Rating: 
Summary: One of my absolute favorites
Review: Let's face it: Most books are pretty good, but few are great. Well, this is one of the great ones. Normally, I prefer a novel to short story collection, but I have to say that this collection is better than most novels. Schlink seems to ask himself, "To what strange places might love drive a person?" His writing is distinctly un-American: poetic, deeply intimate, concise, and above all unashamed. The overall effect is provacative and thought provoking. Each story is unique and unattached to the next, but still focuses on the premise of people driven throughout their lives by love. Each story shows a different way that love can effect a person: in one story, love brings them together, in another drives them apart, in another it causes infidelity, in another it sends a man looking after the man that the dead wife had an affair with. With his Kundera-esque writing style, I was riveted to Schlink's book. Subjects covered: war, religion, art, travel, infidelity, circumcision, lies, sex, falling out of love, family relationships, Jewish prejudice against a German. In each story, the person seems inexplicably driven to these strange places, driven to make strange choices. The "flights" seem unconcious and inevitable, each resulting conflict the believable outcome of the characters personality. Each story flows naturally, and yet, the conflict and resolution is unexpected. If you like this, you may really like "Searching For Intruders" by Byler or "Kissing in Manhatten" by Schlinker.
Rating: 
Summary: Love isnt'easy
Review: Love is not easy: not only attaining it, winning the heart of your loved one, but, most difficult and most important, keeping it. Too many, once they "won" the love of somebody, take love for granted, as an acquired boon. They're wrong. This book explains why.This book is all about the self-centeredness, the pettyness, the fear of loving that prevents love to take flight. But it's a recommended reading if one wants to avoid errors. Beware young lovers, where ever you are! Love is a many splendored thing...handle whit care!
Rating:
Summary: Not What I Expected
Review: This is the first book I have read by Bernhard Schlink. Based upon this initial exposure to his work, I look forward to reading other books he has written that are being translated for publication in the USA. "Flights Of Love", is not a collection of sentimental love stories. None of these 7 tales qualify as a Hallmark Card Moment. All 7 stories have males at the center of the issues/conflicts, and the concepts of love that are explored vary widely. Several of the stories are about the lack of love, love that has missed its opportunity because of active or passive neglect.The situations Mr. Schlink explores are at times extremely volatile. One of the best stories, and the more traditional, centers on a relationship between two young people. Beyond this one fact the author lights a match and holds it precariously close to a very short fuse. The young man is German and Christian, while his girlfriend is Jewish with a family that lives in New York that was directly and savagely victimized by The Holocaust. Fifty years have passed since the end of the war, but time will never heal this wound, and this couple is in the middle of conflicting philosophies. The idea that sons should not be held responsible for their father's or grandfather's sins is an idea that is embraced in theory. However in practice, her family and friends see him as German first just as his family notes she is a Jew, and rapidly wind up in conflict between the necessity of never forgetting, and the feeling that they are forever cursed as Germans. This all sounds very familiar until the boyfriend makes the decision to convert. He also makes a decision to have a procedure that any adult male would visibly wince at the thought of. This decision and the events that follow make the story unique and worth reading. "Girl With Lizard", may sound a bit odd as a title. However the author takes you through decades of strife that is caused by the painting that is the title of the story, and brings it to a conclusion that is poignant without appearing to be just a clever sleight of hand. In, "Sugar Peas", the author again takes the familiar concept of a love triangle and literally changes its shape, abruptly interrupts the narrative, and then delivers an ending that I don't believe most readers will see coming. I do believe most readers will find the ending a satisfying one. These are great stories of varying length that all are worth reading, and will likely cause you to add a new author to your list of people to read.
Rating:
Summary: NOT WHAT I EXPECTED
Review: When I finished THE READER, which I thoroughly enjoyed, I was convinced that the book was autobiogrpahical and that Bernhard Schlink had done what may writers do; tell the one story they have to tell and write several poorly done works hoping to capitalize on the success of their first book. So it was with spepticism that I began FLIGHTS OF LOVE. I was delighted to find that I was wrong, at least on the second point. Schlink has compiled a wonderful selection of short stories with ironic twists and surprise endings. As he does in THE READER, he deals with relationships and the web people spin for themseles in dealing with lovers and spouses. I felt the strongest of the stories were THE OTHER MAN and THE CIRCUMCISION. In THE CIRCUMCISION and THE GIRL AND THE LIZARD, Schlink revisits the theme of THE READER in terms of deling with Germany's past and the acceptance of it by contemporary Germans. The conflicts between the characters in THE CIRCUMCISION, while specifically dealing with German/Jewish relations are universal and could involve interracial couples as well as couples from different cultures. In THE OTHER MAN Schlink marverls the reader with his incites into the life of a grieving widower and the fact that his wife has had an affair yet maintained a healthy relationship with him. I felt that THE SON was the weakest of the stories and seemed to have been drawn on themes more common to V.S. Naipaul. I suspect that some of these stories will show up in the movies some day, especially THE OTHER MAN. All in all the stores are well done, provacative and readable. I only look forward to Schlink's next work.
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