The Book Thief was something different for me to read. Not usually into 'fiction that could be real'. A friend recommended it and given I didn't have much to read, I thought I'd try it.
The story is about a ten year old girl in Germany during World War II who has an affection for stealing books. On the train to her new foster family, her brother dies. At the funeral, she finds a book on the ground. Her foster father teaches her how to read. Her life is somewhat normal, going to school and playing soccer in the street. And stealing books. But this is Nazi Germany, and things are not normal. Soon, her family takes in a Jew, hiding him in their basement. The little girl becomes fond of the new guest, reading and writing with him. However, the war takes it's toll on the family and their town.
The story is told from the perspective of Death. That's right. Death is given human qualities and feelings. His job is to pick up the souls from dead bodies. You can imagine the stories he has from WWII. It's a unique way to tell a story. I thought it was effective and certainly gave an interesting perspective on things.
When I started reading the book, I was reading at a good pace. But I slowed down. The book is long (550 pages). It just wasn't doing much for me. As much as I struggled to get through it in the middle, I did want to know how it ended. Although I could tell it wasn't going to end well, and I was right.
Fun fact: It was written in 2006, but only recently became a big hit. A movie based on the book is coming out in November.
My rating for The Book Thief: 2.5 stars out of 5. Get it here!
This is on my book club list. Everyone seems to say good things about it and have all seen the movie by now. I haven't read or seen the movie yet. looking forward to both.
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