The Book Thief - SFBA Book Club

Paperback, 600 pages

Spanish language

Published Jan. 2, 2005 by Picador Australia.

ISBN:: 978-607-31-2031-9

(2 reviews)

Erase una vez un mundo donde las noches eran largas y la Muerte contaba su propia historia. erase una vez una ladrona que robaba libros y regalaba palabras. En el pueblo vivia una nina que queria leer, un hombre que tocaba el acordeon y un joven judio que escribia cuentos hermosos para escapar del horror de la guerra. Al cabo de un tiempo, la nina se convirtio en una ladrona que robaba libros y regalaba palabras. Y con esas palabras se escribio una historia hermosa y cruel. Una novela tremendamente humana, emocionante e inolvidable, que describe las peripecias de una nina alemana de nueve anos desde que es dada en adopcion por su madre hasta el final de la II Guerra Mundial. Su nueva familia, gente sencilla y nada afecta al nazismo, le ensena a leer y, a traves de los libros, a distraerse durante los bombardeos y combatir la …

Erase una vez un mundo donde las noches eran largas y la Muerte contaba su propia historia. erase una vez una ladrona que robaba libros y regalaba palabras. En el pueblo vivia una nina que queria leer, un hombre que tocaba el acordeon y un joven judio que escribia cuentos hermosos para escapar del horror de la guerra. Al cabo de un tiempo, la nina se convirtio en una ladrona que robaba libros y regalaba palabras. Y con esas palabras se escribio una historia hermosa y cruel. Una novela tremendamente humana, emocionante e inolvidable, que describe las peripecias de una nina alemana de nueve anos desde que es dada en adopcion por su madre hasta el final de la II Guerra Mundial. Su nueva familia, gente sencilla y nada afecta al nazismo, le ensena a leer y, a traves de los libros, a distraerse durante los bombardeos y combatir la tristeza. Pero es el libro que ella misma esta escribiendo el que finalmente le salvara la vida.

Trying to make sense of the horrors of World War II, Death relates the story of Liesel--a young German girl whose book-stealing and story-telling talents help sustain her family and the Jewish man they are hiding, as well as their neighbors.

42 editions

Jonathan Arnold reviewed The Book Thief Publisher by Markus Zusak

A coming-of-age Holocaust book I actually love

5 stars

Zusak got me to enjoy reading about two things that normally leave me cold - coming-of-age stories and the Holocaust. For the former, I'm just not usually interested in reading about 12-year-old girls figuring out life. For the latter, I think the horrific, undeniably evil acts performed during the Holocaust can make it too easy to manipulate the reader's emotions.

But Zusak pulls it off, mostly through some amazing writing. I am not sure why this is categorized as a "Young Adult" novel, as it is full of big themes and awful, wonderful, acts. And every page had its share of lyrical passages that were just too numerous for me to keep writing down.

The Book Thief is about Liesel Meminger, a foster child living in a suburb of Munich during World War 2. Death is very busy but finds time to tell the story (yes, it is written from …

Zusak got me to enjoy reading about two things that normally leave me cold - coming-of-age stories and the Holocaust. For the former, I'm just not usually interested in reading about 12-year-old girls figuring out life. For the latter, I think the horrific, undeniably evil acts performed during the Holocaust can make it too easy to manipulate the reader's emotions.

But Zusak pulls it off, mostly through some amazing writing. I am not sure why this is categorized as a "Young Adult" novel, as it is full of big themes and awful, wonderful, acts. And every page had its share of lyrical passages that were just too numerous for me to keep writing down.

The Book Thief is about Liesel Meminger, a foster child living in a suburb of Munich during World War 2. Death is very busy but finds time to tell the story (yes, it is written from Death's point of view!) of Liesel, who manages to acquire reading material in this time of book burnings and mass hysteria. When a Jewish man comes to hide in their cellar, she shares her reading with him, as well as fellow bomb shelter people, while she tries to get through her tween years, stealing apples, avoiding Rudy Steiner's advances, and trying to stay out of trouble.

I know it doesn't sound very exciting, but I find it impossible to do the book, and the writing, justice. It took a bit to get into it, trying to figure out the writing style and the third-person perspective from Death. And there are some wild typographical exercises too. But it all rolls along in breathtaking fashion. An amazing read and one I highly recommend.

bluestocking

rated it

Oct. 13, 2012

Subjects

Juvenile fiction
History
Books and reading
Storytelling
Death
Jews
World War, 1939-1945
Rescue
Novela juvenil
Historia
Libros y lectura
Narración de cuentos
Muerte
Judíos
Guerra Mundial II
Fiction
Spanish language
Reading materials

Places

Germany
Alemania