![]() He forwards the cassette tapes, devoid of any personal communication, to Hanna in prison. Instead of writing her letters, however, he records himself reading aloud from books. Eventually Michael begins to correspond with Hanna in prison. He is largely uninvolved with his family and does not have any strong friendships. He is unable to succeed in a long-term relationship, however, and divorces after only a few years. Michael gets married and fathers a child. During the trial Michael realizes that Hanna is illiterate - and to hide her shame of illiteracy she has made several poor decisions in her life. Hanna, accused of several atrocities, is convicted and sentenced to life in prison. As an SS guard Hanna would have younger, weaker, prisoners read to her before she sent them off to their murder. Through the trial he learns that Hanna was a member of the SS and a guard at the Auschwitz concentration camp and another satellite work camp. Michael is stunned when he recognizes one of the accused war criminals is Hanna. One of his law seminars requires him to attend a Nazi war crimes trial, and he is randomly assigned to a particular trial, which begins in the fall of 1966. Michael finishes high school and advances to university where he studies law. Then one day Hanna simply vanishes, and Michael is left feeling guilty and sickened by the strange end of the relationship. When Michael is not having sex with Hanna he attends school, develops friendships and infatuations, and otherwise behaves like a typical teenager. Upon Hanna's request Michael begins to read aloud to her on each of his visits. Michael falls in love with Hanna, but the emotional attachment is not reciprocated. Hanna mentally dominates Michael and controls the relationship. Michael begins regularly to visit Hanna at her apartment where they have sex. Hanna quickly seduces Michael, and the two characters begin a relationship that lasts for several months. As he is recovering from a prolonged illness, he meets a 38-year-old working-class woman, named Hanna Schmitz. In 1958, Michael Berg is a middle-class, 15-year-old living in West Germany.
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