Instruct: Classify Amazon reviews into positive or negative sentiment
Query: Misdirected Emotion

"The Reader" is not an easy read. No tbecause of length or difficulty, but because of disturbing subject matter and because, quite frankly, it is not very well written. Certainly the sunbject of guilt relating to the Holocaust is not new. How should those who stood by and did nothing atone for their silence; even worse, what about those willingly particpated in the atrocities of this dark period. Readers are faced with these issues, but given little to think about. It seems as though we are supposed to feel sorry for Hanna, but I just cannot. She is a reprehensible person; nothing can excuse her actions. Even her affair with Michael is nothing but a confused, ugly woman using a young man. Michael, too, is conflicted many years later when he discovers the truth about Hannah. He is sickened by what he knows, but his character seems to lose strength--in the end, he seems shallow. While the novel hopes to pose serious questions and raise thought-provoking issues, it does not succeed.