Review - The Book Thief

It took me forever, but I finally finished listening to the book on CD version of The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. I had a couple of patrons on the bookmobile that told me they really enjoyed reading it as part of their book club, so I thought I'd like to listen to it to see what it was all about.

You know how you read classics in school that were somewhat interesting but not all that entertaining? This was one of those kind of books. It tells an excellent moralistic tale, but kind of slow. It's also kind of dark and depressing. But that is because it is set in Germany during World War II.

Death narrates the story and tells it in flashback. Liesel Meminger, is a 10-year-old girl that has been taken in by the Hubermans, a good German family, after her brother is killed and her mother is accused of being a communist. It is there she steals books and learns to read. She quickly discovers how cruel the war is (her family hides a Jewish man in their basement who is later forced to march to a death camp). Yet it is because she learns how to read and reads to others her life is sparred and others have opportunities to share in the valuable treasures of the printed word.

There is little moralistic preaching, just a story. Death tells of his busy work and how he claims various victims. It's not gruesome yet it is horrifying at the same time. I can why a book club would be interested in it as there is lots to discuss and contains classical literary elements such as foreshadowing. There is a fair amount of swearing in the book, so I would be reluctant to recommend it to those that might be are bothered with that kind of language. It's not crucial to the story, but taken in the context of the story and time, it's somewhat understandable.