Monday, March 17, 2014

The Book Thief

Author: Markus Zusak
Pages: 550
Rating: PG
Summary:
It is 1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier, and will become busier still.

Liesel Meminger is a foster girl living outside of Munich, who scratches out a meager existence for herself by stealing when she encounters something she can’t resist–books. With the help of her accordion-playing foster father, she learns to read and shares her stolen books with her neighbors during bombing raids as well as with the Jewish man hidden in her basement.

My Thoughts: First of all, whether you've seen the movie or not, GO READ THIS BOOK! I have not seen the movie, but I already know I don't have to see it to know the book is absolutely worth reading. This is one of those books that while the story itself is moving and captivating, you read the book for the way it is written. Zusak is a master of figurative language, and he spins sentences so beautiful you have to read them twice just to make sure you are absorbing the full meaning of it.

"The words were on their way, and when they arrived, Leisel would hold them in her hands like the clouds, and she would wring them out like the rain."
"Two giant words were struggled with, carried on her shoulder, and dropped as a bungling pair at Ilsa Hermann's feet. They fell off sideways as the girl veered with them and could no longer sustain their weight. Together, they sat on the floor, large and loud and clumsy."
"The reply floated from his mouth, then molded itself like a stain to the ceiling. Such was his feeling of shame."
"The guilt was already there. It was moist. The seed was already bursting into a dark-leafed flower."
"Her nerves licked her palms."
"The wind showered through her hair. Her feet swam with the pedals."
"A graze struck a match on the side of her face, where she'd met the ground. Her pulse flipped it over, frying it on both sides."

See what I mean? You just can't get that from a movie. It's incredible. As for the actual story - I really enjoyed reading about World War Two from the perspective of a young, relatively safe German girl, whose family ends up hiding a Jew. She and her best friend end up really hating Hitler, because their lives are miserable. They are poor, hungry, and their fathers are forced into service because they don't always agree with everything the Nazis say. Leisel is a foster child, who watched her brother die on the train on the way to her foster parents' house in another part of Germany. When she arrives, she does not know how to read, but her foster father Hans painstakingly teaches her until she is obsessed with books and reading. She lives an extremely difficult life, but in the process she learns kindness, love, and selflessness. She never buys in to the German propaganda that Jews are the enemy. After all, the Jew they are hiding in the basement has become one of her closest friends.

Another favorite thing about this book is that Death is the narrator. It's a different perspective that's for sure. He is not vindictive or gleeful. He is simply an observer, and he sometimes is quite sorrowful at all he is required to observe. He says that war is not his friend. It is more like a boss that keeps demanding that you work even harder than you ever have before, and is never pleased with your performance. Also, Death doesn't believe in suspense. He pretty much tells you the ending multiple times before it happens. The ending isn't important, it's the journey to get there that he wants to tell.

This is one of the best books I've ever read. Don't just watch the movie. You MUST read this book. It's incredible.

1 comment:

  1. I watched the movie a little bit ago; I'll have to check out the book.

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