The Book Thief by Markus Zusak is narrated by death, and follows the orphaned Liesel Meminger, the titular book thief. The story is primarily focused on her youth spent in the throws of World War 2 in Nazi Germany, and features an ensemble cast of friends, family, and Nazis.
I originally picked this book up when a classmate remarked that it was one of her all-time favorites. I went into the story knowing little more than my friend’s opinion of it, and it was quite a journey. My full review can be found below.
Basic Info:
- Edition: Audible Audio
- Cost: $27
- Length: 13 hours, 56 minutes
Pros:
- The book is an emotional roller coaster, and features both moments of great joy and immense sadness. The final few chapters of this book brought me to tears.
- I enjoyed Zusak’s prose, even if other reviewers found it excessive or pretentious. After a year of memoirs and self-help books (my 2018), this was a welcome change of pace.
- The book’s length allows for many of the characters to be explored in detail, further facilitating an emotional attachment. I also think the book does an admirable job of describing life at war, highlighting both mundane and pulse-pounding moments.
- Though the book takes place during World War 2, it isn’t excessive with its depictions of gore, blood, and violence. While many events in the story are heartbreaking, it isn’t (usually) due to their physicality.
Cons:
- I occasionally found the non-linear nature of the story-telling confusing. With that being said, I still walked away with the gist of the plot, and I understand why non-linearity was employed (the narrator is a supernatural entity who is both outside of time and, “more interested in life’s machinations than its outcomes”).
- The book’s ensemble cast could have benefited from having additional voice talent added to the mix. I think Allan Corduner did an admirable job bringing the various characters to life, but some voices (especially older German women) bled together.
- (nit-pick) The book’s primary setting is Nazi Germany, so many German expressions are peppered into the text. For the most part these are defined by the narrator, but every so often they are not. I could generally figure out the meaning of these words through context clues, but it was still a minor annoyance.
Conclusion:
The Book Thief is a long, intense listen / read. There were more than a few moments when I simply had to pause the book and come back later because I did not have the strength to keep listening. While the book isn’t perfect, it packed in enough detail and emotional gut punches to keep me engaged for its 14 hour run time. It’s hard to give the book a universal recommendation based on the length and the subject matter, but if the premise sounds interesting, The Book Thief is definitely worth a look.
Check it out here.
You may also enjoy…
- Circe, by Madeline Miller
- Before We Were Yours, by Lisa Wingate
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