With almost being finished with the book, I am left to wonder what the author’s true emotions towards Hanna are. He seems to flip flop between being obsessed with her and feeling no emotion towards her. This makes me question the validity of his memory. It simply seems odd to me that he can almost turn a switch on to remember Hanna and just as quickly turn it off to forget her.
In the first part of the book, he bases his whole day on allotting time to go over to see and have sex with Hanna. He always tells the reader just how much he loves Hanna and wants to know more about her past and what their future could be like. He loves her so much that he is willing to take all the blame for everything, even things he did not do. They go on a bike trip together, for which he had to sell his stamp collection for a highly depreciated value so he can pay for them. However, when he sees Hanna at the pool he does not go up and say hi. This is weird to me because it shows he is almost ashamed of what he is doing. He also does not tell any of his friends about Hanna, keeping everything that happens with them a secret from the world. Then in the second part of the book when he sees Hanna on trial he says he could not feel any emotion toward her. He wants her to be free, but cannot feel anything else for her. He does not talk to her either, even though he has valuable information that may have helped her reduce her prison sentence. It seems to me if you saw a person who you had so much emotional connection with just a few years ago, that you can feel no emotion towards them.
There is a saying that says it takes a minute to find a special person, an hour to appreciate them, and a day to love them, but then an entire life to forget them. Michael eventually becomes obsessed with Hanna in part 3. He can’t do anything without thinking about her and every relationship he has he feels as if something is wrong and missing. He begins sending tapes of him reading stories to Hanna so she can have something to listen to while in jail. He does this for years, and then he finally gets a note from Hanna, showing she is trying to become literate. The joy Michael feels for Hanna is incredible. Even with all this wordless connection, he avoids going to see Hanna, until a week before she is to be released from jail. The warden of the prison informs Michael that he is the only contact from the outside world with Hanna. She asks Michael to find Hanna a job and an apartment to help her ease back into life. Michael of course does this and goes to pick up Hanna.
Another thing that I wonder about is why Hanna still calls Michael ‘kid’. Michael is a grown man with a daughter, a job, and his own house. He is certainly a man. I simply do not understand why Hanna refuses to call Michael by his name.
