Well there is no sun in my neck of the woods today, just rain and wind. This weather always makes me feel cozy and provides a good reason to stay indoors and read. So no polish today, but a book review instead!
Rating: 5/5
Recommend: Highly
Quote: "So many humans. So many colours. They keep triggering inside me. They harass my memory. I see them tall in their heaps, all mounted on top of each other. There is air like plastic, a horizon like setting glue. There are skies manufactured by people, punctured and leaking, and there are soft, coal-coloured clouds, beating, like black hearts. And then. There is death. Making his way through all of it. On the surface: unflappable, unwavering. Below: unnerved, untied, and undone.” (p.331)
For some reason, I am greatly interested in Holocaust literature, but I couldn't really explain to you why. Just the raw human emotion and devastation that is written about in books like this really grabs me. I've read children's literature and regular adult lit about the topic, but this was my first Young Adult novel on the topic. This book should be on everyone's shelves. I couldn't put the book down because I became so involved with the character's lives. It isn't about working in the concentration camps or having to survive one, but about a young girl struggling with her adopted family to avoid being noticed by the Nazis. The novel itself was told from death's point of view and I think this was a fantastic use of the narrative point of view. Personifying death was grave, but necessary for this book and I think it showed human nature from a perspective seldom seen.
This book is sad, but never morbid. The author's care in this story is very apparent and provides a sad, but not always bleak view of the Holocaust.
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Rating: 5/5
Recommend: Highly
Quote: "So many humans. So many colours. They keep triggering inside me. They harass my memory. I see them tall in their heaps, all mounted on top of each other. There is air like plastic, a horizon like setting glue. There are skies manufactured by people, punctured and leaking, and there are soft, coal-coloured clouds, beating, like black hearts. And then. There is death. Making his way through all of it. On the surface: unflappable, unwavering. Below: unnerved, untied, and undone.” (p.331)
For some reason, I am greatly interested in Holocaust literature, but I couldn't really explain to you why. Just the raw human emotion and devastation that is written about in books like this really grabs me. I've read children's literature and regular adult lit about the topic, but this was my first Young Adult novel on the topic. This book should be on everyone's shelves. I couldn't put the book down because I became so involved with the character's lives. It isn't about working in the concentration camps or having to survive one, but about a young girl struggling with her adopted family to avoid being noticed by the Nazis. The novel itself was told from death's point of view and I think this was a fantastic use of the narrative point of view. Personifying death was grave, but necessary for this book and I think it showed human nature from a perspective seldom seen.
This book is sad, but never morbid. The author's care in this story is very apparent and provides a sad, but not always bleak view of the Holocaust.
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