The Reader

A businessman. The reader seems well-to-do. He has interrupted his reading to attend important conferences, and he completes the novel while sitting in a comfortable room with a view of a park.

Read an in-depth analysis of the reader.

The Man

The hero of the reader’s novel. The man is passionate and full of nervous emotion. He plans to kill his lover’s husband, who sits reading in an armchair.

The Woman

The heroine of the reader’s novel. The woman and her lover have convinced themselves of the absolute necessity of killing the woman’s husband, a crime they think of as fated to occur.