The Reader, A Screenplay.

Hare, David

ISBN 10: 1602860939 / ISBN 13: 9781602860933

Published by New York, Weinstein Books., 2009

About this Item

First Edition, First Printing (paperback original). -- Based on the novel by Bernhard Schlink. -- Softcover. Condition: near fine. ISBN 9781602860933.

Seller Inventory # 37239

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Reader, A Screenplay.
• Publisher: New York, Weinstein Books.
• Publication Date: 2009
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1602860939
• ISBN 13: 9781602860933
• Binding: Soft cover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Seller catalogs:
  • Drama

About this title

Synopsis

Now nominated for five Academy Awards® including Best Adapted Screenplay and based on the award-winning and New York Times bestselling novel by Bernhard Schlink, legendary playwright and screenwriter David Hare's film adaptation of The Reader comes complete with an introduction by the author and is published to coincide with The Weinstein Company's upcoming release starring Kate Winslet and Ralph Fiennes.

In 1958, 15-year-old Michael Berg becomes ill on the streets of Blumenstrasse, Germany, and 36-year-old tram conductor Hanna Schmitz, a complete stranger, helps him home. After months of battling scarlet fever, Michael visits Hannah to thank her when he catches her undressing. Instantly he is attracted. Overwhelmed by an obsession, he returns for another visit, where she asks for help carrying coal up to her apartment. He becomes dirty doing so, and she bathes him; after which they are drawn in to a passionate, secretive affair. As their physical relationship deepens, Hanna has him read aloud to her, chiefly from the great works of Western literature. While Hannah remains distant from Michael emotionally, he soon becomes enamored. Suddenly, Hanna disappears without a goodbye. Eight years later, as a student in law school, Michael attends a war crimes trial for a group of middle-aged women who had served as guards at Auschwitz. To Michael's surprise, Hanna is one of the defendants.
Conflicted for having loved a felon but intrigued by Hanna's compliance to accept sole responsibility for the offense, Michael soon learns Hanna is protecting what is to her a far more terrible secret than a Nazi past...

The Reader is a haunting story about truth and reconciliation, and about a generation that must come to terms with the crimes of another.

About the Author

David Hare is one of Britain's most internationally performed playwrights. Fourteen of his plays have been presented at London's National Theatre and ten of his best-known plays including Plenty, The Secret Rapture, Skylight, The Blue Room, Amy's View, The Judas Kiss, Via Dolorosa-in which he also performed-and The Vertical Hour have been presented on Broadway. His new play Gethsemane is now playing at the National Theatre. He has written the screenplays for many feature films including Wetherby, Paris by Night, Strapless, Plenty, Damage, and The Hours.