Wednesday, January 18, 2012

The Book Thief...

I'm doing a show me Five review on this one. 
1.  The Book I finished reading was The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak.
2.  Two Words to describe it, WWII fiction.
3.  Setting/Characters you meet.  Well, the book is set in Nazi Germany in a small town, not far from Munich.  The story is narrated by Death and is really the story of the life of a young girl Lisel, and her adoptive family.  We meet Rudy, Lisels' friend, and his family, and we meet the Mayors wife, the neighborhood characters, but mostly we mee Max.  Max is a Jew, in Nazi Germany.  
4.  There was little I didn't like about the book, it was well written, and interestingly enough, I've read little about Nazi Germany during Hitlers rule, from the perspective of a German. The characters were real, and there were few I didn't like, or at least find interesting.  What I didn't find really "believable was the fact that the wealthier residents of the City didn't show any sign of struggle during the difficult times of the war, or perhaps that may have actually been.  I suggest that at some point everyone felt the "needs" of ordinary things that were lacking. 
5.  I originally chose this book to read for a Take a Chance challenge and just didn't get to it, so I'm reading it as part of my What's in a Name Challenge, for Something you can put in your purse/backpack, which would be the "Book" part of the title.  I'm really drawn to WWII books, for some reason, and this was a 5 star one for me.  I didn't go into too many details for my review, quite simply because you REALLY must read it for  yourself. 

8 comments:

Anna said...

Glad to see you enjoyed it. It's one of my favorite books, and after some time without reading much about WWII, it re-ignited my obsession with books set during that period. Will link to your review on War Through the Generations.

Trish @ Love, Laughter, Insanity said...

Oh absolutely this is a must read!! I passed my copy on to so many people that I finally purchased a hardcover edition because the paper copy's spine cracked. The audiobook is also fantastic.

I also found it curious that the rich didn't seem to suffer quite as much--I do agree that the effects of war (and the economy!!) had to have been felt by everyone to some degree.

Nise' said...

I agree, everyone should read this book.

Jenny said...

I don't know where you come up with all these great titles, dear Irene. If I wasn't already working through three separate stacks of books, I might take this one on. Sounds great.

Jenners said...

Oh I agree!! I LOVED this book. Adored it really. It was one of the best WWII books I've read. For me, the narration by Death just elevated it to another level.

bermudaonion said...

Everyone seems to love this book!

Parabolic Muse said...

I actually have this book and have not read it! Right after I bought it, I let a friend borrow it, and she LOVED it.
Thanks for this review.

carol said...

I loved this one, even though I don't usually read WW2 books.

Happy Birthday

Happy birthday to my wonderful son,  it's bee 33wonderful years. Hope this year proves to be the best yet.