February 19, 2009
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Pimples Gathered in Peer Groups
Pimples were gathered
in peer groups on his face.
(description of a 15 year old boy)Her teeth elbowed each other
for room in her mouth…
(a shopkeeper)~ Markus Zusak in The Book Thief
I’m only a third of the way through listening to this novel narrated by Death about a girl named Liesel Meminger living in Nazi Germany. Death as the narrator sounds very creepy, but in fact it is incredibly clever. When I review it, qualifiers (caveats) will rain down like paratroopers on D Day.
But this much I can say:
I haven’t read writing so crisp and crackly since William Griffin’s translation of The Imitation of Christ
or Seamus Heaney’s translation of Beowulf
.
Comments (10)
one of my daughter’s favorite books – that she took with her to university…she read it in one sitting (and then again and again – in bits and pieces)…
I loved this one, too, with qualifications. That image of the teeth stuck with me. Perfection! I reviewed it on my blog last year and it was one of my top picks of the year. Here are my thoughts if you’re inclined to read them—>http://hopeistheword.wordpress.com/2008/08/31/book-review-the-book-thief-by-markus-zusak/
The link in yellow above doesnt seem to work… is it supposed to? At any rate, I clicked over to Amazon to read a little more about The Book Thief and will look forward to your review.
While I’m not ready to post about her yet, I’m getting to know Augusta Jane Evans, a 19th century novelist who was most popular in the South, and even read by Union soliders. Her stylized writing is off-putting to me, but I’m inclined to press on because I feel like the narratives shed light on the lives of my very ancestors.
Besides, the informative introductions to the newly republished volumes (Beulah & Macaria) are worth the prices of the books in the first place.
@hiddenart - Thanks, Dana. I fixed the links. I’m not familiar with Augusta Jane Evans but I love new finds.
The Book Thief is a book my daughters, daughter-in-law, and I enjoyed so much – we bought three copies AND the audio version.
@LauraLLD - that’s a high recommendation, Laura. It’s available at my library and so I will check it out soon. That’s something someone could have told me as a young mother: don’t be shy about reading YA books.
I’ve heard a lot about this book (via other bloggers) and now that YOU have recommended it I know it’s one I’ll be looking for.
@hopeinbrazil - Qualified recommendation, Hope. I didn’t make clear my qualifiers would be caveats. The language bothers me. Some of it is in German, but a lot is in English. Especially the Lord’s name. I think it is in my face, so to speak, because I am listening to it. Sometimes when I read things I don’t picture scenes or “voice” the words. Does that make any sense?
When I read the Tolkien trilogies and came to battle scenes, my mind did not form any pictures, because the battle scenes didn’t interest me. But when I watched the movies, I couldn’t escape the battle scenes.
The writing is incredible; I believe Mr. Zusak could have told the story without all the profanity.
I have it next in my “to read” pile, I’m glad to hear that I will enjoy.
I know what you mean about the different effects of hearing and reading. It’s nice to be able to skip over parts of a book that are too graphic. Films make that harder. But I’ve found a clever solution… All movies are subtitled here and sometimes when they are too intense for me I turn off the volume and “read” the movie. It works for me!