Book Thief Review
I just finished reading the Book Thief. I's classified as teens book, but i would highly recommend it to adults as well. Here's my review of it.
I liked that Death was narrating it, and the fact "he" was not anyone bad, just a person doing his job like everyone else. We don't tend to think of "Death" as being a "job," but "he" came across as an intelligent, thoughtful being who went about doing what was needed, commenting on humanity as "he" went on about his tasks. I liked how “Death “was experiencing human emotions and had feeling about his job and thoughts on different issues. Like when he commented that “..the poor (at a train station) were the most easily recognized. The impoverished always try to keep moving, as if relocating might help. They ignore the reality that a new version of the same old problem will be waiting at the end of the trip…” quite often it is the poor people who can’t evacuate or escape suffer more.
I liked the humanness of German characters. While it is hard for me, as a Jew, to sometimes accept the fact that there were Good Germans during that time period, there were good and innocent people who were caught up in the events of WWII.
I felt like I was part of the family, living with Liesel, learning and understanding her new family and friend with her. I liked the way it was structured and found myself drawn into the many relationships between the people who lived on Himmel Street. I liked Papa instantly. In the beginning I kind of expected Rosa to be the evil foster parent, but I grew to like her. Behind the constant swearing and yelling she is a kind hearted woman and Lisel senses that. Like when she asked her to come get her at school if Max wakes up. I half expected to find out that there was a pre-war connection between Liesel and Max or that Liesel was secretly Jewish. The way the author described Liesel and Rudy watching the Jews being marched to the camp is very realistic. I know a few people who went on the March of the Living and they always say how close the Munich and Dachau were to towns.
I loved Max, not just because he was Jewish. I felt that he and Liesel connected in some special way through the books. I liked the concept of story within story. The second book, that Max writes, describes very accurately the crazy times they are living in, by declaring that Hitler used words, instead of weapons to first convince Germany and Austria to follow his vision.
I think there a many stories in one story.
One is a story of Wolrd War II and how it affected regulars Germans.
Then it’s a story of a Lisel and her relationships with people around her. Hans, Rosa, Max, the Mayor's wife. Of her friendship with Rudy and her growing feelings for him.
The third story is about Holocaust and the Jews as described by Death:
“Summer came.
For the book thief, everything was going nicely.
For me, the sky was the color of Jews.
When their bodies had finished scouring for gaps in the door, their souls rose up. When their fingernails had scratched at the wood and in some cases were nailed into it by the sheer force of desperation, their spirits came toward me, into my arms, and we climbed out of those shower facilities, onto the roof and up, into eternity’s certain breadth. They just kept feeding me. Minute after minute. Shower after shower.”
And than there is a story about words and their power. And about what can happen when powerful people capture an entire nation of people with their words and then use those words to lead the entire world into complete madness. In Max's story "The Word Shaker," Max describes how Hitler used language to destroy lives. ". . . the Fuhrer decided that he would rule the world with words . . . . He invited his people toward his own glorious heart, beckoning them with his finest, ugliest words . . ." (p. 445). Here Max shows how ugly words can seem attractive. In this way, Hitler was able to gain power over people and convince them of terrible lies.
At one point Liesel destroys a book that doesn’t even belong to her. She does it from rage and frustration and desperation:
“She tore a page from the book and ripped it in half.
Then a chapter.
Soon, there was nothing but scraps of words littered between her legs and all around her. The words. Why did they have to exist? Without them, there wouldn’t be any of this. Without words, the Führer was nothing. There would be no limping prisoners, no need for consolation or wordly tricks to make us feel better.
What good were the words?”
But the words are also used to comfort , like when Hans read to Liesel when she was having nightmares. And to help: Liesel used them to help Max when he was ill. She read to him every day, sometimes two and three times a day, even though he remained asleep (p. 323). And when Liesel reads in the basement and to Frau Holtzapfel …
Finally, words save Liesel's life the night that Himmel Street is bombed.
My favorite character was Hans. Because of his kindness to people, of how he helped them in small ways. For example, people begging Hans to paint their windows black in order to survive air raids. However, many of them are unable to pay him for his work. Hans never turns anyone down for lack of money.
I think he showed true heroism. Not so much because of hiding Max, but for the pieces of bread he left for Jews on the Dachau road.
I think his death was the saddest. We knew Rudy would die, the Death mentions it when he is not away sent to school. But wasn’t prepared to Papa to die. I cried when I read where Death describes what happened when he came for Hans's soul after the bombing. "His [Hans's] soul sat up. It met me. Those kinds of souls always do - the best ones . . . . Those souls are always light because more of them have been put out. More of them have already found their way to other places" (p. 531-2)
I wouldn't say this is my favorite book of all time, or even that I'd read it again, but I definitely appreciated it. I thought it was very special. It’s like the author put a face to the time in history. The face of children trying to cope and understand a period that is just as confusing to adults.
