Title: The Book Thief
Author: Mark Zusak
Genre: Historical experimental fiction
Verdict: I loved it, and yet, I have a complaint.
Wow. This book was beautiful.
I've read a few books in recent years that were "experimental" in their genres, in one way or another. The Princess Bride was a big one, and very revolutionary at that. Obviously that's where the bar sits on brilliant narratives. A few others wear the hat well, like Stephen Lawhead's Scarlet and just about anything by Eoin Colfer.
Well, Zusak's 2006 barn-burner The Book Thief takes experimental tones in a new direction. The book is narrated by Death, and without sitting down and having any kind of detailed or outlined explanation of "who" Death is, you get a very good idea of what he's like, based on his narrative.
Death is intrigued by a young girl named Liesel Meminger who lived during Hitler's Germany. orphaned and abandoned, her foster parents teach her how to read, and she finds solace in books. Slowly but surely she learns the power of words, and she comes to love books so much that she'll do just about anything to get her hands on them--even pull them from Nazi burnings if she can get away with it.
So it's the story about a little girl who steals books, and the influence they have on her. Other significant events take place around her, and you get a taste of what it would be like for a 13 year-old orphan girl to experience Nazi Germany and see how utterly senseless it was. Everyone in her life has a backstory--since just about all of them have had a brush with Death--and you learn how all their lives are intertwined: her foster mother and father, her real mother, her younger brother, the boys in the neighborhood and their families, the mayor and his wife, and a Jew on the run from the Third Reich.
Honestly, I'm having a devil of a time figuring out how to sum it up. I was 400 pages into it (550 total) and I thought to myself, this book isn't really about very much, but I'm enjoying it and moving through it rather quickly. Part of it was the interesting characters, and most of it was Death's intriguing point of view. (The guy has a sense of humor--not morbid, not sarcastic, but something that seems to actually fit the mentality that Death ought to have.)
The language was beautiful too--Zusak employed the 5 senses flawlessly. I could always feel the town of Molching where Liesel lived. At times I could even smell it, taste it. I felt like I was there. He did a very good job on that front. Furthermore, it was poetic without being flowery or overly ambitious. The prose rushed along with a smooth texture that allowed you to see everything from multiple angles. Symbolism played a heavy part in telling this story.
My only single solitary complaint was the ending, the very last sentence in the book. It's that single, solitary phrase that makes it hard for me to argue what the point of the book is (other than demonstrating the power that words have.) I won't give it away, but it's enough for me to say that I think it didn't make much sense, it didn't really tie the whole conversation together.
Maybe it was my expectations or hopes, but that last sentence didn't live up to them for me.
Have any of you read it? What did you think of the ending?
I agree, I think the last sentence was a little out of place, but what bothered me more was that Death could pick up the book and keep it for all that time. He can carry souls, not actual things....that didn't make sense to me.
ReplyDeleteBut, as far as the last sentence goes, I guess we, as humans, are haunted by Death. So, his revelation is that he is actually 'haunted' by us as well. Still, didn't feel how it tied it all together, but next time I read it, I am going to savor the book-not breeze through it.