** spoiler alert ** 
 I found this book interesting but not exactly riveting. I always have trouble with translations, because I never know if the style is true to the original or not, so I don't know how to judge the author on that point (so I usually don't). And clearly some things are lost. At one point, Michael asks Hanna her name. The text indicates that up to this point, Michael had avoided using the formal or familiar form of address, but because the distinction doesn't exist in English (nor in the English translation), there is no indication of which he actually used. Small point, but one that I think can show a fair amount about how individuals are relating to one another. 
 I really thought it was skillful the way Schlink explored the ways in which those who use us become part of our lives forever. Most literature that deals with sexual abuse/assault deals with the immediate aftermath or dramatic flashbacks. Schlink took it even further, confronting the numbness and confusion that exists for those involved and how this influences their day-to-day actions and in many ways shapes the course of their entire lives. I don't think that Michael's continued interest in/obsession with Hanna was an indication that theirs was a "right" or "appropriate" relationship in any way, and I don't get the impression that Schlink was endorsing it. Rather, he was just explaining the way in which being used sexually and emotionally can create a lasting impression, a backdrop against which we judge all future experiences. Michael seemed to want to be rid of Hanna and her effect on him, but he couldn't find a way. I was somewhat gratified that she couldn't escape those she'd wronged (him or the women in the camps) any more than he could escape her. 
 I also appreciate the juxtaposition of Michael's individual struggle to free himself from Hanna with the struggle of his entire generation to place the reality of the Third Reich in a context that they could understand and live with as inheritors of that past.