*The Book Thief
2 journalers for this copy...
Bought half-price from Waterstones...I am such a weak man! Adding to my Himalayan book mountain.
(18/01/10) I’ve recently seen Avatar on a huge Imax cinema screen, in 3D. And The Book Thief is the book equivalent of this, complete emotional immersion in an alien world. Zusak provides an immense and believable creation around Liesel Meminger ‘The Book Thief’, her adopted family the Hubermans, in a suburb of Munich* in the early 1940s. The ‘physical’ cast are rich and varied, the emotional power and otherworldly** aspects of the story are sublime. This is a big book, split into sections defined by books that Liesel has stolen or acquired; the first a gravediggers guide found where her younger brother was buried; later a booklet ‘The Standover Man’ written by the Jew Max who the Hubermans are hiding in their cellar; etc. etc. You get the picture. I loved that the background was a typical(?) German community caught up in the thrall of Hitler and the Third Reich, seen through the eyes of an innocent child trying to live and grow up…more obsessed by the desire to read than even the constant hunger, and later the threat of allied bombing, and absence of her ‘Papa’ and Max.
*Molching is actually ‘Olching’ on the outskirts of Munich, near Dachau. Liesel would see parades of Jew’s walking to the camp there, “They were walking to Dachau, to concentrate”
**Did I say, the book is narrated by Death, the Grim Reaper, no less! The final words of this hard-working, rather melancholic gatherer of souls, “I am haunted by humans.”
And some other quotes from Liesel, “[lovely books] You bastards, she thought. You lovely bastards.” “The words. Why did they exist? Without them, there wouldn’t be any of this. Without words the Fuhrer was nothing. There would be no limping prisoners, no need for consolation or wordly tricks to make us feel better. What good were words?”
As an aside Leisel’s best friend Rudy Steiner’s father was a master tailor or ‘schneidermeister’ and my sister-in-law is a Snyder.
(18/01/10) I’ve recently seen Avatar on a huge Imax cinema screen, in 3D. And The Book Thief is the book equivalent of this, complete emotional immersion in an alien world. Zusak provides an immense and believable creation around Liesel Meminger ‘The Book Thief’, her adopted family the Hubermans, in a suburb of Munich* in the early 1940s. The ‘physical’ cast are rich and varied, the emotional power and otherworldly** aspects of the story are sublime. This is a big book, split into sections defined by books that Liesel has stolen or acquired; the first a gravediggers guide found where her younger brother was buried; later a booklet ‘The Standover Man’ written by the Jew Max who the Hubermans are hiding in their cellar; etc. etc. You get the picture. I loved that the background was a typical(?) German community caught up in the thrall of Hitler and the Third Reich, seen through the eyes of an innocent child trying to live and grow up…more obsessed by the desire to read than even the constant hunger, and later the threat of allied bombing, and absence of her ‘Papa’ and Max.
*Molching is actually ‘Olching’ on the outskirts of Munich, near Dachau. Liesel would see parades of Jew’s walking to the camp there, “They were walking to Dachau, to concentrate”
**Did I say, the book is narrated by Death, the Grim Reaper, no less! The final words of this hard-working, rather melancholic gatherer of souls, “I am haunted by humans.”
And some other quotes from Liesel, “[lovely books] You bastards, she thought. You lovely bastards.” “The words. Why did they exist? Without them, there wouldn’t be any of this. Without words the Fuhrer was nothing. There would be no limping prisoners, no need for consolation or wordly tricks to make us feel better. What good were words?”
As an aside Leisel’s best friend Rudy Steiner’s father was a master tailor or ‘schneidermeister’ and my sister-in-law is a Snyder.
Journal Entry 2 by BookGroupMan at Liverpool Street Station in City of London, Greater London United Kingdom on Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Released 14 yrs ago (2/18/2010 UTC) at Liverpool Street Station in City of London, Greater London United Kingdom
WILD RELEASE NOTES:
WILD RELEASE NOTES: I've spotted the perfect place for this, a statue outside the station concourse representing a group of displaced children (refugees?) surrounded by the names of German towns. I must find out what it means...!
It you find this, welcome to BookCrossing, I hope you enjoy this and write a journal entry and pass on. Thank you.
Update See picture, this statue is commemorating the 'kindertransport' rescue of 10,000 Jewish children from Nazi Germany before WWII
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kindertransport
Not sure how it ended up at the pettingzoo, but now it is staying at my place for a while
