Review: The Book Thief

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Sigh.

This was... ok, I guess? Not a great start for the Reading Rush :(

So first thing about this book, I've tried to read it two, maybe three times? And I've always struggled to get into it. When I switched to the audiobook I was able to finish it, but I have to say that I'm finding myself wondering if I should have taken that as a sign it wasn't going to be an exceptional book for me.

I really wanted to love this book but the truth is, it was just okay. I kept waiting to be struck by all the emotion and revelations that other people apparently had it but it just didn't happen. Maybe it's because I've read some great books like Code Name Verity and Winter Garden and The Alice Network and so I just wasn't blown away by this particular book.

I also didn't connect to the characters as much as I would have liked, other than Max. Max = <3 Yeah. Unfortunately not enough of that here. It's odd because when I sit and think about it, I can pinpoint moments in the book that would strike one as quite moving, and yet I just wasn't really feeling it. I'd been hoping that listening to the book as an audiobook would help me engage with the book more but it seems it didn't.

Part of it was due to some things that just sort of...threw me. Like the way the characters casually insulted and swore at each other all the time. It made me think of modern day Australia and tbh I really have no idea if that was common in the 1940's? Maybe it was, I don't know, but it didn't really do anything for me and didn't add anything to the story as far as I can tell. And I'm not some prude about swearing, it just got to be too much after awhile. It made me wonder if to the author this is some sort of way of expressing affection.

The book also felt way too long. Like at one point I looked at how much of the book I had left and I found myself wondering how it could possibly go on that long! Never a good sign when you think that... To be honest I feel as though a good chunk of the book could have been cut out in favour of focusing on the actual events of the plot and it would have been much tighter, would have given the book a sense of urgency and action, and probably would have been more compelling, too. I think the author was focusing on the development of the characters and development of the atmosphere, but when it's not working for you, it ends up feeling like an eternity.

Perhaps I'll watch the movie at some point because I feel as though it might lend itself quite well to that sort of format.

I'm really disappointed that I didn't love this one as much as other people, but that's just the way it is sometimes, I suppose. Perhaps it's a sign that I need to take a break from WWII literature for awhile.

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