Part 3 reaction

When I finished the book I was overcome by a feeling of sadness and disappointment. We have accompanied Michael on a roller coaster of feelings throughout his life, and each event has culminated in misery. When Hanna's determination to read and her research on concentration camps is revealed, the reader comes to like and admire her strength. This feeling is immediately crushed by the realization that she has killed herself so close to freedom. Did she feel life was no longer worth living because it could never be the same? Was she ridden with guilt and depression? Was she afraid to start living again?

Whatever her reason, her death causes Michael a great deal of pain. He feels her absence even more than before, and his feelings of guilt come back. The book's ending is sad because it is so realistic. Michael has spent his life loving and thinking about Hanna, and in the end she is gone from him before they can start a life together. It seems pointless and tragic, and like the horrors committed in concentration camps, it is impossible to understand. There is no logic in the misfortune, and there is no hope that it can be repaired.