The Book Thief

by Markus Zusak

I finally got around to reading this book! I know. I've fallen so far behind. It rose on my TBR list when I saw that they had cast Geoffrey Rush in the film but I thought I still had time. Then I saw that the film was due out in November and I figured I had better get my butt in gear.

As much as I love Geoffrey Rush, I'm not sure I want to see the movie. The book is fantastic and I just don't know how the movie can live up to it. Let me explain why I feel this way by describing the things I loved so much about the book. First of all, it's about a love of words and the power that words have. The story takes place in Nazi Germany during WWII and, as you would expect, there is much talk of the "Fuhrer", the dictator who gained power, not by weapons, but by talking his way there. He convinced the people of Germany that he could lead them to a better world and so they willingly followed him. This fact is not lost on the characters of the book.

The main character is a very poor little girl who loves books but has no money to buy them. Her foster father sells some of his cigarettes to buy her a couple books but, after that, she's reduced to stealing them. The first one she steals from a fire, one of the massive book burnings that took place at the time. After that she steals mostly from the personal library of the mayor's wife. Although, it turns out she's not much of a thief when it's revealed that the mayor's wife knows all about it and is happy to allow it to continue, even encourages it.

The other thing I loved about this book was the narrator. It took me until page eight to realize that the narrator was Death. I loved Zusak's take on Death almost as much as I loved the language he used. His vocabulary is excellent and the way he played with words amused me immensely.

Obviously, the writing style cannot be transmitted to the movie. Whether or not they can manage to convey the importance of words as a theme has yet to be determined, I suppose, but I have my doubts. Personally, I think a story about a book lover is best told in a book, but I might be biased in that regard.

P.S. Okay, I just saw the trailer and, yeah, it looks pretty awesome. You should all watch it and then check out this post because it's awesome! http://bookriot.com/2013/08/23/the-book-thief-trailer-rundown/