Book Review: The Book Thief

I have grown up with stories about the Holocaust, so much so that I cannot remember a time when I did not know about it. I started going to Hebrew lessons when I was five (and usually went with my sister before then anyway) and the first book that I remember wanting to read was Anne Frank's Diary. It is possible and quite likely that Anne Frank was the reason for my wanting to become a journalist in the first place, though I cannot guarantee that. In any case, Anne was the beginning of my Holocaust reading, but she certainly was not the last.

When it came to middle and high school, books about the Holocaust were spread amongst our syllabus, and we were encouraged to read books about the Holocaust outside of the syllabus as well. The school library was filled with them. The most memorable of the books that I read was Night by Ellie Wiesel, and it was hauntingly beautiful, but absolutely nightmarish. Which makes complete sense. The Holocaust was absolutely nightmarish. Worse. It was no nightmare. However, I came across a book recently (advised by my friend Kath) that I thought would have proved a better tool for learning about the Holocaust in high school. It is a marvelous book called 'The Book Thief' by Markus Zusak.

There are a couple of things that make The Book Thief great as both a novel and a tool for teaching. The protagonist in the story is a young girl, only nine when the story starts and fourteen when it ends, someone that teenagers, and particularly teenagers between those ages, can relate to. But even as a twenty-three year old, I can relate to Liesel. She is every little girl. Another great aspect about the protagonist - she is a reader. Even before she learns to read, she knows the value of books, and values the ability to read, possibly because it was such a great challenge for her to wrap her head around. Liesel is an entirely relatable character on a number of levels, all of which make the book easy to read for young and old readers alike.

One of the main reasons that I think this is a great tool for learning, however, is that it shows the Holocaust from a number of perspectives. It shows it from the everyday life of a young German girl, from the viewpoint of a Jew in hiding, from the viewpoint of a proud German man, from the viewpoint of his patriotic son, from the viewpoint of a crippled boy and from the viewpoint of a perfectly normal boy next door who is just trying to fit in. It provides a wide scope from which to view the Holocaust and see how it affected the life of everyone in Germany, from the rich to the poor, from the young to the old.

And the thing that makes this book a great read for anyone, learning or not, is the manner in which it is written. First of all, the narrator is not your typical narrator. The narrator is death, but not as the hateful bastardly reaper that steals you away. Death is not a nightmare in this novel, but a dream. He is thoughtful, he is the saviour and he even has a slight sense of humour at times. Death is the hero of the novel in many ways. But it's not just the narrator, its also the tone. The novel is not depressing. It is beautiful! It will make you smile and cry at the same time, knowing as you do what the outcome of the story is likely to be. And yet, you cannot help but smile. I smile everytime I think of Liesel and her collection of books and cry every time I think of Rudi covering himself in black coal and pretending to be Jessie Owens.

This is a book that I think every teenager should read. I think it is the perfect introduction to the Holocaust. That is not to say that books like Night should be ignored in the syllabus. Not at all - they hold valuable lessons that people of every age need to face. But I certainly think that they should be taught alongside books like The Book Thief, which show the beauty of life mixed in with the horror of death, the good together with the bad, both sides of the coin for the people of Germany - the Jews, the Christians, the Atheists, the young and the old. As much as the lessons in Night are valuable for people of all ages, I think that the same came be said of The Book Thief.

Life

I feel like I have aged over the last two weeks. There has been so much going on, not necessarily in my life, but in proximity to my life that is making me feel older than I actually am. Of course, there are factors that influence this - instead of being surprised to hear that I am as old as 23, as people used to be, they are now surprised to hear that I am as young as 23. That more than anything makes me feel like I am getting older, at least in the looks department. My style has certainly changed (at least during the week) in that I no longer wear a t-shirt and jeans to work, or if I do it is at least a sharp looking shirt or a t-shirt with smarter pants or a skirt. I have also taken to wearing dresses a lot more often, possibly because they are fitting me better than my t-shirts at the moment. A story for another day.

No, the reason why I feel like I have aged is that life is moving forward for those around me in both good and bad ways. There are some things that I am going to discuss that may feel very personal, and I apologise to my friends about that and will not use their real names to ensure their anonymity, but feel like I need to talk about the things that are on my mind.

