna did run away at the very end of part 1 and I guess that’s the start of a rising action. I wonder what will be the climax of the story. Sometimes I think Hanna will end up getting pregnant and the two will have to raise a child together. Then it would be like mother son and grandson as oppose to mother father and son. Another thing I would like to talk about is how the boy is literally a slave of Hanna’s. I understand he is in love with her so he puts on her on a pedestal but he exaggerates. He will legit do anything fo the woman. He will even say he did something he didn’t even do. And then she is always making him read for her. Is she illiterate? Why has she never read anything to him? Does he not wonder any of these things? And does he not care that she didn’t even bother to ask him when his birthday was when he had just asked her when hers was? I hope I find answers to all these questions in the next part of the book.   

Alex Williams Part 1 Reaction

            This has been an interesting read so far. It flows well and the chapters are short so it’s good at capturing and holding your attention. As for the content, I think it’s unique and interesting. This is something that we don’t hear of often as most of society frowns upon it. However I have to give props to the kid for nailing a woman in her late thirties at only fifteen. That is pretty impressive. Quite often older men have relationships with younger women and I think it is interesting that this story reverses the role and puts the woman as older and in charge of the relationship. I can clearly see that she has power over him as he never talks back to her after the first time and always submits. He is definitely whipped. Since Shap mentioned S&M in class, I was able to spot the beginning of it in this story. Hanna hits Michael in the face with a belt, so that he is bleeding, and then they have sex. This was the first step. Then, he describes his recent encounters with her as different. Now he could “take possession” of her in bed and Michael mentioned that she kept going after he was finished so that it hurt him. I perceive this as the beginning of S&M in this book. Besides that, I do not see much depth in this book. Perhaps it is just offering another take on society and the usual things that happen in it. I think it will change in the next part and progress to something more significant, as the author left off part one with a huge cliffhanger. I am also curious about the title. Why is it called “The Reader”? They read every time before sex, but I feel as if there is something more to it. Perhaps it will be elaborated on in Part Two. 

Wesley Groves Reaction #1

It is a rare occurrence, but this book among few, was able to grasp my interest from the very start.  So far, it has been a narrative of a young boy, who through the contraction of Hepatitis, is able to create an interesting relationship with a much older woman.  This also proved to me that you can not always pass judgement on a character by your first impression.  When he described his first encounter with this woman, I assumed that since she was older that meant she was really old, and thus i assumed she was not attractive.  But clearly, in order to create a relationship with such a young man like the one she has, she must be attractive to some degree.  At least, I hope for his sake.  But nonetheless, this novel is clearly going to play on the controversial relationship that is unfolding before our eyes.  I hope it does at least, for the age gap between the two is not one that can be easily ignored.

Reaction #1 Hernan Prieto

As I began to sink into the pages of "The Reader" I find my self in otter confusion. I wasn't able to understand the gender of the main character, I always assumed it was a woman because of the way that the novel was told, complaining was a major tone which made it easy to assume the character might have been a woman. 

It was not until that is was revealed that the character was indeed a man, his attitude seemed to be normal enough, someone who just endured a hard illness he proves to be one that is well educated since he agrees to go and give thanks to the woman who saved him in one of his worst times. It was interesting to see that he had lived where the woman lived. This made a huge significance when it was said he ran away for her because of nerves. 

When their relationship begins to grow I feel that the novel also changes in tone. First there is a sort of expedient between both of them they "play" in a way then the relationship intensifies, and leads to the point that she abuses him but he doesn't mind, this also revealed a new side of him that the readers might have not understood very well until then. When their affair finishes and he begins to explore his other options. It was interesting to see how he was never able to get rid of the idea of her which I found to be a key idea that the author is trying to send to the reader. 

As I continue to read I hope I find myself a little more intrigued by the novel. 

Zane Van de Put Post #1

I think The Reader is decent so far. It is not so great and it is not too bad. The beginning is weird and I do not know what to make of it. A kid throws up and gets hepatitis. To repay the old lady for saving him when he throws up, the kid goes to her house to say thank you. The two end up having sex and eventually having a relationship. It is weird to image a teenager and a grown woman having a relationship. It is considered taboo in our culture. 

