The Reader

I became to read this book after hearing a good review by one celebrity. It is not so much a usual memoir written by a famous people as one written by survivalist from childhood trauma, but also like an autobiographical novel by a talented writer. As far as I know, many famous writers wrote novels based on their own childhood experiences, and usually, people cannot escape from their own childhood memories. Disclosing shameful personal experiences to the public is not an easy thing to do. If the memories were related to parents’ faults or problems whose severity was beyond the level that the public can accept with, writing a memoir must require courage and maturity. During reading this book, I was impressed with the author’s talent for the literary skill of describing each episode and inner psychology. Especially, in the latter part, author’s inner struggle and confusion were really well conveyed to me when she was forced by her parents to decide whether or not to choose parents’ ...

In this book, the author tells the widening class disparities of America in recent decades. Comparing with the situation in the 1950s and 1960s when the author grew up in his hometown, Port Clinton, Ohio, describes what is happening in American poor kids from low-educated, mostly unmarried, or nonfunctional parents. A detailed and contrasting description of life experiences of kids from affluent family vs. kids from deprived background makes clear the growing opportunity gaps between rich and poor kids. As all cases, based on personal interviews, are real stories, the hardships that poor children have to face since their births make me feel uneasy. There are controversies regarding what is making or widening class disparities: some argue that the unalterable genetic component is the most explainable factor so any attempt to improve the current inequality has the limitation. However, the author is focusing on the opportunity gap between the kids from different backgrounds and suggesti...

I’ve read once an article about this book, mentioning that it was the most frequently borrowed book in one university library in Korea. As this book was too famous and highly esteemed, I did not even try to read it, as I did not read most of the recommended readings by the university. I thought it might be a tedious history book. However, surprisingly, after starting reading it, I finished reading with amusement. This book was exceptional and wonderful. This book might be one of my favorite books in the humanity field. This book is quite thick (around 500 pages) and full of the knowledge of various fields, but focused on a simple purpose, which is answering on one question by the author’s New Guinean friend, ‘Why western civilization became to dominate over or influence other ones’. From the origin of humankind to the current disparity between nations, throughout the book, the author exposed his multidisciplinary background and decades of experience. Above all, I was impressed...