It feels like there has been a lot of death recently. Some of the deaths are people that I have no connection to but affect me because of the pure sadness of the situation. One example of this is the death of Jamey Rodemeyer. I don't know how I came across his story, but it stuck out and is something that I have been thinking of a lot recently. A few months before his suicide, Jamey had taken part in the "It Gets Better" campaign, a campaign in support of LGBT teenagers that was formed due to the large numbers of suicides in America over the last few years. He spoke about how he truly believed that it gets better, that the support of family and friends overcomes the bullying that is experienced, that being proud of who you are will give you the strength to overcome the obstacles. I watched his video knowing the outcome, and it just absolutely broke my heart. The video can be seen here, and a tribute that was performed for Jamey by his idol, Lady Gaga, can be found here.

Then there are the deaths that have been slightly closer to home, like finding out on Tuesday that a friend's boyfriend had been murdered, brutally, in what was seen to be a hate crime. He was found naked, bound and gagged in his home, and even though my friend had only been dating him for a short amount of time, it really hit home just how horrifying the situation is. There is no doubt that, had I read about the incident without knowing someone involved, I would have been disgusted,  appalled and horrified, but it made it so much worse that my friend was suffering through the situation on his own, and most of all that I couldn't be with him in his time of need.

Still reeling from this knowledge, I found out later in the week that a friend's mother had passed away. I was utterly shocked to hear about it, to hear that it had been from a disease (an e-coli infection) that I recently had and that it had affected her so badly. And what struck me even more is that life goes on. It seems amazingly obvious, and yet, if I was in the same situation, I don't know how I would react. I don't know what I would be feeling, or experiencing, or thinking. But life goes on. You do keep feeling and thinking and experiencing and you have to get out and do the same things as you always did. You go on with your life, trying to remember that person who passed away as best as you can and in the best light that you can and you move on. Whether that takes weeks or months or years, I don't know. But it happens.

And in the midst of all the bad comes the good. There are weddings and celebrations of love. There are new years to bring in and good wishes to be sent to every family member and friend. New life is being brought into this world by those same beloved family members. And you have to remember that, while there is so much sadness in this world, there is also so much joy, and while you should remember those people that have passed, while you should feel sorrow and pain and sympathy, you should also celebrate every joyful opportunity that comes your way. And I intend to do just that.

So, while my deepest sympathies go out to the families and friends who are going through tough times, my heartfelt joy is going out to those with celebrations on the horizon and lives that are just beginning in all senses of the word.

Hauntingly Lovely

It has been awhile since I wrote a review, so I thought that I would do that today. This time it is about a book that I finished a couple of days back.

I used to be so good at reading books – I used to get sucked into them and would sit, reading, for hours until eventually the book was finished. Nothing could stop me – not school, not work, nothing. I don’t read like that anymore. I tend to read about a chapter a night while I am in the bath, less if I have to have a quick one (and yes, I know that I should shower rather than bath, but after a year of Korean showers, this is a necessary luxury for me). I occasionally read when travelling, but aside from these moments, I tend to watch TV or play computer games over reading. These are terrible excuses, but it is the truth of the matter, and this is why it took my almost a month to read Alice Sebold’s The Lovely Bones.

You have to understand that the month that it took me to read the book should not be taken as any judgement on the book itself. I absolutely adored it, so much so that I would spend far longer in the bath than was sensible poring over its pages. The water would get cold, my toes would go all pruny, I would (sigh, gasp) have to add extra hot water just to keep me going so that I could carry on reading. My boyfriend would come looking for me thinking that I had drowned. No, baby. I’m okay. I’m just reading.

For those of you who do not know the story of The Lovely Bones, it is about a young girl, Susie Salmon, who is murdered in the 60’s. The story is told from her perspective, looking down from what is essentially purgatory, as she watches how her murder (at first thought to just be a kidnapping) affects her family and her murderer, who happens to be her neighbour. She watches from above as life goes on, and describes the comings and goings of both the real world and the world that she finds herself in.

More than a murder mystery, the mystery of who murdered her, a question that is answered right from the get-go, is replaced with the mystery of what happens after life, after death, after everything that you love is taken away from you.

The Lovely Bones is a gem of a book and is going to be taking a prominent position on my bookshelf as soon as I have lent it to a friend of mine who I know is going to love it. I am sure that if you are reading this, you know just who you are ;)