I liked that Death was narrating it, and the fact "he" was not anyone bad, just a person doing his job like everyone else. We don't tend to think of "Death" as being a "job," but "he" came across as an intelligent, thoughtful being who went about doing what was needed, commenting on humanity as "he" went on about his tasks. I liked how “Death “was experiencing human emotions and had feeling about his job and thoughts on different issues. Like when he commented that “..the poor (at a train station) were the most easily recognized. The impoverished always try to keep moving, as if relocating might help. They ignore the reality that a new version of the same old problem will be waiting at the end of the trip…” quite often it is the poor people who can’t evacuate or escape suffer more.
I liked the humanness of German characters. While it is hard for me, as a Jew, to sometimes accept the fact that there were Good Germans during that time period, there were good and innocent people who were caught up in the events of WWII.
I felt like I was part of the family, living with Liesel, learning and understanding her new family and friend with her. I liked the way it was structured and found myself drawn into the many relationships between the people who lived on Himmel Street. I liked Papa instantly. In the beginning I kind of expected Rosa to be the evil foster parent, but I grew to like her. Behind the constant swearing and yelling she is a kind hearted woman and Lisel senses that. Like when she asked her to come get her at school if Max wakes up. I half expected to find out that there was a pre-war connection between Liesel and Max or that Liesel was secretly Jewish. The way the author described Liesel and Rudy watching the Jews being marched to the camp is very realistic. I know a few people who went on the March of the Living and they always say how close the Munich and Dachau were to towns.
I loved Max, not just because he was Jewish. I felt that he and Liesel connected in some special way through the books. I liked the concept of story within story. The second book, that Max writes, describes very accurately the crazy times they are living in, by declaring that Hitler used words, instead of weapons to first convince Germany and Austria to follow his vision.
I think there a many stories in one story.
One is a story of Wolrd War II and how it affected regulars Germans.
Then it’s a story of a Lisel and her relationships with people around her. Hans, Rosa, Max, the Mayor's wife. Of her friendship with Rudy and her growing feelings for him.
The third story is about Holocaust and the Jews as described by Death:
“Summer came.
For the book thief, everything was going nicely.
For me, the sky was the color of Jews.
When their bodies had finished scouring for gaps in the door, their souls rose up. When their fingernails had scratched at the wood and in some cases were nailed into it by the sheer force of desperation, their spirits came toward me, into my arms, and we climbed out of those shower facilities, onto the roof and up, into eternity’s certain breadth. They just kept feeding me. Minute after minute. Shower after shower.”
And than there is a story about words and their power. And about what can happen when powerful people capture an entire nation of people with their words and then use those words to lead the entire world into complete madness. In Max's story "The Word Shaker," Max describes how Hitler used language to destroy lives. ". . . the Fuhrer decided that he would rule the world with words . . . . He invited his people toward his own glorious heart, beckoning them with his finest, ugliest words . . ." (p. 445). Here Max shows how ugly words can seem attractive. In this way, Hitler was able to gain power over people and convince them of terrible lies.
At one point Liesel destroys a book that doesn’t even belong to her. She does it from rage and frustration and desperation:
“She tore a page from the book and ripped it in half.
Then a chapter.
Soon, there was nothing but scraps of words littered between her legs and all around her. The words. Why did they have to exist? Without them, there wouldn’t be any of this. Without words, the Führer was nothing. There would be no limping prisoners, no need for consolation or wordly tricks to make us feel better.
What good were the words?”
But the words are also used to comfort , like when Hans read to Liesel when she was having nightmares. And to help: Liesel used them to help Max when he was ill. She read to him every day, sometimes two and three times a day, even though he remained asleep (p. 323). And when Liesel reads in the basement and to Frau Holtzapfel …
Finally, words save Liesel's life the night that Himmel Street is bombed.
My favorite character was Hans. Because of his kindness to people, of how he helped them in small ways. For example, people begging Hans to paint their windows black in order to survive air raids. However, many of them are unable to pay him for his work. Hans never turns anyone down for lack of money.
I think he showed true heroism. Not so much because of hiding Max, but for the pieces of bread he left for Jews on the Dachau road.
I think his death was the saddest. We knew Rudy would die, the Death mentions it when he is not away sent to school. But wasn’t prepared to Papa to die. I cried when I read where Death describes what happened when he came for Hans's soul after the bombing. "His [Hans's] soul sat up. It met me. Those kinds of souls always do - the best ones . . . . Those souls are always light because more of them have been put out. More of them have already found their way to other places" (p. 531-2)
I wouldn't say this is my favorite book of all time, or even that I'd read it again, but I definitely appreciated it. I thought it was very special. It’s like the author put a face to the time in history. The face of children trying to cope and understand a period that is just as confusing to adults.
