A popular book that has been on my list to read for a while, I was happy to finally pick up and breeze through The Book Thief. Beloved by many, I was a bit split on how much I enjoyed it but understand the allure the book provides to many.
While less than 20 years old, The Book Thief has as solid reputation and made a great impression on many readers. Often a required text in some classrooms, it tells the story of an orphaned girl in Germany at the beginning of World War II. To make even more interesting, as you could likely glean from the title, she enjoys stealing books and the narrator of the story is Death. While a bit quirky, the novel is actually a fairly easy read that is fairly linear and clear.
On a positive, it's an intriguing book to read and written in a playful manner. The characters are beautifully crafted and the general premise of the story keeps the reader's attention. While I had some frustrations about the pacing (more below), generally, I found the story moved forward appropriately and had enough twists and turns to keep me guessing. I also thought the author really nailed the ending, which could have gone a much darker way with some of the competing themes throughout the novel.
On the downside, I didn't actually feel this book had that much take place. While there were some big, notable and highly impactful parts, much of the novel read as a description of "normal" life of a young girl (albeit in pre-WW2 Germany). Going to school, playing with friends, making the occasional bad choice - none of it was boring per se, and it added more roundness to the characters, but I felt parts were either repetitive or weren't written in a way that was an enduring as other parts of the novel. Also, to be candid, I find it hard to enjoy novels about the Holocaust. While it added much depth to the novel, it created a level of emotional commitment that can be hard.
As a whole, I didn't really love this book. While I got through it and ultimately earned an average 3 stars, I stuck with it with the understanding that so many others do love it. After finishing, I did review different viewpoints about this book on the internet. Not surprisingly, most were quite positive, and I found this one notable. Besides making strong arguments about the power of words and stories, I thought one of her final lines to be accurate- "Whether you love or hate The Book Thief, I don’t think many can deny the emotional power of the novel."
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