The ReaderPages 164-201

   At the beginning of part 3, Michael is way older.  It seems like the book fast forwarded ten years.  He now is out of college and is married!  He met his wife, Gertrude, while on a ski trip.  His friends invited him to go with them and he couldn't pass it up.  While on the ski trip he got extremely ill.  He skied everyday with only a tee shirt on.  One day he got really sick, and had such a bad fever that he was forced to be hospitalized.  His friends all went back to Germany with out him, but he didn't mind because Gertrude stayed behind with him.  They were inseparable from then on.  They decided to get married when Gertrude got pregnant, and shortly after the marriage their daughter, Julia, was born.  They lived together for five years, until they couldn't each other anymore...they ended up getting divorced.  

   Michael couldn't help but to think about Hanna during his entire marriage.  He compared Gertrude to Hanna on a daily basis.  The weird thing is that Michael never even mentioned Hanna to Gertrude.  Gertrude had absolutely no idea about Hanna.  

   After their divorce had been final Michael began to re-communicate with Hanna.  He never spoke to her in person, or went to visit her in jail, but he recorded himself reading many books and sent all the cassettes to Hanna.  Eventually Hanna taught herself how to read and write, and she started sending Michael thank you letters with her comments and opinions about the books.  Michael was so proud of Hanna, but he worried that she wouldn't want him to send anymore recordings.  Michael was wrong, Hanna knew how to read but being read to was her favorite way to hear the stories books had to tell.  Their relationship continued like this for many years, until one day Michael received a letter from a prison guard...