Tuesday, April 3, 2007

The Book Thief - Times Two

The Book Thief By Markus Zusak

Liesel is 10 when she moves in with foster parents Rosa and Hans Hubermann. She, of course, is the book thief of the title, and the books she steals — from the cemetery where her brother is buried, from a Nazi bonfire and from the mayor's library — are symbolic of her struggle to understand the horrors of war. Across the ensuing years of the late 1930s and into the 1940s, Liesel collects more stolen books as well as a peculiar set of friends.



Everyone has been raving about this novel. I'm sorry to go against the flow, but it does not appeal to me at all. Mainly because it is set in Germany before World War 2, and I am sick and tired of WW2 being thrust in my face every day. WW2 is over, done with and finished. Many things were stolen in that war - Books, Artworks, Dreams, Lives and Innocence. Things that we mourned over, and put behind us. And some of us moved on with our lives. Some of us have not. Most of us alive today were not even born when the last war ended. So why must we be continually be reminded of things that were stolen 60 years ago? Why should I care?



The Book Thief - The True Crimes of Daniel Spiegelman By Travis McDade

But I do care about what is being stolen today. I care that more and more of our art, music, stories and dreams are being ignored or are now deemed as no longer important. Thats where the second The Book Thief comes in. This story is also about Books being stolen. Not just any books, but rare books, old books, books from our past, books about our past. History Books.




HISTORY. Our History. Human history. History is supposed to be able to teach us what we did wrong back then, so we dont make the same mistake now. For some reason Man does not seem to want to learn that lesson. Books were stolen in the last war. Will more books be stolen when the next war starts?

Thanks also to Philobiblos for bringing this book to my attention.

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