The parts where the speaker rambles on are not that interesting. They are nothing like the rambling speeches in Notes From the Underground. In this story, the speaker rambles on about buildings and homework. These are things that clearly do not interest me.

The relationship between the kid, Michael, and the “old” lady, Hanna, is interesting. Hanna is clearly the one in charge, which is obvious since she is much older than Michael. He is only fifteen when she is in her late thirties. Hanna often gets mad at Michael for no reason, she does it out of enjoyment to see Michael beg for mercy. Michael is like a pet to Hanna. I might get crap for this, but it seems like Michael is the woman of the relationship. He gets beat up by Hanna. Domestic abusive is usually on the woman and done by the man. However, in this relationship it is opposite. I thought that the sex scenes were a little to in depth and not needed. It was weird to read about an adult woman and a teenage boy having sex

I am confused on why Hanna left. She did not say good-bye to Michael nor did she tell him why she was leaving. She clearly cared for Michael. It seemed as if she left in a rush. Was it her guilt of corrupted innocent Michael that led her to leave? Or was it for another unknown reason? I am eager to find out more.

Olivia Thaler blog 1

This novel is very peculiar, yet very interesting. At the commencement of the novel I was very interested in the narrator’s reference to a “black bird singing.” At first I thought he was talking about death, but as I read along (and after he referenced it for a second time) I started thinking that the black bird may help display his very passionate mental state. He feels all of his emotions very deeply and intensely, and they are often times on the opposite ends of the spectrum. He even mentioned that a person can have something that makes them feel so happy, but when that thing disappoints them in a way we tend to forget it makes us happy. We let the present unhappiness make us forget that.

Michael’s relationship with Hanna is another interesting topic. I feel like she is using him, manipulating him, and simply wants him for her own sexual desires. On the contrary, he seemed genuinely in love with her. It is hard to judge because it is his first love and his first sexual encounter, so we are not sure if he really loves her or if she is just a great manipulator. She is very controlling. I have a feeling that she is not as psychologically stable as we think. When Michael left her in the morning to go get breakfast and she cried hysterically I realized that she must have had something in her past to make her act this way. This may be why she is doing something that is not accepted at all in society: having relations with a minor. Sometimes I feel like there is some part of the story that we are missing. At the beginning I thought that Michael had been dreaming of her as he was sick in his hospital bed, and that it was all his imagination since he felt he was near death. Then it became clear it was real life. Overall, I am interested in the novel and hope the second part clears some ideas up.   

Jerry Bonnell Reaction #1

The Reader has been a peculiar read. The way it starts is almost startling – a boy vomits almost anywhere and everywhere. Later, we discover that he is diagnosed with hepatitis and should spend time away from school. So, the book begins with a narrator whose reality has been cursed by sporadic illness and weaknesses. Yet I wondered to what degree is this boy’s sickness psychological?

His whole world seems to change at the snap of a finger when an older woman helps him with his vomit spell. Whether it is his heart or his body, something seems to be raging. Even more so, when he is a growing teenager raised in a religiously grounded family. As such, his body craves sex while his mind is struggling to suppress it. Especially after you are taught about the “dirtyness” of pleasuring oneself, sex suddenly becomes this fantasy that you cannot escape. Just knowing that makes you crave it even more. “Forbidden” love.

He elaborates on his past much in the same fashion that Julian Barnes did in Sense of an Ending. He is looking back, as if he is searching for a message in his past. As such, it seems as if the narrator is almost regretful for choosing this path. Were his religious teachings correct? Was his love affair worth the price? What that price may be is unknown to us, though there clearly seems to be a catch here. The narrator dates someone clearly out of his league, yet it just makes him yearn for her more. She represents all that is mysterious and incongruous. She is the “outside” world to him and by being with her, he feels that he has one-upped himself on the social hierarchy. This is even more of an accomplishment when the person moving up could not even hold his food down after dinner. Now he is willingly to resume his academic career.

Will Michael be able to overcome this awkward relationship? How damaging is this affair? Is it helpful to some degree? Why is Hanna so hesitant about revealing her past? What kind of mysteries could she be holding back? She is no different from Veronica in Barnes’ tale, the girl of wonder and “firsts.” Yet she haunted and scarred Webster’s life long after their relationship ended. Will this be the same case here?