The Book Thief

Wouldn't it be good if the hype was just a preliminary to a really good read? Doesn't happen in this book by Markus Zusak. It's not a bad book, and it's an easy read (originally written for YA, it's been remarketed for adults). But it's not all it's cracked up to be. Narrated by Death, it's self-conscious, and the constant foreshadowings are irritating. By the time Rudy dies, you've heard about it half a dozen times already. Anyway, everyone in the whole book dies, so it's really no big deal . . .

It's set in WW2 in Nazi Germany. A girl lives with a foster family after her communist parents are taken away and her brother dies. They end up hiding an escaped Jew. She loves books but as she is poor, she steals them from book-burning parades and other people's libraries. Her friend is also against the Nazis and dresses up as Jesse Owens at his Hitler Youth sports day (it's that sort of unrealistic detail which makes it all slightly ridiculous). Zusak uses deliberate Australianisms, such as "lollies", in order to make the story more relevent to the readers, but I think it just distances it and highlights how little Zusak seems to understand about life back then.

The last two pages, however, are excellent. What a pity Zusak couldn't write the whole book in the same way, quiet, subtle, and without staring the reader boldly in the face - so you just want to look away.