She Treads Softly: The Book Thief

Sunday, April 1, 2007

The Book Thief

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak was originally published in 2005 and released in the USA in March, 2006, by Alfred A Knopf. The hardcover is 550 pages long. In The Book Thief, which is set during W.W.II, Death narrates the story of Liesel Meminger, a foster child to Hans and Rosa Hubermann in Molching, Germany. Liesel is a book thief, although only of a handful of books, but these books form the foundation for the story Death tells us. It is also the story of Liesel's neighbor, Rudy, the mayor's wife, and Max, the Jewish man the Hubermann's are hiding. It is a story of survival, pain, regret, determination, love, and convictions, but, ultimately, it is the story of the power of words.

Although this book is listed as young adult fiction, it is very much a book for adults too. I really think that placing The Book Thief in the young adult section may have precluded many adult readers from considering reading it. I know I originally passed it by after seeing several adults recommend it because it was listed as a young adult book. When two trusted book loving friends added it to their stacks, I finally decided to give it a try. I do not regret this decision.

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John Updike's six rules for reviewing:

1. Try to understand what the author wished to do, and do not blame him for not achieving what he did not attempt.

2. Give him enough direct quotation--at least one extended passage--of the book's prose so the review's reader can form his own impression, can get his own taste.

3. Confirm your description of the book with quotation from the book, if only phrase-long, rather than proceeding by fuzzy precis.

4. Go easy on plot summary, and do not give away the ending.

5. If the book is judged deficient, cite a successful example along the same lines, from the author's oeuvre or elsewhere. Try to understand the failure. Sure it's his and not yours?

To these concrete five might be added a vaguer sixth, having to do with maintaining a chemical purity in the reaction between product and appraiser.....Review the book, not the reputation.... Better to praise and share than blame and ban. The communion between reviewer and his public is based upon the presumption of certain possible joys in reading, and all our discriminations should curve toward that end.