One of the books I read over Thanksgiving break was The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak. My sister kept teasing me because I was crying. As I told her, I think the only book I cried more through was while reading The Notebook.
The Book Thief is narrated by death and centers on a little girl in Germany during World War II. Even without reading other reviews, I knew this was going to be an emotional book. While it was quite long, it was cleverly written and easy to read.
Many people have stated this was their favorite read of the year. Unfortunately, I cannot say the same for a couple reasons. One, this was published as a young adult book, but the profanity was beyond ridiculous. I might not have minded one or two instances, but throughout the whole novel: I would not recommend it to a youth. And second, it was just a little bit too long. Several things could have been cut out. It seemed to drag in places, like the neverending story. I guess after having read The Hiding Place, by Corrie Ten Boom, it would be hard to measure up.
It was still a great and powerful story. But instead of recommending The Book Thief, I’d have to recommend The Hiding Place (even more powerful, being a true story).
I remember reading The Hiding Place as part of my literature class during 6th or 7th grade when I was in a Christian school. It was very interesting as far as I remember. I am wanting to read The Book Thief one of these days but it is on that neverending list of things to read.
Yeah. The Hiding Place definitely has more depth.
I loved the Hiding place, having read it long ago as a teenager i need to do a reread!
I think my sister stole my copy.
I was going to pick up THE BOOK THIEF because I’d heard good things about it. But I get tired of the profanity in YA novels these days. We don’t have to have it. We know it’s there. Go hang out at McDonalds if you want a dose of that. Thanks for the review!
I think it’s much better suited to adults, for a lot of reasons. The Hiding Place is wonderful, but it’s also nonfiction. They’re so totally different.
Angela, I just wrote to your work place but want to let you know here, in case you don’t get that note, that we’re scrambling to back things up because this computer keeps shutting itself down. If you don’t hear from me for a few days, that’s why. I’ve got the teenager to help me, but I don’t think he knows everything about setting up another computer, so I could potentially be offline till Friday. So far, it hasn’t kicked on me, though, so hopefully I’ll get back to you tonight or tomorrow!!