Wednesday, July 15, 2009

The Book Thief: A Review

Here's my review of The Book Thief.

Summary


Review:

1. It's long (550 pages), but I read it in two days. These two facts lead me to conclude that I must have liked it, even though I never in the course of reading said to myself, "I really love this story." I did, however, love other things.

2. The writing is exceptional. I'm not sure the superlatives exist to describe the writing. Even "exceptional" doesn't quite cut it. It's poetic. It's original. It's beautiful. It's also depressing because I will never, no matter how much I write, read, and study the craft, be able to write like this. The imagery is amazing, the command of the language total.

3. It's powerful.

4. If you're looking for fast moving with lots of plot twists and tricky situations for the main character, I'd go with something else.

5. Death as a narrator is kind of cool.

6. I almost cried on four occasions, and I hardly ever cry while reading.*

7. It's about, among other things, words. Words are awesome, which, while true, is also the major theme of the book. And we're not talking about words being awesome as in they're "really cool," (although they are), we're talking about words being awesome because they are capable of inducing awe and this induction of awe can lead people to do great and terrible things.

8. It is also about the dichotomous nature of human beings, equally capable of inspirational beauty and horrific brutality.

So, there you have it.


*The crying was not due to my jealousy of Markus Zusak's writing ability, although it certainly could have been.

9 comments:

Amy Allgeyer Cook said...

Wow. I have this book on my list, but your description of the writing makes me want to move it up! Thanks!

Meradeth Houston said...

I adored this book, and will freely admit I cried my eyes out at the end. In fact, I still can't think about it without getting a little teary. And, after reading the book, I looked at my own work and pretty much decided that I will forever suck. Great book, but certainly not the worlds greatest confidence builder :-)

Monica said...

just fyi, PMM, i think amy found you because of me... just sayin.

nice review. I never thought of doing a point form review.

Paul Michael Murphy said...

She found me because I now follow her blog, thanks to you.

I hate doing reviews, mostly because I don't really enjoy reading them. (And also because they're kind of hard to do.)

Amy Allgeyer Cook said...

Hey now -- are you guys saying I'm blog-trash? Like I'll follow anybody?


;)

Monica said...

i have to say, amy, most people who follow PMM are some sort of blog trash or another. myself included. its like a badge of honour or something.

Paul Michael Murphy said...

I follow me. Do with that information what you will.

Amy Allgeyer Cook said...

Do I need an immunization of some kind?

Anonymous said...

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