On Bernhard Schlink's THE READER

Wow. This book is a masterpiece. It can make you feel A LOT, even the emotions you had no inkling of. At least for me. It is a love story, a historical fiction, coming-of-age type of novel. It is a devastatingly beautiful story of two 'misfits' whose relationship was not typical and a little disturbing. Okay, perhaps, completely disturbing.
I don't have any intention to narrate the plot summary here. That is Wikipedia's job. I just want my abstract thoughts laid out.
The main character had his dilemmas, which made me ask questions like: Can you possibly choose what to feel towards a person? Is it impossible to love again with the same intensity as you did in the past? Did "the reader" feel regretful when he realized he was not responsive enough when the time demanded it?
Men can be complicated, too, by not showing enough, by not giving or saying enough. When I thought of complexity, I could picture out disorderliness, of many things. After reading this book, I've learned that complexity is not in the excessiveness of things but also in the lack of them. It is not just in the plethora of showing affection but in the dearth of it.

Will definitely reread after a few years.