> Bernhard Schlink : LE RETOUR (Paris, Gallimard, janvier 2007, 383 p., 19,50 €)
Se reporter au compte rendu de Sylvie BRESSLER
In: Revue Esprit No. 332 (2) (Février 2007), pp. 211-213… ; (en ligne),
URL : https://esprit.presse.fr/article/sylvie-bressler/bernhard-schlink-le-retour-1398...

> BERNHARD SCHLINK : Le retour, Traduit de l'allemand par Bernard Lortholary Gallimard, Paris, 2007,383 pages (Collection « Du monde entier »)
Se reporter au compte rendu de HANS-JÛRGEN GREIF
In: (2007). Compte rendu de [Nouveautés]. Québec français, n° 146 (été 2007), pp. 20–21.… ; (en ligne),
URL : https://id.erudit.org/iderudit/46564ac

Im Fragment eines Heftchenromans über die Heimkehr eines deutschen Soldaten aus Sibirien entdeckt Peter Debauer Details aus seiner eigenen Wirklichkeit. Die Suche nach dem Ende der Geschichte und nach deren Autor wird zur Irrfahrt durch die deutsche Vergangenheit und offenbart auch Peter Debauers Geheimnisse.

I enjoyed Schlink's The Reader, but Homecoming was a disappointment. It charts the journey of Peter Debauer to discover the story of his Swiss father. Peter is an academic, brought up by his mother in postwar Germany who remembers fondly holidays with his paternal Swiss grandparents. His mother is strangely silent about his father's history.

Homecoming draws on parallels between the partial transcript of a novel published by Peter's grandparents; Odysseus and Penelope; Agamemnon and Clytemnestra; miscellaneous homecomings from conflict; the story of Peter's father; and eventually Peter's own situation.

Somewhere and somehow legal, ethical and philosophical angles are introduced. An "iron rule" argument to justify war is described: a fighter willing to die for his cause has the right to kill. A strange passage permits genocide where there are no surviving members of a community to compensate. Such detours and associations, perhaps interesting in isolation, envelop a plot which consequently is nowhere near as captivating as The Reader. ( )

This is the story of Peter who grows up in Germany after the War.
He used to stay with his Grandparents when he was a small boy and he remembers the extract of a story about a soldier returning from the War, Peter is determined to find out what happened in the end of this story.
Also his Mum never really told him about his own Father. He eventually meets him but doesn't tell him he is his son.
Peter also meets a girl called Barbara who he falls in love with.

This book had the potential to be so much better but it really bored me and confused me with its endless reference to Greek mythology .
Was glad to finish it. ( )

New book by the auther of The Reader. Similar themes, but the story diverged into a take-off of The Odessey, which I guess I should read, and he lost me for a while. If you are going to read one of his books, choose The Reader, if you liked The Reader, try this one for comparison. ( )