More thoughts on The Book Thief

I stated before that this was and is one of the best fiction books I'd read in a while, and I stand by that. There were several things that struck me about this book; I want to talk about them a little bit here.

First, Death as narrator. An interesting idea, and one that I thought Zusak pulled off well. Death was quite a sympathetic character; one who didn't necessarily love his job, but didn't loathe it, either. I thought it interesting that when it came to adults, he would just as easily sling the soul over his shoulder to carry them, but children he always carried lovingly in his arms. It's not often to find an author that can portray Death as an interesting character; only two others spring to mind, actually. Piers Anthony did it well (and interestingly) in On A Pale Horse, and Neil Gaiman's portrayal of Death as a perky (yet at times insightful and downright snarky) goth chick in his Sandman stories/mythos certainly is one not to be missed.

The theme of the power of words really hit home with me, though perhaps I'm a little biased, being an English teacher and all. I found it interesting that Liesel's first act of thievery occurs when she is illiterate and dreams of meeting Hitler, yet as the book progresses and she becomes increasinly literate and intellectually driven, her understanding of Hitler's words grows and she begins to loathe him and the effects his words have on her immediate world and the world at large, reflective of Hitler's difficulties with (and loathing of) intellectuals of his time.

Anyone else? I've got more, but let's hear you first!

The Book Thief

A few weeks ago, I was sent a copy of Markus Zusak's The Book Thief for consideration for the book club. I spoke with the students about it, and we've agreed that it will be the featured book for the month of January, with the goal of having it read by January 16, so we can attend the Boulder Bookstore's Teen Book club meeting on January 16. I decided to cheat a little and read it over the holiday break; I finished it today.

The Book Thief is one of the best fiction books I've read in a while... it's absolutely worth the praise it's been given. I don't want to say a lot more about it yet because I don't want to ruin it for the students and staff who might read the book with us, but I will definitely post my comments up soon. For now, I'll just say that if you haven't read this book yet, I heartily recommend it... it's nothing short of amazing.