The Book Thief is a historical fiction novel by the Australian author Markus Zusak, and is his most popular book. Published in 2005, The Book Thief became an international bestseller and was translated into 63 languages and sold 16 million copies. It was adapted into the 2013 feature film, The Book Thief. The novel is about the adventures of Liesel Meminger in Germany during a time of war. By personifying "Death" as a tangible thing, the novel narrates a unique perspective into the world of the victims of the war. There are many tangible themes throughout the entire story.
The Book Thief is a historical fiction novel by the Australian author Markus Zusak, and is his most popular book. Published in 2005, The Book Thief became an international bestseller and was translated into 63 languages and sold 16 million copies. It was adapted into the 2013 feature film, The Book Thief. The novel is about the adventures of Liesel Meminger in Germany during a time of war. By personifying "Death" as a tangible thing, the novel narrates a unique perspective into the world of the victims of the war. There are many tangible themes throughout the entire story.
I wanted to enjoy this. I would say I was moderately invested by the end but I didn’t love it. I felt confused trying to follow the characters and the timeline. I liked the concept of the story being told by death in Nazi Germany during World War II. I would’ve guessed the book was written longer ago than 2005 based on how it was written. I’m glad I read it but I wouldn’t want to read it again.
I normally steer clear of two kinds of books; coming of age stories and historical novels, in particular those set during world war II. This book is both, and I loved it anyway, which should tell you something.
What the author does with language and narrative framing is simply out of this world.
Superb.
Reading books about WWII in Germany is hard for me. I don't know, the scope of what transpired back then, and the thought that my parents were part of the Nazi youth groups, it's a bit much. At least until the middle of the book, I was pretty meh about it all. The narrator, the Denglish, the for me very weird sentence structure, it put me off.
But the longer you read, the more all those various characters of Himmel Street grow on you. From Liesel to Rosa to the mayor's wife or Rudy, they're all very touching characters. They make the book. And that's why in the end I came to love this book about a German family in a small Bavarian town near Munich, and all the various, touching, tragic events that happened during the war.
Reading books about WWII in Germany is hard for me. I don't know, the scope of what transpired back then, and the thought that my parents were part of the Nazi youth groups, it's a bit much. At least until the middle of the book, I was pretty meh about it all. The narrator, the Denglish, the for me very weird sentence structure, it put me off.
But the longer you read, the more all those various characters of Himmel Street grow on you. From Liesel to Rosa to the mayor's wife or Rudy, they're all very touching characters. They make the book. And that's why in the end I came to love this book about a German family in a small Bavarian town near Munich, and all the various, touching, tragic events that happened during the war.
