The Book Thief by Markus Zusak – 550 pages
Book Blurb:
Set during World War II in Germany, Markus Zusak’s groundbreaking new novel is the story of Liesel Meminger, a foster girl living outside of Munich. Liesel 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 before he is marched to Dachau.
This is an unforgettable story about the ability of books to feed the soul.
This is an unforgettable story about the ability of books to feed the soul.
My Review: 5 stars
The first time I picked up this book I couldn’t get into it. I really think I wasn’t in the right mindset at the time to read this book. I passed it to my mother who gave it rave reviews for both me and my high school daughter to read “at once!”. Thank g-d I gave it a second chance. This book was the most creative and inventive way to portray the holocaust and it’s destruction as a whole. Narrated in the third person by none other than death, this was a reader’s read. Great usage of language, characterization, and scenery. The prisoners’ walking through town was one scene of many that will stay with me. The actual book theif, Leisel, will also remain in my heart as someone who saw books as a means of survival.
Quotes I liked:
The consequence of this is that I’m always finding humans at their best and worst. I see their ugly and their beauty, and I wonder how the same thing can be both.”
“Somewhere, far down, there was an itch in his heart, but he made it a point not to scratch it. He was afraid of what might come leaking out.”
“I like that every page in every book can have a gem on it. It’s probably what I love most about writing–that words can be used in a way that’s like a child playing in a sandpit, rearranging things, swapping them around. They’re the best moments in a day of writing — when an image appears that you didn’t know would be there when you started work in the morning.”
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The first time my daughter lent me this book it sat on my night table for a couple of months unread. I tried to return it, saying it was too thick a book and that it looked very depressing. She insisted I give it a try, and I am lucky that I did. I loved the book and have recommended it to many friends. 5 stars from me, too.
Marilyn B.
love this book as well as the author’s other book- I Am The Messenger